Strategic Dreaming Journey

Strategic Dreaming Community Survey – Closed

The Survey is now closed. Thank you for participating!

VA is gearing up for our Strategic Dreaming sessions this October with our board and staff to help set our organizational “compass” for 2024–2026. To help us prepare, we want to hear your perspective on the future of volunteerism and civic engagement. Take this short survey (7–10 mins) and let your ideas be heard. Your feedback, along with our “Radically Hopeful Futures” panel discussion and community conversations held in June and July, will help us envision a path for volunteerism and civic engagement in Alberta for years to come.

“Radically Hopeful Futures” – What We Heard Summary July 2023

To summarize all of the great ideas and fantastic discussions we heard at the “Radically Hopeful Futures” panel discussion, we have compiled a report of all the key ideas and takeaways from the illuminating conversations we had. Thank you to our insightful panelists and participants for an inspiring conversation.

Click here to download the “Radically Hopeful Futures” – What We Heard Summary July 2023

AVCN Insights & Input Towards Volunteer Alberta’s Strategic Dreaming – What We Heard Summary July 2023

Inspired by our “Radically Hopeful Futures” panel discussion, we started our Community Conversations with members from the Alberta Volunteers Centres Network in June 2023. This is a summary report of the conversation we had with members of AVCN to better understand what mattered them, and the input we gathered from this meeting helped structure our Strategic Dreaming Community Conversations in July 2023.

Click here to download the AVCN Insights & Input Towards Volunteer Alberta’s Strategic Dreaming – What We Heard Summary July 2023

Strategic Dreaming Community Conversations July 10 & 25, 2023

Thank you for attending our Community Conversations!

A “What We Heard” Report will be available mid September.

Have big dreams for the social impact/nonprofit sector? Share your audacious ideas with us! The VA board and staff team will embark on a strategic dreaming journey this September, and we want YOU to join us! Inspired by the Radically Hopeful Futures conversation during our recent AGM, we’re seeking your imaginative input on how Volunteer Alberta can become a good organizational ancestor. At these conversations, we’ll participate in some creative activities and explore ideas for what the hopeful future looks like from your perspective. Help us envision volunteerism and civic engagement in Alberta, several generations from now.

“Radically Hopeful Futures” Panel Discussion – June 13, 2023

We held our first panel discussion on “Radically Hopeful Futures” at our AGM in June, and we appreciate your participation and contribution towards creating a responsive and empowering environment for civic engagement and volunteerism in Alberta. A big thank you goes to our thought-provoking panelists, Annand OllivierreCassie Robinson, Jacquelyn Cardinal, and VA moderator Darryl De Dios, who graciously shared insights on harnessing our collective imaginations to envision alternative futures. Their expertise and passion for transformative thinking inspired everyone in the room to embrace new perspectives and strive for bold, positive change. As our 2021–2023 strategic priorities draw to a close, we will be hosting two community conversations in July to learn about what is important to our community members. These conversations will serve as a compass for our Strategic Dreaming session in the fall. We look forward to all the exciting conversations to come!

Suggested Reading and Resources

Here are some optional, additional resources you may wish to read any time before or after our community conversations. These resources may help to provide more insight on topics like futures thinking, collective imagination, systems change, and organizational ancestry.

Protopia Futures Framework by Monika Bielskyte

Murmurations – Returning to the Whole by Adrienne Maree Brown

Dancing with Systems by Donella Meadows

The Impossible Train – in Article or Video form by Phoebe Tickell

Two Loops Model: Berkana Institute’s Theory of Change (video) by Deborah Frieze

Rewilding Social Care by Bryony Shannon

Missing Words by Bryony Shannon

Remember (poem) by Joy Harjo

Convincing people that change is possible by ‘painting the beautiful tomorrow’ by Christina Palassio (interview with Anat Shenker-Osorio)

Futures Literacy: shaping your present by reimagining futures (TEDx video) by Loes Damhof

Why you should think about being a good ancestor — and 3 ways to start doing it – Bina Venkataraman

Becoming Good Ancestors: The Urgency of Long-Term Thinking by Lindsay K. Solomon

Thinking differently: Using the Seven Generations Principle by Jayla Rousseau-Thomas

How to Get Out of a Despairing Mood (video) by The School of Life

What Is ‘Futures Literacy’ and Why Is It Important? by Niklas Larsen