The following is a guest post written by our new ELN Social Mavens, Yasmin Rampuri and Liz Hallett. Thank you Liz and Yasmin for hosting this very successful Fall Mingle, and for stepping up and sharing your skills and enthusiasm. It was a great event!

Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) Fall Mingle

After enjoying the lovely summer weather when it finally happened, the ELN ushered in the new season with a bang at the Fall Mingle.

The event hovered at full from days after it was posted, until the day of the event on September 15th, and we had 29 enthusiastic networkers attend in the end.

Veneto Café provided a most excellent ...

[Continue reading Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) Kicks Off Another Successful Year!]

I’m pleased to introduce guest blogger Zuzanna Szkudlarek, a Volunteer Victoria board member and member of our Emerging Leaders Network. In this post, Zuzanna writes about her great experiences (so far) as a member of the ELN. We’ve been truly fortunate to have Zuzanna participate in this Network as she is a true leader in action in our community.

Recently I was at a retreat with like minded people interested in bettering the community in Victoria. At the retreat were individuals from all sectors (nonprofits, government, and industry) ages ranging from 25-50 whereby five of us all had the commonality of being part of the [Continue reading VV’s Emerging Leaders Network: Engagement in action]

This article first appeared in Volunteer Victoria’s E-Link newsletter on July 29th , 2011. Sign up for E-Link and keep current with news and information from Volunteer Victoria.

A Question of Accountability

The national media recently turned its attention to charitable spending and highlighted the outcomes of a grading system that measures how Canadian charities of various shapes and sizes use donated funds. The report provides a valuable service, benchmark comparisons, and some important answers and also raised many questions, identified gaps in evaluation methodologies and stakeholder communications, and potentially planted seeds of doubt for donors and stakeholders ...

[Continue reading A Question of Accountability]

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 and she joined us in early 2011.  Enjoy!

To check out available opportunities with the Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre, you can search their listings on Volunteer Victoria’s database.

If you dig gardening, composting and wriggly worms, the Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre can give you the latest dirt. Founded in 1992, the Compost Education Centre uses its lush garden at its demonstration site, ...

[Continue reading Eyes on the Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre]

This article first appeared in Volunteer Victoria’s E-Link newsletter on March 11, 2011. Sign up for E-Link and keep current with news and information from Volunteer Victoria.

When Volunteer Victoria developed its Social Media Policies a year ago we shared these widely with our member agencies as we realized that few organizations had guidelines in place.

Since that time there has been a virtual explosion in non-profit uptake of social media tools for everything from information sharing to marketing and fundraising. With this rapidly increased use of social networking, we’re frequently being ...

[Continue reading Social Media Policies to Share]

This post first appeared in Volunteer Victoria’s E-Link newsletter on February 11, 2011. Sign up for E-Link and keep current with news and information from Volunteer Victoria.

Imagine Canada released its third Sector Monitor report last week. This ongoing project tracks the health and vitality of Canada’s nonprofit sector, with a focus on the impact of the economic downturn.

The first survey was conducted in late 2009, the second in mid-2010 and the third in fall 2010. The findings of this latest report are compared to those of the ...

[Continue reading Imagine Canada: Sector Monitor]

As we have been hearing from our agencies, this screening enhancement has had a significant impact on their volunteer recruitment process.

Due to the extra work volume generated, there have been lengthy delays in getting criminal records checks processed. This has resulted in programming delays and in some cases loss of prospective volunteers.

Apparently, there have also been some challenges at the other end for the RCMP who manage this piece. There have been issues, in particular, where private screening companies are contracted by the agency to process the PRCs. Other issues are with regard to incomplete information provided by the agency/volunteer.

Volunteer Canada, on ...

[Continue reading New Policy on Criminal Record Checks]

We are pleased to share with you the following guest blog post written by the Executive Director of one of our member agencies, The Glenshiel.  Laurie Mueller recently attended our “Story Skills and Telling Tales” workshop facilitated by experienced storyteller Norma Cameron. 

I want to tell you a story about a Volunteer Victoria workshop I attended that was one of the highlights of my year.  Do you have time to read 600 words to learn about something wonderful? If so, please read on.

My mother was a great teller of tales.  I remember as a child listening to her make ...

[Continue reading I want to tell you a story…]

We recently held a very successful  ”Story Skills and Telling Tales” day-long workshop, facilitated by Victoria-based storyteller Norma Cameron.  In this post, Norma herself gives readers some resources to turn to while learning how to tell your organization’s stories.

In 2005, after years of being a storyteller and a fundraising/communications consultant, I decided to marry these two pursuits and build more effective communication strategies and tools.  After all, a well-told story is the shortest distance between two people and telling your organization’s story is really no different than the stories we share with each other every day. 

However, it does require a wee bit of work.   ...

[Continue reading Telling Your Organization’s Story]

Blackbaud recently released the results of a North American survey of over 2,200 non-profit organizations. This survey gathered data on general operations, fundraising, technology and accountability/stewardship to provide a snapshot of the sector in 2010 and to make projections for 2011. This survey has been carried out for 6 of the past 7 years. 

With regard to revenue generation, almost half of the organizations anticipated their total income would increase in 2010, while 25% expected their income to remain the same and 28% expected it to decrease. The projection for 2011 is more optimistic with 60% expecting an increase and 26% expecting ...

[Continue reading State of the Non Profit Sector]