Resources
The volunteer resource centre is an online tool that offers a wealth of information regarding volunteerism and managing volunteer resources.
For information on screening, click here to visit the screening area of the web site.
Oversight
1. Managers of Volunteers: A profile of the profession
Who are managers of volunteers? What types of organizations employ them? What is the scope and nature of their work? What are their challenges? What training have they had and what training do they need? Do they feel supported by the organizations that employ them? To answer these and other questions, Imagine Canada commissioned Environics Research Group to conduct a national survey of managers of volunteers. In this report, we use data from this survey to present a profile of the volunteer management profession in Canada.
Click here to download.
2. Who are managers of volunteers?
To better understand this unique group of professionals and the work they do, the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (now Imagine Canada) commissioned Environics Research Group to conduct a national survey of managers of volunteers. The telephone survey of 1203 individuals was conducted in April 2003.
Click here to download.
3. Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement
The Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement provides voluntary and not-for-profit organizations with a philosophical framework for involving volunteers at the governance, leadership and direct service levels. The Code outlines the values, principles, and standards for effective volunteer practices within organizations. It also includes the Organization Standards Checklist, which will assist organizations to evaluate and improve their volunteer programs.
Click here to download.
4. A Guide to Volunteer Program Management Resources
The Guide to Volunteer Program Management Resources lists the "top" volunteer management resources, books, guides and manuals from Canada and around the world. A brief description and review accompanies each item.
PDF - Full colour cover, black and white body, 28 pages
5. Facilitated Discussions: A Volunteer Management Workbook
Voluntary organizations often identify the need to consult stakeholders in the development, design, delivery or review of service and programs. The Hosting a Facilitated Discussion workbook has been developed as a tool to assist organizations in collecting stakeholder information and comments in a practical way. By following the steps in this workbook, voluntary organization staff and/or volunteers can systematically capture stakeholder comments, data and develop strategies for integrating this information into program design and delivery.
Click here to download this resource.
6. Volunteer Involvement 101 - Reaching Out to and Connecting with Grassroots Organizations: Fact Sheets for Effective Volunteer Involvement
This resource, made up of a series of fourteen fact sheets (Involving Volunteers Effectively), was created to support grassroots and citizen-based organizations that do not receive leadership and other services through traditional networks. The resource is designed to be easily reproduced and distributed according the particular needs of an organization, and deals with topical issues such as effective volunteer recruitment, involving youth, avoiding burnout, and screening. Each component of the resource reinforces the Volunteer Development Cycle as a focal point for all organizations as they effectively involve volunteers.
The Fact Sheets were produced by the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network and Volunteer Canada, with significant financial support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Click here to purchase.
Is Our Group Open, Welcoming and Volunteer-friendly?
How Welcoming and Healthy Is Your Group? A Check-Up For Volunteer Recruitment
How Do You Attract The Right People And Keep Them Involved?
Youth: How Can We Get Them Involved?
Do You Run Effective Meetings?
How Does Your Group Make Decisions?
How Are We Doing? The Essential Check-Ups!
Have You Risk-Proofed Your Operations?
Have We Thanked The Volunteers?
Recruiting, Mentoring and Retaining The Right People
7. Rethinking Volunteer Engagement is a thought-provoking essay calling on voluntary organizations across the country to review and rethink the ways in which volunteers are involved.
PDF - Full colour document, 16 pages, file size 5.5MB
8. Volunteer Management Audit: Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement
The Volunteer Management Audit: Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement has been developed as a tool for nonprofit and charitable organizations to assess their volunteer resources program. This audit tool is composed of seven sections which will provide important information about volunteer involvement and management practices within your organization. Please note that it is not necessary for your organization to have adopted the Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement in order to complete the audit.
Click here to download this resource.
Through the financial support offered by the Ministry of Citizenship of Ontario and Canadian Heritage under the “Canada-Ontario Agreement on the Promotion of Official Languages”, Volunteer Canada / OVCN designed and implemented a project to enhance the capacity of francophone communities in Ontario. The project components include: developing a directory of resources available to francophone volunteers and francophone volunteer-involving organizations in Ontario; and developing a community workshop focusing on the voluntary sector trends, fundamentals of volunteer resources management, as well as the development of collaborative communities.
