Volunteer Calgary

Volunteer Calgary is a volunteer centre based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The main role of this volunteer centre is to provide service to the non-profit community in Calgary and help to promote and encourage volunteerism in the city.

Volunteering Online

There are hundreds of volunteer opportunities available through the Volunteer Calgary's searchable database --http://www.volunteercalgary.ab.ca. These opportunities are updated on a daily basis and available 24-hours a day. In 2007, over 250,000 online searches were conducted in Calgary and over 4,000 volunteer opportunities were posted.

Many other volunteer centres in Canada, like Volunteer Vancouver and Volunteer Edmonton, have similar online databases that allow non-profit and charitable organizations a central location to post their volunteer opportunities in order to give the general public a way to locate the organizations in their community that are in need of volunteer help.

History of Volunteering in Calgary

The city of Calgary has a long history of volunteering, as a prairie settlement, volunteering was literally a matter of survival for the European settlers who came with dreams of settling the west. The spirit of community was evident in the lives of these early homesteaders as they depended on the support of each other and the help of neighbours in order to survive and succeed in the harsh prairie climate. For those early settlers, volunteering was as simple as helping a neighbour build a house to donating food or supplies to those settlers that were struggling and as the community grew so did the spirit of Volunteering, everything from traditional barn raising events and church socials to volunteer fire brigades.

The first Volunteer Centre in Canada was established in 1937 in Montréal to respond to the need for volunteers during the Second World War. The volunteer centre in Calgary was established in 1955 by the Junior League. During the 1960s and 1970s, Volunteer Centres were established across Canada in many urban areas to promote and support effective volunteering.

Today there are over 200 Volunteer Centres across Canada these centres have developed significant expertise in the area of volunteerism through the development of programs, research, and training. The centres are committed to resolving issues influencing the way people volunteer in Canada by reducing the barriers and promoting safe and meaningful volunteer opportunities. Volunteer Centres support and promote a variety of new and emerging trends in volunteering and types of volunteering including areas like youth volunteerism, corporate volunteerism, mandatory volunteerism, community service orders, educational campaigns, and governmental legislation.

Since the early days of the pioneer settlers Calgary has grown to become a vibrant, cosmopolitan city of over 1 million [ [http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/city.pdf 2008 Civic Census Summary ] ] and the spirit of volunteering is alive and well thanks to the on going work of the local volunteer centre.

tatistics on Volunteering in Calgary

* 71% of Calgarians Volunteer on average 15 hours per month. This is 20% higher than the Provincial average [2004 Canada Survey of Giving,Volunteering and Participating(Ottawa: Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada-Minister of Industry,2006)]
* There are over 5,000 non-profit organizations in the Calgary area, most of which use volunteers [Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, In Brief Issue #4, January 2008]
* 63 % of volunteers in Calgary are female, 37 % are over the age of 55, 46 % are married and 62 % have a post secondary degree [2005, IPSOS Reid Survey, Calgary]
* 65 % of volunteers in Calgary are involved with activities surrounding youth and children, but many are also active with sports and recreation (44 %), social services (42 %), education/research (41 %) and faith/religion (36 %)2006, IPSOS Reid Survey, Calgary]
* 76 % of volunteers in Calgary are driven by a desire to give back to their community, by an appreciation of volunteering as something of value for the social good, and the belief that volunteering helps volunteers feel good about themselves.
* 71% of Calgarians aged 12-18 have volunteered in in the past year. These young volunteers are motivated to volunteer due to the social aspect of volunteering,they enjoy being rewarded by the appreciation of others and they like interacting with people, they like making people happy and they appreciate the friendships that develop through volunteering.63% of young volunteers are inspired by family members who also volunteer [IPSOS Reid Survey on Youth Volunteering 2006, Calgary [There are currently over 400 organizations that benefit from the services of Volunteer Calgary . Membership is comprised of a wide range of registered charities and non-profit organizations in Calgary and area, including The Salvation Army, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta, Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary Stampede, Calgary Public Library, Ronald McDonald House Southern Alberta, EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, Girl Guides of Canada - Alberta, UNICEF Alberta, Habitat for Humanity - Calgary.

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