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There are options! Nonprofit Sector Employee Benefits

Published on: May 31, 2012Category: Blog

On Tuesday, Volunteer Alberta hosted a two-hour interactive discussion on employee benefits in the nonprofit/voluntary sector! Mike Babichuk, our resident expert, answered questions about employee benefits. Here are the questions, and answers to what people wanted to know about employee benefits:

Q – Rachel McBeath Hi Mike! I just started with a small organization (6 People) and we don’t have any kind of benefit plan…Are we just too small to have benefits?

A – Mike Babichuk Not at all Rachel, OASSIS can provide benefits to even a single person organization. We of course can also provide those same benefits to 1000’s

Q – Rachel McBeath Are we limited in what we can get because we are smaller?? I hear that benefits can be really expensive for smaller places like the one I work with

A – Mike Babichuk Size for the most part is irrelevant. OASSIS offers 6 different plans with a number of options in each plan which can be tailored to everyone’s needs and budget. OASSIS is very competitive as we do not use brokers and all savings are passed on to our customers.

Q – Doray Veno Hello Mike, Would June 15th morning work for you to do a VC presentation to the Hanna Learning Centre Board? Thanks Doray

Q – Doray Veno What organizational information do you require to provide a quote?

A – Mike Babichuk June 15 is fine for me Doray, just confirm the logistics as soon as you can. As for a quote I actually don’t need any information as I would provide you a secure website location where you would answer just a few questions and you would receive a quote usually within 48 hours. I would of course be available to answer any questions during the process if you require.

Q – Rachel McBeath Not to ask you too many questions Mike…but in talking with the girls here, where do we begin with benefit plans? Like what are standard benefits that we should probably look at getting? Can they be set up to be different for different people in the organization?

A – Mike Babichuk Love the questions; very thoughtful and pertinent. Although I did say plans are highly customizable they are for the group as a whole not individually. So whatever is chosen for benefits is for everyone within the group. Having said that most plans cover the gambit of benefits most individuals require. There are a couple of ways of making choices; what can we as an organization afford or what benefits do we want to provide to retain our existing staff or recruit staff for future growth. Plans are very flexible so you can start for example with a Standard Plan that covers 80% of most prescription & dental services right up to 100% coverage. You also have choices on optional benefits like short & long term disability, dependent life, counselling services (EAP) and health spending accounts. Hope I answered your question.

Q – Maxine Charlton I have my own business; can I set up a benefit plan if it is a sole proprietorship?

A – Mike Babichuk To your question sorry we can’t provide benefits for self-employed persons just for paid staff. I know it may seem like splitting hairs but OASSIS was created to provide benefits for volunteer and not for profit organizations.

Thanks to everyone who posed some great questions about benefits. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Mike via email or by phone 780.482.3300 ext.238 or visit the OASSIS website at http://www.oassisplan.com/

Mike Babichuk
OASSIS Sales and Marketing Leader

Okotoks Engages in Knowledge Exchange

Published on: May 15, 2012Category: Blog

I was excited to have the opportunity to travel to the fine community of Okotoks to participate in the Selling the Invisible workshop presented by my fellow KnEC colleague, Diane Huston.  I was quite impressed with Diane’s ability to engage the audience with meaningful anecdotes, which supported learning opportunities and course content. Further, Diane’s very evident knowledge of the voluntary sector really added value to this workshop.

Audience participation/engagement can make or break a presentation, and the 12 participants who took time out of their very busy work schedule to attend Selling the Invisible, were so engaged that they stayed an additional 30 minutes to share their own knowledge and ask questions.  Seeing this kind of participation, I was once again reminded about the commitment and dedication of the countless individuals who participate in over 20,000 nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations in Alberta.

The essence of the Knowledge Exchange Coordinator position is “to engage nonprofit/voluntary sector organizations across Alberta to enhance organizations’ capacity to provide programs and service to communities.”  Further, I see the KnEC role as one being about gathering strategies and information on effective volunteer engagement from people in the nonprofit/voluntary sector and disseminating that knowledge to others around Alberta.

Of the many tips discussed at the workshop on volunteer engagement, one participant shared this strategy on volunteer recruitment: “When holding any kind of volunteer appreciation event, encourage your volunteers to bring a friend.”  By bringing friends to an appreciation party, the newcomers will get firsthand experience  on how volunteers are treated and recognized, what other community members are in attendance, the variety of ways an organization engages volunteers, and what the overall culture is within the organization.   In so many ways, this really makes sense to me. The likelihood of a “good” volunteer bringing someone who has the same core values and beliefs is, in my opinion, quite likely.

If you have any questions about the role of KnECs in your community or Volunteer Alberta, I would be very happy to answer your questions.  You can reach me at 780.482.3300 (toll free in Alberta 1.877.915.6336) ext. 231 or by email at aollivierre@volunteeralberta.ab.ca

What I learnt by listening

Published on: April 17, 2012Category: Blog

A few months ago I sat in on a presentation of The Art of Selling the Invisible – one of Volunteer Alberta’s newest workshops, helping organizations market their volunteer opportunities to recruit new volunteers, as well as retain their current volunteers. One of my key takeaways was the need to conduct satisfaction interviews with your current volunteers – see if they’re happy in their role, happy with the way the organization works, and ask if there are any areas they’d like to expand into within the organization.

One of my volunteer activities is managing a completely volunteer-run online magazine, Sound and Noise, so I decided to apply that learning to my own organization. It had never occurred to me to actually ask our volunteers whether they were happy with their experience, which is strange because the reason I began managing the magazine was that I was dissatisfied with my own experience.

