May 4, 2026
This is the second article in a four-part series entitled The Evolution of the CVITP – 2025 Update. This article focuses on what I call the infrastructure supporting the delivery of services to CVITP clients, using data published by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). There is a companion piece to this article which provides the data as well as any limitations and interpretations I make of this.
Host organizations
There were 3,580 host organizations providing CVITP services in 2025. This represents a 2% increase over 2024. As can be seen from the chart below, this is still below the peak of 3,810 reached in 2020, the year when public health restrictions related to COVID shut down in-person clinics.
Introduced in 2021 with the intention of encouraging greater participation by community-based organizations in the CVITP, the CRA’s pilot grant project aimed to increase the number of host organizations by 5% annually. For the various reasons why the pilot project was not successful, you can read my analysis of the pilot project here as a well as a recent update I wrote following the release of new data.
The figure for 2020 could be misleading as it likely represents the number of host organizations that were registered to offer CVITP service at the outset of the 2020 tax season. As COVID health restrictions were introduced mid season, in-person clinics were shut down. It seems that most host organizations shut their doors and only a small number chose to offer virtual clinics during the remainder of the 2020 tax season. It may be more realistic to use the number of 3,560 for the 2019 tax season as the peak for registration of host organizations.
Since 2020, the number of host organizations has rebounded very slowly. It is only in 2025 that the number of host organizations surpassed the previous peak, modestly by some 20 organizations.
It is reasonable to assume that strong growth in the number of host organizations is necessary for improving greater access to CVITP services.
Volunteers
There were 19,810 CVITP volunteers in 2025, representing a 10% increase over 2024. This surpasses the previous peak, set in 2019, of 19,240 volunteers. Nevertheless, it represents a decline in growth from 2024, which experienced a 13% increase in the number of volunteers. It is reasonable to assume that strong growth in the number of volunteers is necessary for improving greater access to CVITP services.
The CRA counts anyone who works on the CVITP as a volunteer. This includes the staff from host organizations who work on their CVITP clinics as part of their job. However, I use the term “volunteer” here to mean only those individuals who work on the CVITP for no remuneration. This latter group is smaller than the total number of volunteers reported on by the CRA, although by how much is unclear. What is clear is that the number of host organizations registered significantly affects this figure.
To partially offset the distorting effect of counting staff as volunteers, I assume that one person per host organization is staff and not a volunteer in the sense I mean. (This is a conservative assumption: in some cases, it could be more than one staff person.)
My adjusted volunteer estimate (AVE) for 2025 is 16,230, which is also higher than the previous peak of 15,680 set in 2019.
Volunteers at host organizations
Some of the longer serving CVITP volunteers are unaffiliated with host organizations. However, in the past decade, the CRA has insisted that all new volunteers become affiliated with at least one host organization.
I take the adjusted volunteer estimate (AVE) and compare it with the number of host organizations to derive the average AVE per host organization. In 2025, this was 4.5, still less than the peak reached in 2017.
A rising AVE per host organization suggests that host organizations are generally proving more successful in recruiting new volunteers and retaining experienced volunteers. It is reasonable to assume that the higher the ratio of volunteers to host organizations, the greater is the likelihood of CVITP service quality offered to clients. This is because it increases the likelihood of experienced volunteers working in host organizations.
To read about the most recent trends in CVITP productivity, see Part 3 – CVITP Service Productivity.