Do you volunteer as a family? Are you curious about how to involve your child in helping out, or giving back?

The post below originally appeared in the HandsOn Blog on March 15th 2011. It is a great intro to volunteering as a family, and they were generous in their permission for us to re-post for your reading pleasure!

If you are curious about where to start volunteering as a family in Victoria, read on to the bottom, or please share your experiences and insights through the comments!

[Continue reading Volunteering as a family (and how to start in Victoria)]

I would like to thank this week’s guest blogger, Janis La Couvée, for once again sharing her insights with us.  If you are at all familiar with the social media scene in Victoria, you will definitely have heard of Janis. 

Janis is a financial services professional with a long history of community involvement, particularly in the areas of capacity building, public relations and the arts.  Long before social media was in vogue, Janis was connecting people and building community. Social media has just made it easier to do!

She has graciously offered to share her Social Media Year-in-Review ...

[Continue reading 2010 Social Media Year-in-Review]

Maddy Guy is a volunteer with the Youth Volunteer Connections Program. She began volunteering with the Royal Jubilee Hospital in April 2010 and has volunteered with the Cool Aid Society as well.  Maddy is in Grade 12 at St. Andrew’s High School, and wants to pursue studies in nursing when she graduates.

Maddy has written an inspirational scholarship essay that speaks perfectly to the potential for growth and positive change through volunteering.  Please enjoy a glimpse into a youth volunteer’s experience.

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“We ought to make every moment count, ...

[Continue reading Making every moment count: A youth volunteer’s story]

Alan Piffer is one of our Volunteer Media Generalist/Writers here at Volunteer Victoria. See his previous blog post on the Luminara Festival. 

For newcomers to Victoria, achieving success in one’s profession or trade can often be a challenging prospect. Imagine, then, what a new immigrant would face trying to adapt to Canadian culture at the same time.

Hugo Kerckhoffs worked as a graphic designer in Mexico before moving to Canada. He has found adjusting his profession to a new country to be somewhat difficult, not just because Canadians do more online work than in Mexico, but also because of the difference in design sensibilities.

“Graphic ...

[Continue reading Mentorship at ICA]

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 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]

Earlier this week, the Victoria Foundation released the fifth anniversary edition of Vital Signs®, an annual report card that provides a snapshot of the livability and well-being of life in the Capital Region.  A combination of public opinion and statistics, the report is presented in an easy to read format aimed at stimulating conversation around 11 issue areas deemed critical to quality of life.    “As a report card, Vital Signs® has steadily proven its value to the community since 2006,” says Victoria Foundation CEO Sandra Richardson. “Its importance was especially elevated during the economic challenges of recent years, as the ...

[Continue reading Victoria Foundation Vital Signs Report]

Sincere thanks to our guest blogger Janis La Couvée for sharing her thoughts on using social media to promote events. Janis is passionate about bridging online and offline communities to effect positive social change. You can follow her on Twitter at @lacouvee.

In April 2009, like many other individuals in the community, I was a social media neophyte; but when an acquaintance at a business breakfast mentioned that people using Twitter in Victoria were actually meeting face to face, I had an “aha” moment.

For over 20 years I have been actively involved in the community, organizing events, committees and ...

[Continue reading Using Social Media to Promote Events]

Sandra Richardson (Victoria Foundation) presented Val Green (Volunteer Victoria) with a plaque recognizing our accomplishments over the past 35 years and thanking Volunteer Victoria for ‘giving heart to our community for 35 years’.      

Each year our Youth Program Coordinator and Access Program Coordinator present Agency Awards to dedicated leaders ...

[Continue reading AGM Awards]

Well, the temperature has shot up and summer is finally here in Victoria.  And, as we all know, the summer months in Victoria are full of festivals.

For nonprofit agencies, summer festivals can be opportunities to showcase the missions, activities and needs of their organizations.  Whether an agency is running a festival itself or simply attending one alongside other agencies (e.g. participating in a small fair), it’s best to know how to put a professional face forward to the general public. 

In this vein, and because we run volunteer recruitment fairs of our own each year in various locations, ...

[Continue reading Putting Your Best Face Forward]