Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today.
Thank you for highlighting the value and importance of volunteerism.
My name is Christine Trauttmansdorff, and I am the executive director of Volunteer Ottawa or Bénévoles Ottawa.
Volunteer Ottawa is a charitable organization that has been promoting, supporting and celebrating volunteering for over 65 years. Through a membership model, we help hundreds of local charities recruit volunteers and provide their staff with a wide range of training workshops and communication resources. We provide the local business sector with community engagement services, primarily through group volunteering.
Most of all, we talk to people. We talk to them about the benefits and rewards that come from sharing their time and talent with others. We host recruitment fairs and recognition events, and we send guest speakers out into the community. We're all about making Ottawa a happier, healthier and more inclusive place to live.
Volunteer Ottawa is one of about 150 volunteer centres working in communities throughout Canada. I'm sure that many of you have crossed paths with my amazing colleagues who are running volunteer centres that serve your ridings.
The committee has asked for recommendations on ways the federal government can promote and encourage intergenerational volunteerism between seniors and youth. We're currently running two projects: one supporting youth leadership and volunteering, and the other aimed at re-engaging older adult volunteers. Both projects embed intergenerational opportunities, for all the reasons described by the witnesses who appeared earlier this week.
My recommendations are going to focus on volunteering more generally, from the perspective of a local volunteer centre.
My first recommendation is for the development of a national action strategy on volunteering to unleash the full economic and social potential of Canada's volunteers.
Volunteer centres tend to focus on the positive social benefits of volunteering, but there are very real economic benefits as well. In 2018, the Conference Board estimated the contribution of Canada's volunteers at $56 billion per year. That seems like a huge number, but when you consider that well over half of the charities in Canada have no paid staff and are entirely reliant on volunteers, it starts to sink in.
In a city the size of Ottawa, that's the equivalent of $1.5 billion in revenue for community services and programs. We've lost a lot of that capacity in the past few years. To recapture it and increase it, we need to think about joining forces under the umbrella of a national strategy that will strengthen the infrastructure that supports volunteering.
Volunteer centres are a crucial part of that infrastructure. I'm a huge believer in the power of local: local knowledge, local relationships, local networks and community ecosystems. That's what volunteer centres bring to the table. What we don't have are data, research capacity, policy frameworks and shareable, scalable resources to support our work.
My second recommendation is a shameless pitch that the strategy find a way to create stable funding mechanisms for volunteer centres and for volunteer management capacity in charities and non-profits.
Volunteer centres are all small but mighty organizations, with a big reach and the ability to make a big difference. To give you an idea, Volunteer Ottawa serves a population of about one million people with four full-time staff and two part-time staff. We'll finish 2023 with about $570,000 in revenue. We've generated approximately $200,000 of that from membership fees, sales and fundraising, and the rest comes from project-based grants. In 2023, we accessed 12 grants from 11 different funders. We receive no core funding from any level of government.
Trevor Moss from the Central Okanagan Food Bank spoke about the time that grant writing takes away from delivering on mission and the uncertainty it means for operations and long-term planning. Virtually every volunteer centre would say the same thing, as would most of the local charities we work with here in Ottawa.
My final recommendation is to you as individual members of Parliament, and it comes with no price tag at all. You are all high-profile leaders in your communities with thousands of connections to older adults, young people, newcomers and so many other potential volunteers. You probably speak with staff from every single charity and non-profit in your riding at least a couple of times a year. Make volunteering part of what you talk about. Speak about your own volunteer work, encourage people to get involved, and recognize and thank the volunteers you meet at local events.
Promoting volunteerism is a ground game, not unlike political campaigning. As one of the earlier witnesses said, it all starts with personal relationships, with being invited to help, with being told your time and talent are needed and appreciated. You are all in an excellent position to deliver those messages. I encourage you to speak with your local volunteer centre about how you can use your voice, your website, your newsletters and your presence to promote and encourage volunteerism.
Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.