Social

• Better health care, longer life expectancy and aging baby boomers are increasing the number of seniors.
• Early retirements create a valuable resource of people with high skill levels.
• Motivation for volunteering is changing. It is no longer just to help someone.
• Our society is becoming more multi-cultural and more diverse. There is a growing interest in building a strong civic society, developing leadership skills and acknowledging the value of volunteers.
• People are more aware of safety issues -- especially with vulnerable populations.
• Volunteers expect more professionalism in their experiences.
• Increased competition among organizations for volunteers, money, and people.
• Family volunteering is increasing.

Political

• There is an increasing government interest in the third sector e.g. the Ontario Honours and Awards Program for Volunteerism, Broadbent Report and federal Connecting Canadians initiative.
• Increasing demand to demonstrate accountability and impacts of volunteer programs.
• As government support decreases, organizations are competing to raise money to support their work.
• Increasing need for "fund-raisers".
• Organizations are rethinking their services in order to fit in with economic realities.
• All students in Ontario will need to have 40 hours of community involvement to graduate from high school, starting with Grade 9's in fall 1999.

Economic

• Reduced government funding requires agencies to ?do more with less?. C. Economic pressures may result in the merging of related organizations. C. Volunteer organizations need to become proficient at writing proposals and developing partnerships to be eligible for funding programs C. More people running home businesses means difficulties in reaching this resource of volunteers. C. Increasingly corporate sponsorship wants tangible, concrete projects i.e. parks, buildings etc.

Technology

• Organizations need computer expertise and up to date equipment as they recognize the value of embracing new technology.
• New technology opens door for online training, meetings and virtual volunteering.

All of these factors need to be taken into consideration as we recruit new volunteers and also maintain our current volunteer base. The questions in the discussion section will get you thinking about how this relates to your organization.