- Written by Graydon Leigh -

　Want an opportunity to engage in and positively affect your community?

Want to win cool prizes for dedicating your time to an array of great causes?

Volunteer Victoria is very proud to sponsor the Volunteering with Benefits auction at the Victoria Marriott Hotel on Friday, May 11th from 7:30-9:30pm. Hosted by UnitedNOW, the event educates and promotes volunteerism within the community. It asks attendees to volunteer their time-as opposed to money-for a chance to earn some very handsome rewards.

This year’s prizes include passes to events and establishments including:

- Earl’s Chef’s Table - A guided tour and tasting of the Merridale ...

[Continue reading Attend UnitedNow’s Volunteering With Benefits Time Raiser]

We’d like to introduce guest contributor Charlene Dishaw, currently the Manager of Volunteer Resources at Delta Hospital in Ladner, BC.

After over 10 years of working in the field of Volunteer Management I was having a “heard that, seen them” feeling. I was looking for education that would elevate my work another level. The Vancouver Board of Trade brought in the Disney Leadership workshop and my passion for working with people was renewed. What did it for me? The thrill of hearing what big business has the time and money to research. And the research can be directly applied to our ...

[Continue reading Learning Outside the Volunteer Management Box]

We, in the Youth Volunteer Connections Program at Volunteer Victoria, have been wondering how to best communicate online with the young people who seek our support in finding meaningful volunteer opportunities. The blog post below was forwarded to us, and it has changed how we do things. It’s time: we are now ready to include facebook as a communication option with youth who prefer it. Each youth staff is creating his/her own professional profile, for example, you can find me at facebook/Leanna at Volunteer Victoria. So we’ll see how it works!

In the hopes that you ...

[Continue reading Communicating over Facebook: Will it work for us too?]

It’s National Volunteer Recognition Week (April 15 – 21, 2012) and our chance to let those special volunteers in our lives know that “We Appreciate You!”.  All across Canada, all week long, volunteers will be celebrated and thanked in a myriad of different ways.

This year, Volunteer Victoria has partnered with Wells Gray Tours and CHEK TV to celebrate our local volunteers through the “We Appreciate You!” contest. Until April 20th you can nominate someone in our community for the great work they are doing. The ...

[Continue reading National Volunteer Recognition Week “We Appreciate You!” Contest]

The following is a guest blog post written and researched by one of Volunteer Victoria’s volunteer writers, Kate Lautens. Kate is one of two Volunteer Victoria Media Copy Writers that have been with us for over a year. Enjoy! !

The Youth Volunteer Connections Program (YVCP), Volunteer Victoria’s program supporting young people 15-29 in finding meaningful and rewarding volunteer opportunities, recently added three new staff members, Vik Dhindsa, Ebony Logins and Amy Hartzenberg. Under the leadership of Leanna Hill, program coordinator of the YVCP and ...

[Continue reading Meet our new Youth Team!]

We don’t often discuss here on our blog about how we actually manage our blog, so we thought we’d – of course! – write a blog post about it to help other organizations that would like to start or enhancing their blogging practices.

At Volunteer Victoria we have five staff members that regularly write posts for this blog. On top of the posts that Lisa, Lori, Leanna, Lornna and I create (I’m lucky they let me help since my name doesn’t begin with ‘L’!), we also bring in volunteers from our programs as much as we can to help out and present a different voice ...

[Continue reading Crafting Great Blog Posts]

We are very pleased to announce that our valued colleague, and friend, Leanna Hill recently won The Vancity Youth Award at The Victoria Leadership Awards.

This award recognizes a young leader between the ages of 20 and 30 who demonstrates community leadership in one or more of the following areas:

People: Building wealth with those who need it most; Planet: Sustaining our environment; Places: Promoting community growth and change.

There were so many deserving and inspirational nominees in this category, so we are especially proud of Leanna’s accomplishment!

Volunteer Victoria also wishes to acknowledge and thank all of the other incredible nominees for their outstanding contributions to our ...

[Continue reading Volunteer Victoria’s Leanna Hill Wins Youth Leadership Award]

The following is a guest blog post written and researched by one of Volunteer Victoria’s volunteer writers, Gwen Hill. Gwen is one of two Volunteer Victoria Media Copy Writers and she has been with us for just over a year. She says she “has been writing for pleasure and craft since she figured out how to hold a pen”.  Gwen maintains a blog on managing depression, which you can visit by clicking on this link.”  Enjoy!

It was first a lavish Victorian home. Then a military hospital. A college, a school board – And now, it’s Craigdarroch Castle.

From ...

[Continue reading Eyes on Craigdarroch Castle]

The Ministry of Finance released a discussion paper in December 2011 regarding proposed amendments to the BC Society Act. The proposed amendments are drafted to “recognize the unique nature of societies and aim to balance societies” need for flexibility with broader concerns of accountability and integrity.

The Government Non Profit Initiative website notes that the paper “does not reflect government policy at this stage, but rather is intended to stimulate discussion on a possible direction for reform.”

  The proposed amendments could have significant impacts on all of the 26,000 non profit organizations operating in BC. The adoption of a new corporate law framework would potentially provide ...

[Continue reading BC Societies Act Update]

The post below was written by Isabela H. Chamon Sasaki, our newest Volunteer Blogger. Isabela is Brazilian, a future journalist, a cinefile and a dreamer- and you can check out her blog here.

Since 2008, Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society has been helping me navigate all the difficulties that I have faced as an immigrant youth going through tremendous changes in life. Known throughout the Victoria community and Vancouver Island as simply “VIRCS”, the organization provides support to every immigrant within the community who seeks it, from children to seniors. VIRCS’ diverse team of staff ...

[Continue reading Eyes on The Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS)]