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commentary Credit Where Credit Is Due. by Kadi-Rae Madreus Vice-President N\'CAC What do ihesc people have in common? Charles is an executive financial analyst with a major wood pulp manufacturer. Sammy (lips hamburger-. Hi a trend) Robson Street cafe. Jacinthe is looking forward lo graduating from the police academy next month and joining ihe police force. These people seem worlds apart in their job training and skills, yet they all have one thing in common. They all volunteer some of iheir free time to a non-profit community organization. "Approximately 53 million volunteers contributed over one billion hours of their time believe that a community full of volunteers can bring the population together: he it to support the young or the old. the handicapped or those who arc artistic and hv ing amongst us. Volunteers get to know one another, ihey support and encourage the participation of the population in community affairs and they arc a source of community energy and spirit that everyone can tap into. Some may argue that volunteerism docs not contribute to the national economy and that to grant tax credits would therefore take money from the public purse. While volunteerism is a quiet force working behind the scenes, it docs i in its quiet w ay I make a surprisingly mighty financial contribution If volunteerism was an unknown concept, and the hours of work currently done by volunteers (one billion, sec quote 1) was done by paid workers (at a modest ten dollar, an hour), the bill to the charitable organizations and therefore the supporting and subsidizing governments would conservatively run to ten billion dollars jusi to maintain the current level of service! Volunteer workers save the government, and therefore the taxpayer, billions of dollars a year. B) offering tax credits to volunteers, the federal government would be encouraging people to volunteer therefore reducing the cost of subsidised non-profit organizations. Not all volunteers would bother io increase their tax form workload, hul others would welcome the tax relief. At five dollars tax credit per volunteer hour, even a substantial contribution of ten volunteer hours a week would only merit a S2,5(K) credit. Someone w ishing to take advantage of this credit system would have to volunteer forty hours a week to see a SI0.000 credit, an unlikely scheme indeed! The value to the community of those hours and the accurate accumulation of them would be strictly monitored by the non-profii organization. The possibilities are endless. The opportunities arc great. I would like to sec Canada support its communities in this way and therein create a country that cares more deeply about the individual. After all. a country can only be as activity in the study was not to measure space needs but rather, to discuss the organization's mandate. What space planners have discovered over the years is that "new facilities" is not necessarily the only or the correct answer to an organization's space problems. Frequently, when I asked a group what it intended to do w ith the additional space they sought, the answer was "more of what we are doing now". That answer suggests that the organization has not thought about what other possibilities exist for them to do different things, or to do things differently, and therefore it leads to our asking the organization: do you have a mission or mandate statement? What does it say your purposes are" In many instances, the organization has no mission statement and we therefore develop one together. The process of writing a mission statement or reconsidering the existing statement is one of ihe most important exercises in ihe process of determining space needs. All cultural organizations get trapped by ihe recognition of how very many things need to be done and part of the mission writing or clarification process involves recognizing that it is not the mandate of any one organization to do everything. In deciding what they will do, what they will not do and how they will do what they have chosen to do, the organization becomes more clear about what sorts of activities require what sorts of spaces, what human and financial resources are required, the liming for when both the finances and the people will be required, what spaces the human resources (paid, volunteer, attending members of the community) require, and how the space needs to be organized, i For example, if you expect crates of artworks or theatre sets to be delivered, the loading bay has to be at the right height tor delivery vans, near the room where the crates will be unpacked, and relatively near the office of the person responsible for the works.) In the fifteen years I have been doing this kind of work. 1 have discovered an excessive number of examples of new or adapted facilities that have much improved space for programs and terrible working space for staff and volunteers. This is usually due to groups' nol thinking enough about how the work gets done or the needs of ihe people who do the m were equivalent to 530.000 fullforty hours each week for forty eight weeks)r (i) The service provided by volunteers is such an importani contribution to the economic and emotional health of our communities and country 1 propose that volunteerism should be acknowledged and appreciated through tax credit dollars for voluntary hours served. "Bui hold on.'" says the Canadian taxpayer, "is il not true that one of the basic concepts behind volunteerism is the fact thai volunteers arc noi paid?" Nol so. By definition.... "Volunteer fv.ij: Voluntarily performing any act or service; undertaking an act or service If not I, who? If not now, when? \ olunleerism has a broad base in the western Judeo-Chrisiian community from Biblical times people have been encouraged to offer themselves in service to Ciod by doing charitable work. The Bible clearly deals with money a> a necessary evil; to connect money with any sen ice for God could be seen as being sacrilegious. The traditional religious altitude of self-sacrifice in volunteerism is also prevalent today in secular v olunleerism; this accounts for the contemporary impression that volunteers are never paid. The military has. over the centuries, depended /. Statistics Canada - Labour and Household Surveys Anal\si\ Division. Giving Freely · Volunteers in Canada. 71-535. #4, 19H8. 2. Compai t Edition. Oxford English Dictionary. 1971. Facility Studies by Brenda Bertk Cultural Development Officer North Shore Arts Commission There has been much talk about facilities studies and facilities needs on (he North Shore in the past few months. Some of this talk has been as a result of the work of A.C.T.l.O.N. West Van towards the development of theatre space in the vacated Wcsi Van Odeon Theatre. A good deal of the discussion has been generated because of the regional cultural facilities study which is being carried out by Cornerstone Planning Group for the North Shore Arts Commission In the work I did before coming to the Ans Commission. I worked frequently with arts groups on facilities planning and facilities feasibility studies. The studies were a result of a particular organization's recognizing that it didn't have enough space to do what it wanted lo do. or the space wasn't appropriate (too crowded, wrong shape, inadequate ventilation, and so on). So. the group was always startled to discover that the first Most of those who volunteered did so of their honour. But. on occasion, extra pay was offered as an incentive because of the extra risk involved above and beyond the call of duty Therefore, volunteerism does not have to be isolated from receiving payment. This act ol "stepping out" should be rewarded, in a note of thanks, a gift or a lax credit. A hundred year- ago it would not have been unusual to hear of a handicapped or very elderly person being looked after within the family or the community People stayed within those communities for the duralion of their lifetime. They developed a sense of togetherness .ind looked after one another in a way thai does nol exist any more. Today, young peoplego away to attend university employees are transferred from one cat) to another, retirees pull up roots and move to warmer climates, communities lose their roots and continuity because they lose their people. However, beyond religious institutions and schools. I The job ol discovering community needs for cultural facilities, clarify ing space needs and identifying ways to meet those needs requires extensive planning time. As people and organizations wonder w here 'another survey" and "all these meetings" fit into a facilities study, it is important to remember the facilities that work most effectively arc those thai have had the thoughtful planning.