Most non-profit organizations agree: it’s becoming harder to attract the next generation of volunteers, and members of Assistance Dogs International (ADI) are no exception.
Despite the ever-lengthening waiting lists for assistance dogs all over the world, ADI organizations from Adelaide to Zagreb share a common problem: how to get younger people to volunteer as puppy raisers, walkers and foster families.
As we celebrate this year’s year International Volunteer Day (IVD), the spotlight falls on the global shortage of younger people who give up their time and expertise to help others.
“Volunteers embody the best of humanity,” says UN Secretary General António Guterres. “Volunteers create a richer culture of service within their communities. They help bridge the gap between generations and support sustainable development.”
It’s that bridge between generations which many ADI members find challenging, despite their clients getting younger. The growing demand for dogs to support children and younger adults living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), for example, has risen exponentially, as ADI reported earlier this year. On the flip side, advances in AI-assisted wearable medical devices could mean a future reduction in the demand for diabetes, hearing or guide dogs.
Soaring waiting lists and a volunteer shortage is disrupting the training of assistance dogs - so much so that in 2023, ADI devoted International Assistance Dog Week (IADW) to a global appeal for volunteers. “Some of our members say the shortage has reached a critical stage,” said ADI Executive Director Chris Diefenthaler. “They are having to delay the placement of an assistance dog with desperate families and individuals because a shortage of volunteer puppy raisers and socializers means they can’t train assistance dogs fast enough.”
ADI members report the most frequent reasons given for not volunteering are time, money and commitment - a trend accelerated since the Covid pandemic ended in 2022, when many who had previously had spare time went back to work.
Recent data from Australia suggests the biggest decline in volunteering came in the 15-24 year old age group, with a 19 percent drop in the four years to 2020. But while it’s easy to blame self-centered youngsters for the shortage, many researchers point out that volunteering is in fact on the rise among Gen Z. Many ADI members successfully recruit and retain volunteers from their local universities and schools. As we reported two years ago, Indy-pendence Service Dogs, run by students at Illinois State University (ISU), fosters and trains assistance dogs for ADI member Paws Giving Independence. Some ADI members run campus puppy raising programs, such as Susquehanna Service Dogs, which works with student volunteer at three universities across Pennsylvania, USA.
“Research has shown that while over 90% of us want to volunteer, only 1 out of 4 Americans actually do,” says Amy Yotopoulos of the Stanford Center on Longevity. “There is a relationship between volunteering and improved physical health and cognitive function…volunteers report elevated mood and less depression, increased social interactions and social support, better relationship quality, and decreased loneliness.”
Yotopoulos suggests a new “social norm of volunteering” which starts in school and continues through employment to retirement. “In the pre-retirement years, employers could encourage increasing volunteer hours as they slowly decrease their work hours, so that retirees would be fully integrated into their meaningful volunteer roles in a gradual and seamless transition.”
According to the UN, more than 860 million adults volunteer at least once a month around the world. Why don’t you contact your nearest ADI member organization and become one of them?