What do we know about the voluntary sector ? An overview

Abstract

For the purpose of building a knowledge base of the sector, it is appropriate to adopt a broad definition, encompassing registered charities as well as all manner of other nonprofit organizations. Three surveys over the last twenty years have provided us with a rich data base on voluntary behaviour, particularly on volunteering through organizations. Both participation and the total volume of voluntary work have increased between 1987 and 1997, although the average number of hours per volunteers has decreased. While almost one-third of Canadians do formal volunteer work, the distribution of effort among those who do so is highly skewed. There are very few hard data on nonprofit organizations that are not registered charities: how many there are, what they do, or what their economic or social impact is. What little we do know does clearly suggest that they are by no means a negligible phenomenon. The state of information on charities is considerably better, but there are very large discrepancies in common understanding of the magnitude of their basic financial data. There is agreement, however, that religious organizations receive the bulk of their funding from charitable donations, whereas most other charities depend for up to two-thirds on government funding. There are no quantitative measures of outputs or of needs addressed by charities. Between 1969 and 1996, most types of households have been making fewer charitable donations, the net effect of a large drop in the incidence of donating to religious charities and a minor increase in giving to other types of charities. Households that do donate, however, have been giving considerably more, with the net result that charitable donations (in constant dollars) have more than doubled over the period. Understanding voluntary sector organizations helps understand the forces that make for social cohesion. There is a broad constituency for increased knowledge about the sector.