Acknowledgements Valuable assistance in preparation of this study was provided by

Views and opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect policies or positions of sponsoring organizations. 1Abstract A detailed statistical portrait of the estimated 7.5 million Canadians who give more than the national median of 66 hours of their time each year as volunteers was produced using logistic regression techniques applied to a data file containing 18,301 cases from Canada’s 1997 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating. This report profiles the most salient characteristics of active volunteers. At the national level, the key characteristic that universally sets active volunteers apart from others is their high level of involvement in a variety of other forms of contributing and participating such as charitable giving, informal volunteering, social activity, and civic participation. They are also likely to have above-average education and occupation, and to have children under the age of 17 in a larger than average household. The study also reveals how active volunteers have different patterns of distinctive characteristics in different regions and communities of different size across the country. 2Introduction In recent years, the roles and responsibilities pertaining to the provision of public goods have been shiftin