Report finds that giving back to the community includes more than volunteering
Credit to Author: Kevin Griffin| Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2019 15:00:31 +0000
Traditional methods of measuring participation don’t the whole story of how much British Columbians are involved in their communities.
A new report by the Vancouver Foundation has found that people in B.C. are giving back in a number of unconventional ways.
Instead of making big donations that generate tax receipts, for example, they’re giving in smaller amounts such as contributing to causes at the grocery store check out and buying chocolate bars from sports groups.
Expanding the definition of participation is one of the things the Vancouver Foundation wanted to do with the report said Kevin McCort, the foundation’s president and CEO.
“Historically people have looked at it through a narrow lens of volunteering or donating,” he said.
“We wanted to recognize that people are participating in a much broader way. We expanded the definition. We felt it would give us a more accurate picture of how people are doing that.”
Participating can include joining online advocacy campaigns, contributing to crowdfunding, boycotting a company or product, and wearing a ribbon, button or bracelet to support an issue.
“I think it helped reframe and recognize the ways people are participating,” McCort said.
A Snapshot of Community Participation in B.C. , released Oct. 3, is part of the national Vital Signs research project. The findings are based on online interviews with 7,980 people. The margin of error of plus or minus one per cent.
The report found that 89 per cent are donating money to a cause or charity, and 62 per cent are volunteering their time to a cause or charity.
A total of 92 per cent of people in B.C. believe they can have at least some impact in making their community a better place; 54 per cent believe they can have a big or moderate impact.
“People believe in the individual’s capacity to make their communities better,” the report says in its conclusion.
“We also want to balance this optimism with a recognition that there’s still important work to do to ensure all British Columbians feel welcome and empowered to contribute to their communities.”
While there are high numbers of people who are already involved, McCort said, the report suggests many want to get more involved. About a quarter of people surveyed said they didn’t know how to do that.
“To me, that represents an untapped resource for organizations or causes,” he said. “It presents a lovely challenge: if you want to involve them you have to respect the barriers they face and create events or opportunities that aren’t time consuming that fit into people’s lives.”
Dacious Richardson.
One of the thousands of people in B.C. giving back to their community is Dacious Richardson. The 22-year-old refugee from Monrovia, Liberia, came to Canada in 2011.
When he first arrived, he had no friends and didn’t know anyone.
“In the community, I didn’t have any connection. How can I meet friends? That was really difficult,” Richardson said. “I thought: ‘Maybe I can do something for the youths and do something to bring them together.’ So I started a soccer tournament.”
In its first year, the tournament for youths aged 13 to 21 had about 55 participants. This past summer, it grew to 400 players, and included girls for the first time.
In a quote in the report, he said volunteering in Canada has had a big impact in his life.
Richardson said the tournament has allowed him to explore his passion for “youth engagement and community building and put my ideas into action.”
Other findings in the report include:
• Of the 89 per cent who give money to support a cause, 55 per cent purchase goods such as chocolates, 48 per cent give spontaneously at, for example, a grocery check out, and 39 per cent contribute online. (Respondents were able to choose multiple answers)
• Of the 42 per cent of British Columbians who have taken some form of action to support reconciliation, 36 per cent have read, watched, or listened to information, 26 per cent have re-examined their own perceptions and attitudes, and 17 per cent have attended an event to learn about the experiences of Indigenous people. (Respondents were able to choose multiple answers)
*The biggest gap between reporting donations on taxes and donating money to a cause was among those aged 18 to 24 (called iGens). While 79 per made some kind of financial contribution, only 29 per cent reported those donations. The reasons why Canadians of all age groups don’t report charitable contributions can include losing receipts and feeling that the amount wouldn’t make a significant impact in their tax return.
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