PrintVolunteers could use a little help
An unknown author once wrote, “Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.”
While that sentiment continues to ring true today, with over 50 per cent of Albertans regularly volunteering their time, many municipal volunteer organizations are struggling to recruit and retain new members given today’s more mobile society. Faced with dwindling numbers some groups have folded, while others plod along with the same group volunteering for every event.
One possible solution exists in offering tax breaks to those residents who participate in volunteer activities with registered charities. While many volunteer groups suggest the idea is the answer to declining numbers, critics charge that the idea just doesn’t make sense.
A 2009 report commissioned by Volunteer Alberta, The Potential Impact of Canadian Federal and/or Provincial Tax Credit Incentives for Volunteer Participation, raised questions with whether offering the tax credits was truly a viable solution.
Report authors Clifford L. Spyker, of Mount Royal College, and Simon Fraser University’s John Peloza concluded that offering a federal or provincial tax credit to volunteers would have a number of negative consequences, including a reduction in cash donations to charities as well as an increase in compliance conflicts between regulators, donors and non-profit organizations (NPOs), a reduction in people’s motivation to volunteer, and the possibility of the public viewing NPOs as an example of the classic marketing exchange.
Despite the report’s warning, the idea continues to flourish – and for good reason.
Earlier this year, Penhold Fire Chief Jim Pendergast pitched a $3,000 provincial tax break for volunteer firefighters who contribute up to 200 hours of service per year as a way to better retain current firefighters while also increasing recruitment. Pendergast’s idea comes following a 2008 Volunteer Alberta report commissioned by the Alberta Fire Chiefs Association that recommended the provincial tax break.
At the same time, the federal government approved a tax break of up to $450 for volunteer firefighters who contribute a minimum of 200 hours of service to their department.
And while the number of people attending volunteer events continues to decline, some residents have begun calling on their municipal governments to offer a small property tax break as an incentive to encourage more people to volunteer.
The question is how much of a break is fair? At a time where the economy is still struggling to turn around, can municipalities afford to offer residents a break? And how much do they offer? What may seem like a huge amount to one perspective volunteer will undoubtedly seem unreasonably low to others.
But faced with smaller and smaller volunteer pools to draw from, one or two possible new volunteers might be exactly what these groups need.
It’s not a foreign concept. Numerous municipalities in the United States currently offer a tax break to senior citizens who take the time to volunteer.
In 2010 an executive officer with the Simsbury, Ct. town council championed the idea of offering seniors a tax break in exchange for volunteering at local schools. According to an Aptil 5, 2010 article written in the Simsbury News, one Connecticut town, Rocky Hill, budgeted $10,000 in 2009-10 for a “senior tax defrayal program” which paid seniors $8.25 per hour up to a maximum of 50 hours of volunteer activities per school year. The program is administered by the local school board and could mean a maximum rebate of $412.50 per senior.
A similar program, or one expanded to include a younger segment of the population, might just be enough to spur some new interest in local volunteering.
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