The tool that every volunteer coordinator needs

How often has this happened to you - you interview a prospective volunteer, love their background, love what they offer, and love what they could bring to your movement, but you never hear from them beyond the initial interview? If...

The changing face of volunteering in Canada

The recent Global Volunteer Conference addressed the vital role of volunteers in an increasingly polarized and fragmented world, calling on all sectors to make volunteering a priority and to recognize the contribution of volunteers in making the world a better...

Getting ready for the skilled volunteer

A new kind of volunteer is emerging. More today than ever before, people with high-level skills are offering their services to respected nonprofits. The “skilled volunteer” is someone who has specialized professional skills to offer, skills that do not fall...

Top ten tips for volunteer management and retention

Any volunteer can become a great volunteer, but sometimes you just won't know how wonderful they truly are until after they are involved with your charity or nonprofit. In my experience, attracting volunteers is relatively easy but learning to retain...

Playing for keeps: Recruiting and retaining volunteer staff in volunteer-run organizations

Volunteers face many challenges in organizing a successful nonprofit group. Balancing the growth and demands of an organization with family, career, and a personal life can be incredibly difficult. According to Tina Patterson, president of the Fraser Valley FiT Network,...

Have students, will achieve

For a year now, Vicky Mah and Jillian Walsh, both second-year medical students at the University of Calgary, have been volunteering their time running the student-run medical clinic at the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre in the city's downtown core....

Re-energizing volunteer recognition

Why is volunteer recognition so important? Why do we leave it to once a year to recognize our volunteers? How can we make a difference throughout the year? These are key questions we should be asking ourselves as we plan...

Eight tips for recruiting and retaining volunteers in tough times

How does a financial crisis affect volunteering? Will volunteering go up or down, or change in other ways as the global economy worsens? One thing is certain: Because volunteers are real people living in real communities, tight budgets will have...

Understanding volunteer retention

Finding volunteers is hard enough for most organizations these days, and keeping them is equally challenging. Most organizations do not track volunteer retention rates. They seem to know, however, that volunteers appear to be staying for shorter periods of time....