The following is a guest post from Volunteer Edmonton's Evelyn Pham on National Volunteer Week and the contributions of Edmonton's Volunteers - thanks Evelyn!
From April 18 to 24, National Volunteer Week celebrates and recognizes the amazing contributions of volunteers across Canada.
In recent years, it’s become evident that volunteers are critical to sustaining our quality of life. Nonprofit and voluntary organizations are continually struggling to do more with fewer dollars. Programs and services that exist in every facet of community—arts, culture, health, education, recreation and sports, religion, environment and more—would be seriously at risk, if not for the support of a volunteer workforce.
The dedication and enthusiasm of hundreds of people who help out in our community ensures that organizations can continue to provide the same level of services and programs that we all rely on.
These people are building homes, packing food and clothing for at-risk families; sitting on organizational boards and making decisions that have a lasting impact on our community; fundraising for cancer awareness and much more. Volunteers express human values of community and caring, give of themselves, and find solutions to shared community challenges.
They are our neighbours, parents, students, children and coworkers.
They are people just like you and me.
This week is not only our time to say thank you to the volunteers in our lives, but to reflect on the ways we can all give back to the 4,000 nonprofit organizations that exist in Edmonton, and how volunteering helps build better, stronger, healthier and more vibrant communities for us all.
-- Evelyn Pham, Volunteer Edmonton
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Happy National Volunteer Week!
The sun is out, and the weather is gorgeous just in time for Edmonton's nonprofits and charities to send out more than 13,000 thank you cards to their volunteers!
National Volunteer Week, which started April 18, is seven days in which to recognize the outstanding efforts of all of Canada's volunteers - from those who sit on national hospital boards to those who bake cookies for their child's soccer team, and back again. Throughout our country, these volunteers are improving our quality of life at every level.
For those of us working in the nonprofit sector, we see the benefits of volunteers every day - these are the people who help run our programs, put their skills to work on our committees, organize fundraisers, balance our books, and give us guidance and direction as members of our boards. Many of Alberta's nonprofits and charities are entirely volunteer driven, and the rest of us succeed only with their committed help.
On behalf of the 4,000 nonprofits and charities in Edmonton, we thank all the volunteers for their help & determination in making sure that not only Edmonton's nonprofit sector continues to thrive, but that Edmonton itself is a stronger, healthier, more compassionate and simply better place to live for all of us.
Happy National Volunteer Week!
With Thanks,
ECVO
National Volunteer Week, which started April 18, is seven days in which to recognize the outstanding efforts of all of Canada's volunteers - from those who sit on national hospital boards to those who bake cookies for their child's soccer team, and back again. Throughout our country, these volunteers are improving our quality of life at every level.
For those of us working in the nonprofit sector, we see the benefits of volunteers every day - these are the people who help run our programs, put their skills to work on our committees, organize fundraisers, balance our books, and give us guidance and direction as members of our boards. Many of Alberta's nonprofits and charities are entirely volunteer driven, and the rest of us succeed only with their committed help.
On behalf of the 4,000 nonprofits and charities in Edmonton, we thank all the volunteers for their help & determination in making sure that not only Edmonton's nonprofit sector continues to thrive, but that Edmonton itself is a stronger, healthier, more compassionate and simply better place to live for all of us.
Happy National Volunteer Week!
With Thanks,
ECVO
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Social Media & Volunteers
While attending the Chris Jarvis Workshop Series today, I was struck by the mention of attracting volunteers through social media. While there was a lot of good content to the session (especially around steps to move volunteers from a 'one time tourist' to a dependable and consistent 'guide'), I really appreciated the social media video that was shown, and all the ideas for promoting ECVO it inspired in me.
A lot of people are still unsure or uninformed when it comes to social media; a lot of others think it is just a trend or something that should be supplementary to their communications efforts. This video presents the truth about Social Media in a far more eloquent manner that I could ever manage!
it's called the Social Media Revolution Video. The link will take you straight to it on YouTube. The information is a bit outdated (the video is from 2009, a lot of the numbers come from 2008), but it gives a good idea of the scope and power of social media - even if it's a little understated in comparison to today's numbers!
Hope you enjoy - and that this gives you some new ideas on how to attract volunteers!
EAVB_AHMEVKHGCQ
A lot of people are still unsure or uninformed when it comes to social media; a lot of others think it is just a trend or something that should be supplementary to their communications efforts. This video presents the truth about Social Media in a far more eloquent manner that I could ever manage!
it's called the Social Media Revolution Video. The link will take you straight to it on YouTube. The information is a bit outdated (the video is from 2009, a lot of the numbers come from 2008), but it gives a good idea of the scope and power of social media - even if it's a little understated in comparison to today's numbers!
Hope you enjoy - and that this gives you some new ideas on how to attract volunteers!
EAVB_AHMEVKHGCQ
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