There’s a forum in St. John’s today on the future of the volunteer and non-profit sector in a time of rising demand and shrinking volunteer base.

The Community Ideas Festival at the Emera Innovation Exchange is sold out.

Colin Corcoran, the CEO of the Community Sector Council in Newfoundland and Labrador, says they are the dreamers and doers, the ones who want to dream out loud. And they will be doing a lot of that.

He says everybody wants to connect with each other, from the $5-million organization to the $5,000 one.

Statistics Canada surveys, according to Corcoran, show that nearly 50 per cent of organizations are experiencing growth in demand but only about a quarter of those have seen an increase in capacity.

They will be discussing revenue diversification and expansion of their financial toolkit at the forum.

“We will talk about what the future workforce, both paid and unpaid, looks like; what the trends and factors shaping that workforce will look like,” says Corcoran.

“We”ll get right down to the nitty gritty and what it means for the organizations on the ground.”