Our volunteers are an important and integral part of our organization and we have had many of them over the years. The trouble is, our staff and volunteers often clash. What can we do to improve relations between the two?...
Statistics Canada released the results of its 2010 Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (CSGVP) last Wednesday. Released every three years, this iteration again provides some intriguing updates to how much (and how many) Canadians are giving back to...
For a year now, Vicky Mah and Jillian Walsh, both second-year medical students at the University of Calgary, have been volunteering their time running the student-run medical clinic at the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre in the city's downtown core....
"We need more volunteers!" is right up there with "We need more money!" in terms of the nonprofit sector's hot topics, most common gripes, and most often heard pleas. Endlessly discussed as a challenge in organizations, large and small, the...
Why is volunteer recognition so important? Why do we leave it to once a year to recognize our volunteers? How can we make a difference throughout the year? These are key questions we should be asking ourselves as we plan...
"To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice." ~ Confucius Volunteers and staff have all experienced a wayward member who is considered the loose cannon in the organization, known for wreaking havoc on boards and...
You've heard it before and you'll hear it again: Canadians are a giving bunch. With one of the largest nonprofit sectors in the world, it's estimated Canadians volunteer approximately two billion hours yearly, and an average of 168 hours each....
Evaluating volunteer programs is essential to benchmarking our progress in providing the best service to our stakeholders, but it is also an area of the volunteer management cycle that we tend to skip over. Sometimes you just don?t have the...
When homeless guests enter the Mustard Seed in Calgary Alberta, they receive more than coffee, a bagged lunch or a shaving kit. They receive a warm welcome from staff and from a volunteer who truly "gets" their situation. Like the...
According to some observers, the vast majority of internships at nonprofits and elsewhere may well be illegal. "There is widespread mischaracterization of interns as persons receiving training," says Andrew Langille, a lawyer and blogger in Toronto who specializes in employment,...
