Challenges Facing the Voluntary Sector in Small Towns
Our research on small towns provided further insight into the key challenges facing not-for-profit organizations in rural Ontario. These relate to funding and sustainability, volunteer burn-out, leadership retention, a lack of young volunteers and transportation.
Funding and Sustainability
Overwhelmingly, organizations in small towns told us that they have very few options for growing their funding bases. A combination of factors including cash-strapped municipalities, increasing unemployment and a smaller base of corporate donors place real limits on the funding alternatives available to not-for-profit organizations from their local communities.
Claude Chabot, General Director, Radio communautaire KapNord Inc. |
Respondents noted a particular need for funding to help communities meet their infrastructure requirements. Not-for-profit organizations also need help to address their capital requirements or to enable them to move beyond their day-to-day operational activities and become more innovative.
Kimberley Payne, Executive Director & Recording Secretary, Huron United Way |
Given these constraints, it is not surprising that the sustainability of local not-for-profit organizations in small towns is an ongoing challenge. In the small towns we studied, donor fatigue is a significant issue that has an impact on sustainability. This was particularly apparent in communities that have undertaken large capital campaigns, such as the building of a large sports-and-recreation facility in Kenora or a new regional health centre in Goderich. In the wake of these campaigns, local not-for-profit organizations often find themselves competing against each other for the limited financial support that remains available.
Volunteer Burn-out
Our findings show that the towns with the strongest voluntary sectors are those with effective leaders and active social networks.
A number of towns we studied are actively pursuing a shift to tourism as a replacement for a declining manufacturing or single-industry economic base. We found that where local leaders, including those from the voluntary sector, were able to work together effectively, there were signs of success in facing the transition.
Gilbert Peters, Skill Hill Manager, Remy Ski Club |
However, we also observed ongoing challenges related to the capacity of the voluntary sector in small towns. Where we found tightly-knit networks of not-for-profit leaders, for example, we also encountered a syndrome dubbed by one of our Kapuskasing interviewees as “TLM: toujours les memes” – literally, “always the same people” working on local plans and projects together. While this level of dedication and collaboration from volunteers is a powerful contributor to local success, it can also lead to burn-out of community leaders.
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Similarly, we noted the difficulties small towns face in keeping their leaders. The opportunities available in larger communities can be a strong pull away from small towns, particularly if they are located quite close to major economic and cultural centres, as Hawkesbury is to Ottawa and Montreal. When compounded with the burn-out factor, the draw of the big city can be a very strong incentive to leave. This is a serious issue for small towns, where the impact of losing a community leader for any reason is often amplified and can result in a temporary loss of energy throughout the entire community.
Other research confirms that a small number of volunteers do most of the volunteer work in rural areas, increasing the risk of burn-out and the eventual need to recruit new volunteers13. Indeed, rural organizations in Canada report more difficulty recruiting volunteers than urban organizations – this despite a higher volunteer rate in rural areas (31 per cent in rural areas vs. 24 per cent in urban areas)14.
Leadership retention
Professional leadership roles (managerial and professional positions) are predominantly located in urban centres, a circumstance which tends to draw rural leaders to these areas. Managerial and professional skill levels decline substantially as one moves from urban to intermediate to rural regions. Consequently, compared to urban areas, organizations in rural areas have a limited pool of candidates from which to select their leaders. These factors make leadership retention a much more significant concern for rural areas.
A lack of young volunteers
In general, rural populations have an under-representation of youth aged 15-24 years, largely due to youth migration trends. Respondents from the six small towns we studied said that not-for-profit organizations are facing serious challenges in attracting and retaining young volunteers, and in developing the next generation of volunteer leaders in their communities.
These findings reinforce the Foundation’s understanding that its investments in building capacity, developing leadership and engaging communities in volunteerism are probably more important in small towns than in larger communities, where the pressures of size are less acute.
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