"Everyone seems to need volunteers right now! All the groups in our community are recruiting new volunteers. How can we attract people to our agency?"

"I have so many volunteers, I spend all my time managing them! I never get my work done. It would be easier to not even have any volunteers!"

For the first few years, we had lots of volunteers but they didn't stay long. Most of them quit after a month or two and now we have a hard time recruiting volunteers."

Do these situations sound familiar?

The volunteer environment is changing. Organizations must adapt to this new reality in order to survive and benefit.

In community based literacy, the work could not be done without the mobilization of volunteers... A dramatic increase in literacy funding would never diminish the need for volunteers, although it would certainly go a long way to enhancing the support which can maximize that volunteer potential.
(From A Guide for the Development of Policies and Procedures in Ontario's Community Literacy Agencies. Community Literacy of Ontario, 1999.)