Ontario’s nonprofit sector is a significant job creator, a strong enabler of volunteer engagement, and a critical program and service delivery partner to the government. Employing over 844,000 workers[1] in Ontario and contributing $65 billion to the economy, Ontario’s nonprofit sector has never been more critical for Ontarians. Integral to the success of the entire nonprofit sector are leaders of volunteers, individuals tasked with ensuring that citizens who wish to volunteer connect with the organizations who need them.
The Provincial Association of Volunteer Leaders-Ontario (PAVRO) promotes the profession of Volunteer Administration by advocating for understanding of its value to civic engagement, its requirements for success, and appropriate recognition (including compensation) for the individual professional.
In 1998, PAVRO was created to represent volunteer engagement (VE) professionals responsible for the administration of volunteer resources throughout Ontario. Initially comprised of professionals working in (mostly) health care and social services, today PAVRO members work in many nonprofit sectors throughout Ontario. With almost 200 members, PAVRO contributes to volunteer engagement dialogue, conducts research, and facilitates resource development. In addition, PAVRO provides continuing professional education training, supports professional certification, and advocates to bring awareness to the often undervalued and oversized contributions volunteer engagement professionals make to building social capital both within and outside their organizations.
On May 11 and May 12, PAVRO will celebrate its 25th Anniversary at PAVRO L!VE 2023, our annual professional development conference. Woven into this silver anniversary conference, alongside the many opportunities to celebrate the association and its past, present, and future leaders, will be presentations and discussions on adapting to the evolving changes in the volunteer engagement profession. Traditionally, volunteering has been a feel-good way to give back to the community but, as Lynn Felker, CVA, President of the Brantford Regional Association of Volunteer Administrators (BRAVA) notes, it is time to rethink some truisms that have outlived their usefulness as successful organizations will not rely on a fading sense of obligation people may have had to ‘pay-it-back’.
Organizations that succeed will see volunteer engagement as a community-building prospect, and not a way to prop up underfunded organizations. A key factor in successfully developing volunteers in this way includes funding the training and professional development of existing volunteer engagement professionals, states Leah Gagnier, CVA, SSWK and National Director of Volunteer Engagement for Mission Thrift Stores.
Lynn and Leah are presenting at PAVRO L!VE 2023 – Lynn will explore the ethical questions about the boundaries between paid and unpaid work and paid and unpaid workers while Leah will share her volunteer engagement journey to support new VE professionals at the start of their career. They will be joined by eleven other presenters including keynote speaker Michael Prosserman, Ontario NonProfit Network Executive Director Cathy Taylor, PAVRO Vice-Chair Veronica Deally, and Registered Corporate Coach Donna Jeanpiere sharing their knowledge, successes, and stories to encourage and inspire attendees to lead the change that our evolving world demands.
The volunteer engagement landscape changed dramatically because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A growing profession with a clearly defined occupational profile, an internationally recognized credential offered by the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA), and associated ethical standards, VE professionals are uniquely equipped to address the current human resource challenges being experienced by Ontario nonprofits as fewer volunteers than expected return to fill roles which, pre-pandemic, may have had waitlists to get involved.
In their session, Kasandra James, Director of Programs, and Sammy Feilchenfeld, Manager of Learning with Volunteer Toronto will invite attendees to explore past successes and lessons that inform our current contexts and challenges for “knowing your community enables a VE professional to…identify potential volunteers and community champions more easily and to recognize the best ways to connect with these individuals”.
This is echoed by PAVRO Vice-Chair, Veronica Deally, whose L!VE 2023 session focuses on the fundamentals of data storytelling, stating that “analyzing the data you have and using it to impact the decisions you make moving forward…can improve the impact you have on the communities you serve”. Data provides the hard evidence to support volunteer programs; we still need to be aware of the human element as VE professionals are in the ‘people’ business.
As an association, PAVRO strongly believes that VE professionals are key to helping Ontario, indeed the Canadian nonprofit sector, leverage the enormous goodwill and desire to get involved that Canadians have demonstrated to each other before and during the pandemic. In celebrating our silver anniversary this year, PAVRO celebrates the champions who laid the foundations of the volunteerism profession and encourages current and future professionals to continue to build a world where the professional management and leadership of volunteers is respected, valued, and recognized as essential to a civic society.
Heather Johnson, CVA, (she/her) is the President of PAVRO and the Director of Volunteer Halton, the volunteer centre serving Halton Region in Ontario. Connect with her through LinkedIn.
[1] Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0617-01 Employment in non-profit institutions by sub-sector (x 1,000)