While the prospect of sitting down with our volunteers and asking for feedback on how I was doing seemed daunting, I was surprised at how easy the process ended up being. The Editor and I sat down to decide what questions we wanted to start with. I was a little wary, as the four questions we came up with seemed so basic. I wasn’t sure if we would get the feedback we wanted (or needed!) from our questions, but I decided to give it a shot.

We decided to ask:

  • General check in – what do you want to do more of? What do you want to do less of? Are there any particular skills you’d like to improve by being involved with Sound and Noise?
  • If you weren’t a writer, would you read Sound and Noise? Why or why not? What would make you a regular reader?
  • Do you find our writing workshops helpful? How do you feel about the quality of writing on the magazine?
  • How is the writing and editing process? How can we improve it?

I was blown away by the responses I got.

Once I bought our volunteers a coffee and sat down to chat with them, they completely opened up about everything that is right – and wrong – with the magazine. But more than that, they were more than willing to give me concrete suggestions for things I should keep the same and ways I could improve their experience. I went into my meetings expecting to hear general comments such as, “I like the atmosphere” or, “I want to improve my articles,” but I ended up hearing things like:

  • You should highlight the events you think we should review.
  • The workshops are great, but can we do more workshops about concept pieces?
  • I’m interested in helping out with the editorial process.

On top of all the great suggestions I got directly from the people who see “the other side” of the work I do, I got the sense that the volunteers were happy they were able to contribute in a different way to the magazine. In turn, asking for feedback makes it more likely that they’ll continue on as volunteers, and maybe take on greater roles within the magazine.

What about you? Have you ever conducted a satisfaction interview with your volunteers? What types of questions did you ask and what feedback did you get?

For more information on The Art of Selling the Invisible please contact Annand at aollivierre@volunteeralberta.ab.ca or (780) 482-3300 ext 231.

Jenna Marynowski
Marketing and Communications Manager

Volunteer Management Isn’t Just a Buzzword

Published on: March 6, 2012Category: Blog

 

Being (what I term) a serial volunteer, as well as working in the nonprofit/voluntary sector, has given me some special insight into how to go about managing volunteers. I’m always happy every time a volunteer manager (either by title or by their role within the organization) makes sure that I, as a volunteer, am satisfied with my experience, and know that I am appreciated. One of the reasons I started working at Volunteer Alberta was because I was interested in ensuring every volunteer has a good experience, and wants to become even more involved in their community.

However, I’m sure we’ve all had experiences where we – as volunteers – were managed poorly. I had one such experience recently while attending a meeting of an organization that is just in the early stages of incorporating as a nonprofit. So, what did I, as a manager of volunteers at another organization, learn about volunteer recruitment and management from this experience? Here are just three things, but I’m sure there’s many more:

  1. Ask your volunteers what they want from you. What are they looking to get out of their experience? Why are they giving their time? By asking these two simple questions, you can create a role that’s suited to the volunteer – not ask them to take on a role that they are either unsuited for, or that doesn’t interest them.
  2. Always let your volunteers know what to expect from a meeting. If volunteers know what to expect from a meeting, they can come prepared to contribute in a meaningful way. If they know what to expect, they will also leave the meeting knowing how their input contributed to the organization or the project, and will be more satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. Personally, if I had known what to expect from the meeting I recently attended, I would have left the meeting much more satisfied with the outcome, and would be much more likely to come back and volunteer my skills to them again.
  3.  Show your volunteers that you value their time. Whether you send out an agenda (which is something I frequently do for the volunteers I manage), or just manage the meeting in an efficient way (including being there when the volunteers arrive), volunteers are giving their time (personally, one of my most valuable resources), and we should be appreciative of that.

Volunteer Alberta has some great resources on management of volunteers, including resources about:

Your turn! What lessons have you learnt about volunteer management – either through the way you, as a volunteer, were managed, or in your role of managing volunteers in your organization?
– Jenna Marynowski
Communications and Marketing Manager

Interning and Learning

Published on: February 25, 2012Category: Blog

University and college students spend so much time listening to professor’s lecture about what kind of skills they need to attain a successful career. I was tired of listening and was ready to just “do.” In other words, I thought it was about time to put my academic training into action. Gaining valuable work experience while being a student can be difficult; having the SCiP program available to students is an invaluable, flexible resource.

Signing up for SCiP was easy; I received my user name and password in a few days and was able to browse open positions right away. There were lots of internships available, I looked for one that fit my interests and complemented my degree.  After formally applying and going through the interview process, I was notified I was the successful candidate for the position of National Volunteer Week Coordinator at Volunteer Alberta. Having the opportunity to be a SCiP intern with Volunteer Alberta has been a great experience.

As the National Volunteer Week Coordinator, I am responsible for handling all incoming applications and processing them. I’m fortunate to be working on a project that recognizes hard working volunteers across the province of Alberta; I am able to make a difference for volunteers and their communities. My position at Volunteer Alberta has provided me with unique learning opportunities that I would have not experienced elsewhere. Working as a team and independently, meeting deadlines, and learning new skills, are just a few of my highlighted gains from this internship. One of the best parts about my internship was the “hands on” experience. I was able to work with different people, working in different areas at Volunteer Alberta. I was able to develop my strengths and tackle my weaknesses while helping me discover where my true passion lies in the career world.

I hope other students and organizations have the opportunity to get involved with SCiP.

– Kassie Russell
National Volunteer Week Coordinator

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