There’s no sugar coating it: Volunteerism over the past decade has skydived- since the 2007 financial crisis, we’ve reversed from gaining 3 million new helpers every year to losing 4 million. So what’s causing this? Did we just all turn into bad people after 2007? We don’t think so. In fact, over 90% of people today report wanting to help around in any way they can. So why aren’t they? When you ask people why they don’t volunteer, research suggests that the majority will have one of three answers: it takes too much time, it’s uninteresting, or they don’t feel that they’re really helping. This, with increasing pressures around us, whether they be societal, financial, or otherwise, has led to the decay of volunteerism. Today, less than a third of students report to have volunteered in their lifetime. If this trend continues, where will the soup kitchens go? Where will the unfortunate go when they starve, or when they lack shelter? Who will be there to uphold our societal responsibility to one another? Civilia is our answer to this growing issue. Marketed as a place for anyone, anywhere, anytime to volunteer- this is the revolution we need to bring back our society. At Civilia, our self-guided opportunities make volunteering take significantly less time without mitigating impact. We’re working with a team of behavioural psychologists to make volunteerism not only interesting, but exciting. And by matching civilians to opportunities based on their skills, we’re helping them help the most. With all these things together, the support of amazing people, and a bit of pixie dust- we hope to not only reverse the decline of volunteerism in the last decade, but to put it back in vogue. Civilia is on a mission to bring back giving back. Our volunteers aren’t just volunteers, they’re civilians. That’s because we’re turning Civilian into something that’s cool, something that shows that we’re improving the environment around us-- we’re turning civilian into a verb.