What Happens When The Volunteers Stop Coming?

In January 2007, the US Department of Labor released a report reflecting a decrease in both the number of volunteers and the volunteer rate from the three prior years.  Over this three-year span, volunteerism declined by 3% across the nation.  Canada and Mexico saw similar decreases.

While a 3% decrease is not cause for alarm, it is certainly cause for concern.  Left unchecked, the United States could find itself in a volunteer crisis in the next 10 years, particularly because the largest decline in volunteerism is coming from the younger generations.  Members of "the Greatest Generation" will soon be gone and predictions are that the "Baby Boom" bubble of retirees is likely to fall short of producing the number of volunteers needed.   If teenagers and young adults continue to turn away from traditional volunteerism, who will pick up the slack?

Volunteerism is a community issue that deserves community attention at the highest levels.  It is an indisputable fact that the entire community benefits from each and every volunteer act.  And it's likewise indisputable that when volunteers aren't available to provide a myriad of services, the entire community suffers.  Very few community leaders seem to be paying attention.  Yet, they are the very ones who should be asking the question, "What happens when the volunteers stop coming?". 
 
The key to preventing a volunteerism crisis may well lie in the words "traditional volunteerism".  Episodic, family, corporate and entrepreneurial volunteering are no longer trends - they're fact.  And by its very nature, this new brand of volunteer challenges the policies, procedures, infrastructures and expectations of nonprofits mired in the hidebound days of "traditional volunteers" who willingly did whatever work was needed on whatever schedule the nonprofit requested.   Today's volunteers are demanding more meaningful work, more flexibility in how, when and where the work is done, and greater return on the investment of their time.  They want respect and they expect to be treated as an equal member of the team.

A sea change is in the wind.  Nonprofits that proactively take up the challenge and reinvent the way they utilize volunteers will weather the storm.  Those that refuse to change may soon find themselves asking, "What happens now that the volunteers are gone?".