First impressions matter: The importance of front-line staff

There’s a story about two masons at work. When asked what they were doing, the first mason replied, “I’m laying bricks,” and the second said, “I’m building a cathedral.” Similarly, Kate (not her real name) had two recent encounters with...

Get your staff excited about volunteer involvement

You know how the volunteer management cycle goes: you have a need for volunteers, you put out the call, then you recruit, screen and select some amazing volunteers. Then comes the ongoing challenge of supporting those volunteers in their new...

A challenge and an opportunity: How the Canadian nonprofit sector is welcoming Syrian refugees

Soon after the 2015 federal election, it became clear that it was no longer a question of if Syrian refugees would be coming to Canada, but when and how many. The fact that this would be the largest refugee resettlement...

Not your mother’s sector: How young changemakers are shaking up the nonprofit world

Over the last few years, a number of people in the nonprofit sector have started to question how the sector has always operated, wondering if things could be done differently. Some are even trying entirely new approaches to typical nonprofit...

Four ways to create a more rewarding volunteer experience

More than four in 10 Canadians volunteered in 2013, according to the latest General Social Survey released earlier this year. While that’s impressive, volunteering is down since 2010, the last time the survey was conducted. That’s not terribly surprising considering...

Getting the best from your volunteers through the SAVE approach

Want to learn more about how to get the best from your volunteers? The author, Lori Gotlieb, presented a free webinar on September 24 - you can watch the full recording here.Register here. Managing a volunteer program can be a...

Give before you get: Volunteering and the case of the unemployed Millennials

If you’re young, say 18-24 years old, getting a job is hard. Actually, it’s beyond hard. More like landing a rover on Mars hard. If you’re a recent secondary or postsecondary graduate, the odds are you’ve already learned this fact...

You can lead a volunteer to giving, but can you make them give?

Interviewing potential volunteers is one of the greatest parts of the volunteer recruitment process. Think about it. Someone has come out of nowhere, and they want to donate their time to you. Not just any time, but their priceless, unwaged,...

Volunteering: An important component of your job search

When we think of an active job search, we often imagine writing dozens of resumes, researching organizations, agonizing over what to say in a cover letter, and stressing about how and what to say to our network of contacts. As...