Present

• represents hundreds of Members across all sub-sectors, such as arts and culture, social services, education and health. Members include individual community organizations, municipalities, Family and Community Support Services organizations, and many others.
• stands as an expert and key voice for volunteerism and the voluntary sector.
• expanded its Membership to include a network of 28 Volunteer Centres across rural and urban Alberta.
• works at the local level across Alberta –both urban and rural– to serve the needs of volunteers and connect volunteers with the community organizations.

2010

Adopting the mantra – never give up – paid off in spades when after two unsuccessful applications to the Rural Alberta Development Fund, Rural Community Leadership Program proposal was accepted by the RADF board.

Volunteer Alberta received a two year grant from the Rural Alberta Development Fund to assist in facilitating leadership and skills development training for rural Alberta’s non-profit and voluntary sector (NPVS) organizations. This project is led by Volunteer Alberta in partnership with Alberta Culture and Community Spirit Community Development Branch, with support from the Community Learning Network, and volunteer centres across the province. The Rural Volunteer Leadership Program works with multi-sector stakeholders to develop a competency framework for senior leadership and management volunteers. A one-stop portal (PD Broker) will be developed enabling NPVS learners to connect directly with service providers who offer professional development learning opportunities. A team of trained individuals will work with the rural NPVS organizations throughout Alberta to evaluate their existing competencies, identify professional development opportunities that will continue to enhance the capacity of the NPVS organizations to meet the changing needs and priorities of their organizations and the broader sector. By strategically developing the competencies of rural community leaders, organizations, and networks, the Rural Community Leadership Program will help ensure the sustainability of rural NPVS organizations and rural services, and by extension, the long-term viability and prosperity of rural communities.

2009

The traditional focus of volunteer screening to screen people out of the program needed a radical adjustment. Screening Volunteers In…Not Out! Impacted organizations across the province as an alternative to volunteer recruitment programs that were tired and increasingly ineffective.

Volunteer Alberta and Wild Rose Foundation partnered to create a Volunteer Alberta Screening program, to give voluntary organizations a better understanding of what screening is and provide a 10 step screening process to assist their organizations in strengthening their own screening programs.

A three year effort to address the inequities and public policy impact of police detachments charging volunteers for accessing police information checks finally paid off. The Government of Alberta,through Culture and Community Spirit and the Safe Communities Initiative, funded the implementation of the Volunteer Police Information Check Program (VPICP). The program, administered by Volunteer Alberta,  covers a nonprofit/voluntary sector organization`s costs to access police information checks (PICs) as one part of volunteer screening for volunteers working with at-risk Albertans. The need to impact outcomes encouraged Volunteer Alberta to require organizations applying for a VOAN (volunteer organization authorization number) to produce evidence of policies and practices that reflect either the 10 step screening process or a similar risk management strategy.

Unexpectedly, the provincial government eliminated the funding to the Wild Rose Foundation, a landmark funding program recognized nationally as an integral part of government support to the volunteerism. Volunteer Alberta vigorously communicated with MLAs to advise of the impact of the loss of nearly $9 million to the sector but to no avail.

Volunteer Alberta brokered an agreement between The Muttart Foundation, TransCanada, and the Government of Alberta to fund to research on Alberta-specific results of the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP) 2007. Sector research –education, social services, arts and culture, health and social services – is important and the results impact volunteer engaging organizations across the province. Presentations encouraging sector leaders to revise their recruitment and retention strategies based on the findings are widely popular.

2009 Sector Connector Casino funding issue

Volunteer Alberta raised concerns that the elimination of the volunteer component in staffing casinos would lead Alberta to adopt the model of every other Canadian province. Alberta is the only province that allows nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations to receive pooled proceeds from the casino revenues. The alternative is that government would receive the proceeds and then distribute them as deemed appropriate removing the ability of the sector to determine on how best to meet community needs. The casino decision is yet to be made public.

Volunteer Alberta and other nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations in Alberta were successful in shaping the policy outcome of the Personal Information Protection Amendment Act of 2009 to not require all nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations to comply with PIPA regulations. Instead of legislating change, collaborative actions between the provincial government and the sector are underway to implement and increase nonprofit/voluntary sector best practices for protecting personal information.

2008

Community Guard

Community Conversations designed specifically for Executive Directors and Boards of Volunteer Centres profiles the leading edge work of Volunteer Vancouver’s People Lens – a radically different approach to human resources – both volunteer and staff. People Lens approach requires leaders to consider delivering services through the lens of gathering skilled people rather than just through dollars.

