Why Measure Voluntary Work?

Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - AtlantiqueVALUING VOLUNTEERS:AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL VALUATIONGenuine Progress Institute,Halifax, NS, 7 July, 2011 7

Why Measure Voluntary Work? • Contribution to wellbeing (cf other jobs) • Health Canada - social supports • Not count => not value => insufficient attention in policy arena • Mark of civil society, democracy • Strong voluntary sector = a major asset = acknowledge, nurture, protect, strengthen YET invisible in our core measures of progress and wellbeing

Eg What are costs of volunteer decline in sports/recreation? • 90% greater chance of heart disease if inactive. 1/3 of heart disease could be avoided if all Nova Scotians were physically active. • 20% stroke, hypertension, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, 27% of osteoporosis, 11% breast cancer, could be eliminated by becoming physically active.

Costs of physical inactivity • Inactivity costs NS $107m (direct) + $247m (indirect) = $350m/year • More than 700 Nova Scotians die prematurely every year because they are physically inactive = 9% of all early deaths. • Every year 2,200 potential years of life are lost in N.S. due to physical inactivity

In all fields, contemplate true costs of volunteer decline • Health, culture, arts, social services........ • Social supports, social networks key determinant of health (Health Canada) • Increases resilience, recovery from illness, health

What can we do about this? • How can we assign free time, volunteerism, health their true value? • How can we give volunteerism the attention it deserves? • How can we help Nova Scotians fully appreciate contribution and value of voluntary work?

Valuing Voluntary Work • Nova Scotians give 140 million hrs of voluntary work/yr = 73,000 FTE jobs • Worth nearly $2 billion /year to NS economy • Nationwide decline in volunteer work cost Canadians $2 billion in lost services in 2000 • = Invisible in conventional accounts

Who are the volunteers? • Health, education, social services, culture, arts, religion, environment, justice, jobs, fire, search/rescue, international,...... • Formal and informal • Demographics changing • Motivations changing

Key Social Support • Health Canada uses volunteerism as a key indicator of a “supportive social environment” that can enhance health. • = “Social Capital” (Helliwell) – has the highest correlation to wellbeing = more than income • More women than men volunteer

In Canada, volunteerism has declined nationally

Economic Valuation • Market value =cost if volunteers disappeared • Cheapens or strategic? (Hamm - cheque) • $1.9 billion = 10% GDP (more than govt) • 73,000 FTE jobs = 82,000 full + part-time • Indirect contributions - e.g. Skills training

Policy implications • Inventory critical services provided by volunteers • Understand how voluntary sector is affected by labour market trends • Track “involuntary” voluntary work (question just as in Labour Force Surveys) • Track burnout (next slide) • Acknowledge, support, reward, centre stage

Volunteer time crunch predicted in 1998 GPI report • Overtime up among educated, skilled (partly due to 1990s downsizing) • Married women = 75 hours/week • Predict time crunch among volunteers • -> Forecasting just as for paid economy • -> Understand voluntary sector with same precision, detail as paid economy

2000 results confirm 1998 predictions • 2000: Volunteer burnout: NS = 30,000 fewer volunteers, but average hours per volunteer are up 32.3% (1997-2000) • Volunteer service hours/capita up from 42.3 (1997) to 50.1 (2000), bucking national trend where vol. services down

Policies to support the voluntary sector • Acknowledge importance of paid staff: Cost-effective = every staff hour ($) leverages many volunteers hours. Therefore core funding impt • Simplify funding/grant applic. procedures • Provide bookkeeping/accounting/legal services etc. • Include voluntary social service in school curricula

To sell policies ASK: • What would it cost government to perform the same services? (support for community based orgs. is a good deal) • What are the consequences of burnout, decline in voluntary services for recipients and society? • Decline in social wellbeing, quality of life; or replace vol. services for pay?

By including these values in our core measures of progress... We can draw attention to models that: • can improve health and wellness • Improve quality of our lives, expand community activities and social networks = strengthen social capital • And value volunteerism fully and properly • Apply to your own voluntary work and orgn:

Valuation methodology • # volunteer hours / week x 52; or /day x 365 • $ value per hour”: Use “specialist replacement methodology” for formal voluntary work; “generalist replacement methodology” for informal voluntary work • Multiply each value by # formal and informal volunteer hours / year for total annual value of voluntary work • F-t Job equivalent = divide total by (48 x 40)

Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès véritable - Atlantique www.gpiatlantic.org

Why Measure Voluntary Work?