Resources on COVID-19 and Volunteering
Resources on COVID-19 and Volunteering
Impact of COVID-19 on Volunteer Engagement Survey - Share your opinion!
Volunteer Canada, in collaboration with the Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada, needs your help to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on volunteer engagement.
Complete this brief survey today and circulate it to your networks. If you represent a non-profit organization, if you are a volunteer or you attempted to volunteer during COVID-19, we would like to hear from you.
Volunteer Canada is monitoring the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, heeding the advice of public health authorities and reaching out to our colleagues around the country and internationally, to develop strategies related to volunteer engagement, corporate community engagement, and continuity planning.
We will continue to gather and share resources to help navigate these dynamic times.
COVID-19 Volunteering Opportunities Virtual Volunteering Opportunities
Virtual Volunteering
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- Virtual Volunteering (Volunteer Canada)
- Employee Volunteering When You Can’t Serve In-Person (Points of Light) (March 11, 2020)
- Examples of virtual volunteering opportunities (Jayne Cravens)
Volunteer Safely
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- Health and Safety Considerations for Volunteering during a Public Health Emergency (Volunteer Canada)
- Volunteering During COVID-19 (Volunteer Ireland)
Volunteer Management and Emergency Response
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- Business Continuity Planning during COVID-19 (bms., Gowling WLG)
- COVID-19 Resources from Canadian Nonprofit Umbrella Groups(Charity Village)
- COVID-19: Volunteer Engagement in Public Health Emergencies: Risk and Liability (Volunteer Canada, bms., Gowling WLG)
- COVID-19: What you need to know (Volunteer Ireland)
- Disaster Response - How to Help When Disaster Strikes (Volunteer Canada)
- Keeping volunteers engaged while programs and services are suspended due to COVID-19 (Volunteer Canada) (March 26, 2020)
- Risk Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Checklist to Recovery (bms., Gowling WLG)
- Sharing Volunteers (Volunteer Alberta)
- The Pro Bono help your organization needs, when you’re ready (Taproot Foundation) (April 9, 2020)
- Volunteer Engagement Amid a Pandemic (VQ Volunteer Strategies) (March 12, 2020)
- Watch Out, Corporates: Canada’s Charitable Sector, Once Reluctant to Embrace Digital Transformation, is Now Competing for its Share of Eyeball Time The Philanthropist (May 11, 2020)
- Webinar Series: Volunteering During a Pandemic (IAVE)
Sector Advocacy
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- Charities Unite to Request Support and Collaboration as COVID-19 Crisis Leads to Increased Need and New Operational Risks (The Philanthropist) (March 24, 2020)
- Constrained or Enabled? The Changing Role of Canada’s Social Sector in Promoting Civic Discourse (The Philanthropist) (May 25, 2020) NEW
- COVID-19 and the Canadian Nonprofit Sector (Imagine Canada)
- COVID-19 – CSAE Urges Federal Government to Extend Funding Support to Associations (CSAE) (March 12, 2020)
- COVID-19 threatens to devastate Canada’s charities (Imagine Canada) (March 26, 2020)
- Imagine Canada COVID-19 Resource Page (Imagine Canada)
- Imagine Canada’s Sector Monitor: Charities & the COVID-19 Pandemic (Imagine Canada) (May 2020)
- Ontario Nonprofits and the Impact of COVID-19: A flash survey report (ONN) (April 6, 2020)
- Request for $8 Billion Emergency Fund, Letter to the Prime Minister and Ministers (Imagine Canada) (March 23, 2020)
Sector Governance and Operations
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- COVID-19 Resources from Canadian Nonprofit Umbrella Groups (Charity Village)
- How Nonprofits and Board Members can Respond to COVID-19, Questions and Resources (BoardSource)
- How to Build a Culture of Inquiry During the COVID-19 Crisis (BoardSource) (March 30, 2020)
- Leading an Organization Through the COVID-19 Crisis (BoardSource) (March 26, 2020)
- Managing the Physical Distance of Remote Working Teams in Social Purpose Organizations (Volunteer MBC) (March 19, 2020)
- Nine Questions to Guide Not-For-Profit Boards in a Crisis (Capacity Canada) (April 16, 2020)
- Ontario Nonprofit Network COVID-19 Resources Page (ONN)
- What Nonprofit Board Members Should Be Doing Right Now to Address the COVID-19 Situation (BoardSource) (March 16, 2020)
- When to “Return”: Questions Nonprofit Executives Need to Think About (BoardSource) (May 5, 2020)
- Why We Need Exceptional Board Governance More Than Ever (BoardSource) (April 13, 2020)
AGMs During COVID-19
Holding meetings of members (Annual General Meetings and Special General Meetings) and directors (board of directors) - Annual General Meetings During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Volunteer Canada, bms., Gowling WLG)
- COVID-19 Provincial Emergency Relief for AGM and Annual Return Filing Deadlines (Carter Charity & NFP Law Update) (April 30, 2020)
- Information for federal corporations under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”) and for the following provinces: Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.
