Celebrating the TRUE value of volunteering

It is International Volunteer Day this week. You will quite rightly see a lot of posts and hear a lot from organisations about how much they value volunteers and what volunteers contribute to our communities.

You might also see posts sharing some pretty impressive data, such as this one from the Canadian Knowledge Hub for Giving and Volunteering.

“Volunteers contribute approximately 2 billion hours of service every year in Canada. This is equivalent to over 1 million full-time jobs and showcases the power of volunteering in terms of societal impact.”

But does it really showcase the impact?

While quantitative data, or numbers, can help to draw the outline of a picture of the impact of volunteering, it will never be able to add the colour, the texture or the story to the image that makes it come alive.

I am reminded of a quote in an article by one of my favourite volunteer engagement researchers and authors, Sue Carter Kahl…

“We can spend a lot of time generating indicators and perfecting measurement. But some forms of impact will resist our attempts to count and corral it. Sometimes the best we can do is to witness it. And be grateful to be present to its mystery.” 

Trading Measurement for Witnessing, 16 April 2021

What are your thoughts?