10. A Sound Investment: The Value of Adding Volunteer Resources Management to your Philanthropic Portfolio
A Sound Investment: The Value of Adding Volunteer Resources Management to your Philanthropic Portfolio builds the argument for effective volunteer management, providing Canadian funders and other nonprofit stakeholders with helpful information and strong evidence on the importance of investing in volunteer resources.
This publication, developed in partnership with UPS Canada and the Canadian Administrators of Volunteer Resources (CAVR), encourages foundations and businesses alike to learn more about the investment in, and support of, infrastructure that sustains effective volunteering.
This resource provides: key elements that contribute to effective volunteer management; examples of business and foundations that invest in volunteer infrastructure; suggested strategies to support volunteer involvement and volunteer resources management; standards from the Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement that help assess organizational capacity for volunteer involvement; and resources and references for further information.
Click here to download this resource
11. The National Survey of Non-Profit and Voluntary Organizations: Highlights and the implications for those who promote and enable volunteerism
The results of the National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations (NSNVO), and the Satellite Account of Nonprofit Institutions and Volunteering have recently been released. The results reveal just how large, wide-ranging and important the sector is in Canada, as well as some implications for those who work to promote and enable volunteerism.
Volunteer Canada has developed this 1.5 hour PowerPoint training session as a tool to initiate discussion within your organization and among voluntary sector agents in your community. The training session explores key NSNVO results, as well as some important trends and their impact on volunteerism and volunteer involvement.
How to best use this resource:
- Share the results with senior management, colleagues and board members and initiate discussion on how the results impact your daily operations and strategic plans;
- Use the results and emerging trends as leverage points for upcoming funding proposals, articles, media releases, information brochures, etc.
- Use statistics, facts and key messages in upcoming newsletters or communiqués to your members;
- Share the information and encourage local community groups, non-profit organizations and the local professional association of volunteer resources managers to initiate their own awareness campaigns;
- Host a workshop or an information session with community leaders about the impact of the survey’s results;
- Encourage supporters, businesses and foundations located in your community – who currently invest or could potentially invest in volunteer resources management—to showcase the surveyed needs for enhanced resource allocations to support volunteer involvement; If you offer community workshops:
- Develop an on-line seminar for your member agencies or local community agents by loading the presentation to your website;
- Host a half-day training session or create “power lunch or breakfast” opportunities for the local association of professional volunteer resource managers or for Boards of directors – to encourage discussion on the identified challenges.
If you have any questions, please contact Volunteer Canada.
Download the PowerPoint Presentation
Download the Information Sheet
12. A Guide to Cultural Competency Application of the Canadian Code
This Guide is designed to assist managers of volunteers, in organizations of all sizes and levels of resources, to incorporate a Cultural Competence perspective in their application of the Code. It reframes the Code as a tool to increase the accessibility and inclusiveness of volunteer programs, which in turn, will lead to diverse and stronger organizations that are responsive to Newcomers, in particular, and the community at large.
Organizations with limited financial or human resources, for example where one employee has the role of managing volunteers along with other roles, may feel overwhelmed by the task of implementing the full scope of the Code. This Guide provides options for beginning to think about some key principles that are integral to any volunteer programming. Adoption of the Code indicates a strong commitment to move towards the implementation of the principles and twelve standards embedded in the Code.
This Guide provides basic strategies for organizations at the beginning stages of better engaging, integrating and reflecting the diversity of their stakeholder communities.
Click here to download this resource
Recruitment
1. Family Volunteering: A Discussion Paper
This discussion paper examines family volunteering in Canada by presenting the key issues and opportunities for the voluntary sector.
Click here to download this resource.
Family Volunteering: The Final Report
This exploratory work on family volunteering in Canada offers insight into how groups of people who may not otherwise be able to incorporate volunteering into their lives can now get involved.