- How to hold members’ and directors’ meetings despite COVID-19: A provincial overview (Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Québec) (Miller Thomson Avocats | Lawyers) (April 7, 2020, updated April 24, 2020)
- Government of Canada: Annual meetings of federal corporations during the COVID-19 outbreak (federally incorporated businesses and not-for-profit corporations)
- British Columbia: Society AGMs COVID-19 Updates
- Alberta: AGMs and annual returns for corporations, cooperatives, and organizations
- Alberta Government Ministerial Order no. SA:009/2020
- In keeping with public gathering restrictions, deadlines are suspended for corporations, partnerships, cooperatives and non-profit organizations to hole annual general meetings and file their annual returns.
- Ontario: (March 31, 2020). The Government of Ontario issued an Emergency Order that permits all corporations under the Corporations Act and the Business Corporations Act to hold meetings of directors, shareholders and members by phone or electronic means even if legislation (like Ontario’s Corporations Act) or your bylaws say you can’t. The order is retroactive to March 17, 2020. The Ontario Regulation 107/20 was amended on April 24, 2020.
- Québec: COVID-19 Pandemic – New Temporary Measure to Allow for Remote Meetings and Sessions
- Nova Scotia: Direction of the Minister under a Declared State of Emergency, Shareholder or Member Meetings (March 22, 2020)
- Companies, societies and corporations in Nova Scotia ‘shall not hold’ any in-person member meetings if it requires a gathering of more than 5 people. A Ministerial Direction allows for virtual meeting options or meeting deferral whether or not it would otherwise be allowed under any other applicable law, including enactments, articles, bylaws or governing agreements.
- Virtual AGM Facilitation Guide (ONN) (2020)
- Virtual AGM Template Critical Path (ONN) (2020)
- Virtual AGM Template Script (ONN) (2020)
Corporate Community Engagement
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- Coronavirus Outbreak: The CSR Response (The Conference Board Podcasts) (February 18, 2020)
- Employee Volunteering When You Can’t Serve In-Person (Points of Light) (March 11, 2020)
- Engaging Employees Through Digital Volunteering (Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship) (March 20, 2020)
- Going Virtual Because of COVID-19? You’re Thinking About Your Corporate Volunteering Programs All Wrong (Moving Worlds) (March 15, 2020)
- Special Report: Trust and the Coronavirus Canada Findings (Edelman) (March 2020)
Public Health
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- Community-based measures to mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Canada (Government of Canada)
- Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update (Government of Canada)
- Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic (World Health Organization)
- COVID-19 and Indigenous Communities (Government of Canada)
- COVID-19 Wash Your Hands, (PHAC)
- Risk-informed decision-making for mass gatherings during COVID-19 global outbreak (Government of Canada)
- Vulnerable Populations and COVID-19 (Government of Canada)
Mental Health Supports
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- Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA)
- Kids Help Phone
- The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH): COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Taking care of your mental health (COVID-19) (PHAC)
- Wellness Together Canada
Online Learning
Upcoming webinars (listed chronologically)
- The Future(s) of Volunteering (IAVE)
Note: This is a MEMBERS-EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR
Thursday, June 4, 2020 - 10:00 a.m EDT
- Volunteer Management in a Crisis (IAVE)
Thursday, June 18, 2020 - 10:30 a.m. EDT
- The Response of Governments to COVID-19 (IAVE)
Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - 9:00 a.m. EDT
Webinar Recordings
- International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE):
- How Youth can Respond to COVID-19 Crisis - April 7, 2020
- A Conversation With Front-Line Volunteer Leaders In Asia - April 2, 2020
- Managing Virtual Volunteers during a Pandemic - March 27, 2020
- The Safety and Health of Volunteers - March 25, 2020
- ONN and Imagine Canada:
- Taproot Foundation:
- Volunteer Canada:
- Volunteer Canada, bms, Gowling WLG
- Volunteer Canada and Charity Village
- The Volunteering Lens of Public Health Emergencies - May 14, 2020 NEW
Local volunteer centres may also offer webinars or online learning. Please check the website of the volunteer centre in your area for their current offerings.