2007

In Alberta, Volunteer Week continues to increase awareness of the value of volunteerism and encourage the development of networks and collaborative partnerships across the province. Involvement has grown steadily to over 140 communities.Volunteer Alberta continues its pivotal role in the Insurance Tool Kit project and continues to work with an insurance professional in delivering general insurance seminars to provincial organizations and Director and Officers Liability Insurance seminars to 8 communities.

Premier Stelmach, outlines the Community Spirit Program to financially support the sector through matching grants and enhanced tax credits. There was debate over whether only CRA registered nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations could apply or whether organizations registered only under the Alberta Societies Act would be included. Volunteer Alberta led a massive communications campaign to have organizations registered solely under Alberta Societies Act complete the government’s survey and indicate their need to be included in the granting criteria. The campaign was successful. Community Spirit Funds were granted for the first time in 2008 to 1,496 organizations.

Volunteer Alberta uses its voice for volunteerism in Alberta

Volunteer Alberta delivered a submission to the Alberta Legislative Assembly on Bill 1 – The Lobbyist Act. Focusing on the impact on the Nonprofit/Voluntary Sector, Volunteer Alberta profiled what this legislation – originally intended to make the necessary process of interaction between business and government transparent – would do to an already ‘stretched’ sector. Its respected voice in concert with CCVO, ECVO and The Muttart Foundation, convinced the government to reconsider the original bill. Government amended the wording and the majority of nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations are able to connect with the elected representatives without fear of running afoul of the Lobbyist Act.

2006

Volunteer Alberta is a founding member of the Alberta Voluntary Sector Insurance Council (AVSIC). Creation, distribution and presentation of the Alberta Voluntary Sector Insurance Council Tool Kit connects nonprofit organizations to answers about the complexity of insurance coverage.
Volunteer Week Fall Round Tableexpanded province-wide. The round table moved out of Edmonton into five communities to encourage participation from smaller organizations. The event encourages discussion and brainstorming, for upcoming Volunteer Weeks. We placed a priority on recognizing geographic specific issues to accommodate rural uniqueness in order to build capacity.On September 25, the new Government of Canada announced that it would no longer support several Voluntary Sector Initiatives, programs, and organizations. Volunteer Alberta was significantly impacted, as the Canada Volunteerism Initiative contract accounted for approximately 67% of its budget. Volunteer Centres could no longer apply for partnership funding for specific leadership projects in their communities. Knowledge transfer initiatives were abruptly halted.

Volunteer Alberta recognized the folly of reliance on public funding and developed a social enterprise approach to undertake consulting contracts on the sector.

Funding was renewed for an unprecedented fourth year from the Wild Rose Foundation.

Volunteer Alberta applied to the Business Co-op program for the first time. The success of the first placement leads to a successful continuing relationship with four more students over the next four years.

2004

The Volunteer Alberta/Wild Rose Foundation Provincial Volunteer Week Initiative expanded to 137 communities throughout Alberta.

2005

Volunteer Alberta created an advisory council of nonprofit/voluntary subsector leaders to ensure that the CVI outcomes were realized across the sector (i.e. faith, arts and culture, education, etc.)

The second Fall Round Table featured sector leaders discussing the need to adapt to changing demographics in communities and the impact on volunteerism in the 21st century.

Employee retention is addressed. The ability to lead volunteer engagement in their organizations requires skilled, knowledgeable staff. Volunteer Alberta partners with OASSIS to provide effective and affordable employee benefits. The nonprofit sector recognizes OASSIS benefits as a major retention factor to Alberta’s hardworking, largely female sector staff.

2002

The profile of 2001 United Nations International Year of the Volunteer (IYV) resulted in a federal initiative to increase the capacity of the sector through three funding programs. A five year contract from Volunteer Canada to host the Canada Volunteerism Initiative (CVI) in Alberta was created. The CVI represents the first ongoing program, implemented under the broader Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI) which focused on strengthening the relationship between the sector and the government and enhancing the capacity of the voluntary sector.

2001

1997

1994

1990

Volunteer Alberta is mandated to support Volunteer Centres, National Volunteer Week programs, and to strive to create a network of Alberta’s Volunteer Centres for the purpose of sharing ideas and promoting volunteerism. 35 communities participate in National Volunteer Week, and Volunteer Alberta’s founding Board members laid the foundation for its leadership. The Wild Rose Foundation supported the position costs of a part time Coordinator. Capacity organizations were a relatively new concept, but despite minimal limited human and financial resources, Volunteer Alberta developed networking opportunities throughout the sector. Newsletters, provincial National Volunteer Week program support, and the organization of bi-annual conferences focusing on topics relevant to volunteerism gradually increased the provincial awareness of the powerful social investment by volunteers.  Volunteer Alberta’s successes, influence and reach allowed them to tackle common issues to find collaborative solutions.