An Executive Summary of Family Volunteering: The Final Report
Family Volunteering: The Final Report
Volunteer Connections: Family Volunteering—Making It Official
This manual was developed to help guide volunteer-involving organizations in the development of effective strategies to proactively reach out to and engage family groups as a new source of volunteer help. The manual presents both the challenges and the benefits of using family groups within an organization, and provides a series of valuable tools for organizations that are considering opening up to family volunteers.
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2. Volunteer Connections: Creating an accessible and inclusive environment
Accessibility can be created through the cultural and physical environment of voluntary organizations. Guide your organization through an in-depth examination of the issues and barriers related to involving people with disabilities as volunteers. Offering useful information, practical tips and advice, this manual provides a framework to help organizations create an accessible and welcoming workplace. It also assists organizations in developing partnerships with organizations that serve the disability community.
PDF - Full colour cover. black and white body, 34 pages, file size 142KB
3. Volunteer Connections: The benefits and challenges of employer supported volunteerism
Employer support for volunteer activities of employees is an exciting new trend in volunteerism in Canada. Increasingly, employers are taking an active role in employee community involvement. Everything from posting volunteer opportunities on the company bulletin board to paid time off for a special project, employers are contributing employee time and talent to communities across the country. How can your organization start its own program? This guide will help you establish goals, define relationships and evaluate the outcomes of an employer-supported volunteer program. Discover how you can encourage a new, dynamic three-way partnership between employers, agencies, and your community.
PDF- Full colour cover. black and white body, 54 pages, file size 184KB
Making a Business Case for Employer-supported Volunteerism
A growing body of research and business literature shows a multitude of benefits to companies that have active employer-supported volunteer programs. This new resource focuses on the mounting evidence of the significant payoffs to employers who support and encourage their employees to do volunteer work. Benefits include, but are not limited to, increased employee motivation and loyalty, increased investment, more media attention, lower absenteeism, and higher productivity—all of which makes good business sense!
Click here to download
4. A Matter of Design: Job Design theory and application to the voluntary sector
The role of volunteering has changed and the voluntary sector faces many challenges: changing demographics, changing expectations of volunteers; concerns of risk management, a rethinking of governance theory. Volunteers have changed: they have less time to give and greater skills to offer.
By adapting learnings from a wealth of human resources and corporate theory, A Matter of Design provides an exciting new perspective on engaging volunteers. By challenging organizations to fundamentally rethink the involvement of volunteers, starting with an analysis of mission and moving through the elements of volunteer involvement, this thought-provoking discussion paper and manual examines how to create volunteer opportunities that both help the organization fulfill its mandate and are satisfying for volunteers. This resource will give you the theory, and then walk you through the process, step-by-step, using helpful templates and examples of small, medium and large voluntary organizations.
PDF - Full colour cover, black and white body, 71 pages, file size 452KB
5. Volunteer Connections: New Strategies for Involving Older Adults
Once again, Baby Boomers are poised to change the world. Over the next five years, Canada’s population of older adults will triple in number. By 2006, Canadians over 50 will be almost 15 million strong. For a manager of volunteer resources, this population shift presents unique opportunities and challenges. With the experience and expectations of Baby Boomers in mind, this guide outlines dynamic, new strategies to recruit and retain older adult volunteers.
PDF - Full colour cover. black and white body, 34 pages, file size 149KB
6. Youth Works! Creating and developing youth-led volunteer projects
Young people can use this fun and helpful guide to get a youth-run community project or volunteer activity off the ground. All the components for a successful project are brought together in this useful resource. Project ideas, practical tips, teambuilding, winning support from community partners and promoting your event are included in this informative kit.
PDF - Full colour cover, black and white text, 40 pages, file size 427KB
7. Volunteer Connections: New strategies for involving youth
Along with their enthusiasm and energy, youth bring a fresh perspective to volunteering. Young people are looking for new experiences and new skills. Managers of volunteer programs can be hard-pressed to meet the demand for interesting youth-specific volunteer positions with the appropriate level of oversight and opportunity. This guide offers practical suggestions for engaging youth in your organization for the benefit of the volunteer, the organization and the community.
PDF - Full colour cover. black and white body, 56 pages, file size 184KB
