Canada Volunteerism Initiative (CVI)

Overview

In 2002, the Government of Canada selected Volunteer Canada and Imagine Canada to deliver the Canada Volunteerism Initiative (CVI), an ambitious program designed to encourage Canadians to volunteer and to help more organizations involve volunteers. Funded through the Community Participation Program of Canadian Heritage, the CVI was a practical way to invest in communities and in volunteers. The program had a unique mix of national leadership and strategy, and local perspectives and delivery.

The goals of CVI were:

to encourage Canadians to volunteer with organizations;
to improve the capacity of organizations to involve volunteers;
to enhance the experience of volunteering.

CVI was delivered through three national Centres:

1. The Community Support Centre

Managed by Volunteer Canada, this Centre provided $800,000 a year in funding for national and community-based pilot and demonstration projects designed to test innovative volunteer development strategies. Selected projects were then developed into tools and resources applicable to organizations across the country. Imagine Canada provided project management and evaluation support to the Centre.

2. The Information, Capacity Building and Awareness Centre

Also managed by Volunteer Canada, this Centre’s role was to share information and resources on volunteering and volunteer management. The Centre delivered three national promotional campaigns each year– National Volunteer Week, Global Youth Service Day and International Volunteer Day. It also developed capacity building resources for voluntary organizations and supported thirteen Local Networks established in each province and territory.

3. The Knowledge Development Centre

The Knowledge Development Centre, managed by Imagine Canada, funded extensive research on volunteers and volunteerism – both community-based initiatives and national projects. Numerous tools and resources were developed to help communicate the results of this research to others.

4. The Local Networks

With support and guidance from Volunteer Canada, thirteen Local Networks worked with Canadian organizations to involve volunteers in meaningful ways, and to respond to the needs of voluntary organizations and volunteers in each province and territory. Each Network developed a volunteerism action plan to support the identification, local tailoring, and delivery of CVI activities in their respective region.

Achievements

Volunteer Canada hosted a national think tank in February 2005 entitled Volunteer Zone Bénévoles. Close to eighty leaders from the voluntary sector, government and the corporate sector came together to examine volunteerism in its broadest sense and develop a strong plan of action to allow it to flourish.
Great strides were made in reaching out to the future generation of volunteers. Between August 2005 and April 2006, 93,754 young Canadians participated in Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) events, contributing 889,415 hours of volunteer time.
A network of 100 national volunteer involving organizations was established to harness the expertise of these volunteer development experts and leverage their networks for enhanced implementation of CVI programs and initiatives.
In 2006, 75,000 promotional packages for National Volunteer Week were distributed to public, private and non-profit organizations. As a direct result, an additional 100,000 posters were ordered and displayed in all provinces and territories.
Approximately 100 new tools and resources were developed to build the capacity of voluntary sector organizations to effectively involve volunteers and to highlight the need for solid volunteer program management practices.

Key Resources

Municipal Volunteerism Toolkit (ON)
Making Room for Young People (QC)
Resources to Increase and Support Volunteers (NWT/NU)
The Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement
Mandatory Community Service: Choice-Incentive-Coercion-Obligation

Note:
All resources developed by the CVI are available for download in both official languages on the Volunteer Resource Centre (http://volunteer.ca/en/resource/cvi_catalogue)

Conclusion

The Canada Volunteerism Initiative was a resounding success. Evaluations indicate that substantial progress was made in achieving the identified outcomes of the program.

As a result of the CVI, Canadian volunteers were better recruited, mobilized and recognized. Voluntary organizations had access to a wealth of knowledge that allowed for the development of the types of ideas and programs that lead to informed policy development. Effective knowledge transfer and exchange mechanisms enabled information to be shared in a more relevant and accessible way than before the CVI. The Networks that were established created a forum for strategic analysis of volunteerism in each province and territory, and the resulting exchange of ideas that took place across the country not only increased the sharing of best practices and increased dialogue between different cultural and regional groups but also provided Canada with an effective platform from which to manage all aspects related to volunteerism.