Rebecca Swanson started her volunteering journey back in high school and has since volunteered for over 20 years. Swanson’s involvement in volunteerism first began when her friends started to volunteer as a way to spend more time with people she knew. However, what motivated her to volunteer after high school was the idea of supporting…
Vegreville and District FCSS encourages ‘Youth to Make a Change’ What would our nonprofit sector look like if young people built on their leadership skills by participating in their community at an executive level as volunteers? Vegreville and District FCSS is taking a unique approach to encouraging youth to volunteer through a program called, Youth…
How we can support and welcome newcomers Supporting and welcoming newcomers to Canada grows our communities and makes our communities more vibrant, diverse and strong. But, the integration process for newcomers is not easy. In 2016, Paula Speevak from Volunteer Canada wrote the following about nonprofits’ and volunteers’ roles in assisting Syrian refugees: “Integration is…
The Voice of Albertans with Disabilities advocates for full participation People with disabilities, the largest minority group in the world, struggle greatly to overcome physical, mental, emotional and social barriers. Often, those with disabilities find themselves isolated from the world due to discrimination: a sheer lack of understanding and empathy. The Voice of Albertans with…
Growing communities and risk mitigation Sometimes, our communities can grow faster than we can establish appropriate policies to meet the needs of those joining and participating with our nonprofits. When we can’t keep up with the increasing changes, this can put our organizations and communities unintentionally at risk. Volunteer screening helps foster safe communities and…
Imagine a room full of people excitedly anticipating for a concert to start. The room goes dark, lights flood the stage, and the crowd goes wild as the headliner takes the stage. But, this night isn’t just for anyone. This concert is exclusively for dedicated volunteers who generously donate their time to their community. What is…
We are excited to welcome leadership coach, Kathy Archer, to the Volunteer Alberta blog! This is the second of a two-part series on leadership and emotional intelligence. Read last week’s blog: Why successful leaders put intelligence and emotion together. Developing emotional intelligence (EI) takes time. The ability to recognize and manage your emotions requires self-reflection and personal…
We are excited to welcome leadership coach, Kathy Archer, back to the Volunteer Alberta blog! This is the first of a two-part series on leadership and emotional intelligence. You need to be smart to be a leader. You need to have training, education and intelligence to be successful. If you are a leader, that’s probably…
[su_note note_color=”#DDDAE8″ radius=”9″] Make sure you’ve read part 1 of Jodi’s story! [/su_note] Getting creative Jodi was inspired and wanted to read more about how to improve her volunteer engagement, so she dove into the Volunteer Recognition Study published by Volunteer Canada in 2013… she found it highly relevant and insightful. It highlighted that volunteer…
Our blog today is in the form of a story… one part fictional story, informed by real-world information, one part practical information that might help change the way you work, one part mindset shift that could change the way you think, and one part shameless promotion of helpful resources and information. The tale of a Volunteer Manager who…