Tools For Solidarity: New Resource Alert!
We all know breaking a mirror doesn't actually bring seven years of bad luck. Yet many of us still cross our fingers when sending volunteer recruitment emails, knock on wood after posting opportunities online, and hope against hope that this time, somehow, people will stick around.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: while most of us have outgrown childhood fears of black cats and cracked sidewalks, we cling to equally irrational beliefs about volunteer engagement that are just as damaging to our movements.
The Real Bad Luck? Statistics Canada's Latest Wake-Up Call
The numbers don't lie. Formal volunteering in Canada dropped from 41% in 2018 to 32% in 2023. We've lost the equivalent of 451,000 full-time volunteer positions. Meanwhile, 24% of people who apply to volunteer roles never hear back.
These aren't just statistics—they're symptoms of organisations treating volunteer management like it's governed by luck rather than evidence-based practices.
Breaking The Spell: Superstitions Holding Back Your Volunteer Engagement Strategy
Jessica Pang-Parks is an award-winning volunteer engagement thought leader and Terra Loire Gillespie is a community focused digital strategist. Seeing the challenges in our sector the two of us decided to build something. Breaking The Spell: Superstitions Holding Back Your Volunteer Engagement Strategy is a free guide full of practical tools, rich insights, and equity focused strategies. Inside you’ll find:
Welcome email series that centre volunteer experience over organisational needs
Engagement surveys that treat listening as leadership
Flexible opportunities that accommodate varying capacity and availability
Privacy practices that build trust while ensuring compliance
Building Movements That Don't Depend on Luck
The organisations successfully navigating Canada's volunteer engagement crisis share one characteristic: they've stopped treating volunteer management as something governed by chance and started building systems rooted in mutual respect and community care.
Ready to transition your approach? Download "Breaking the Spell: How Your Superstitions Are Holding Back Your Volunteer Engagement Strategy" for practical guidance on evidence-based volunteer engagement that strengthens communities rather than extracting from them.