IVC News

Blog - The Big Olympic Challenge

March 1, 2010

To the men and women in the blue jackets, you are the undisputed heroes of these games. The class of 2010.”

Thus began John Furlong’s accolade to the thousands of volunteers who helped make these past 2 weeks a blur of memories. Fourteen gold medals later, I sit back and marvel at what I just witnessed.

I watched as hundreds of athletes had their experience of a lifetime. ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - The Real Value of Volunteers

January 8, 2010

So what IS the value of volunteering? There has been a lot of talk lately about the value of volunteerism, the need to express its value and whether or not we should place an economic value on it. There are perhaps valid reasons why we should do this, but I’m going to argue that we absolutely should not.

Let’s look at a recent survey on volunteering. When asked why they ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Holiday hours

December 18, 2009

Please be aware that we will be closed from December 24 to January 3 inclusive over the holiday season. If you are in crisis or require information about services in the community, please call 211.

All the very best to you and your family during this festive time.

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Blog - What's Your Story?

December 14, 2009

Are you a storyteller? Of course not. Very few are. I’m certainly not. But if you could tell a story, which one would you tell?

I recently had the opportunity to meet Greg Baldwin, the President of Volunteer Match. In his keynote speech, he talked about storytelling and whether or not we seriously consider which story we tell. There are all kinds of stories in our organizations. Do you ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

International Volunteer Day!

December 4, 2009

December 5 is International Volunteer Day! This special day is an opportunity for us to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing work volunteers do every day.

That’s why we hope you take some time to say thank you to the volunteers in your life and let them know they’re appreciated for their donated time and efforts. A little recognition can go a long way!

For those not involved in volunteering, we ...

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Blog - The Trouble With Temporary

November 30, 2009

It’s no secret that the trend in volunteerism is shifting toward episodic volunteerism. People are far more willing these days to give a few hours on a weekend or an evening and seemingly unwilling to make a regular commitment for a longer term. This trend is great for some organizations and not so great for others. There are many implications of this trend but I’m just going to pick on ...

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Blog - A cloud of suspicion

October 22, 2009

How much is too much? When is enough enough? How do you justify it? How do you justify NOT doing it? Risk management is a tricky subject. We’ve had to ask a few of these questions on our own lately. But what’s really at stake here? And why do we do it?

A recent editorial in the Globe and Mail highlights an interesting perspective. Although off the mark ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - The Importance of Fruit-Basket Hats

September 22, 2009

Where have we ended up?

Volunteerism has become more professionalized. It’s become more highly skilled. Some of the work that’s being done around volunteerism is fantastic. We’re moving forward on many issues. Issues like:

• Tax credits for volunteers
• Screening for volunteers
• More research than ever
• Connecting volunteers with business
• Insurance and risk management
• Social networking and community mobilization

We’re using terms like “Social Return on Investment” and “Community ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - 35 Million Canadians for Supper

August 31, 2009

On September 11th this year, President Obama is asking Americans to volunteer, making this year’s anniversary of the terror attacks the first National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Now it seems to me that we’d have a hard time harnessing that pride of community and pride of country if Mr. Harper stepped up to the microphone and declared a National Day of Volunteerism. I’m not suggesting that Mr. Ignatieff ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - Confession: I like my shoes

August 5, 2009

A couple weeks ago, a colleague emailed this quick blog to me asking why men in the not-for-profit sector wear bad shoes. I didn’t realize women looked at my feet. It turns out they do. And they’re being judged! For the record, I like my shoes. Not that I have a lot. And also, for the record, my colleague claimed she had never noticed my shoes.

I’ve worked in ...

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New Twitter to follow!

July 17, 2009

We have a new Twitter feed geared specifically toward youth volunteerism! Check it out…

Posted by: Youth Program | View Post →

Blog - The first two scary months

July 3, 2009

I know I tend to blather on about the value of social media for nonprofits. Everyone I talk to seems to be scared to death of it. Truth is, I’m scared to death too. I know I don’t sound scared, but I am.

We have this shiny new website. We don’t even have any parking lot dings yet! We’re on Facebook and Twitter. Yet some of these things seem to ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Volunteer Centre Retooled

June 30, 2009

Ok, maybe not the whole Volunteer Centre. But we’ve got a new page that connects you directly with our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and any other quick newsy bits.

Find out what all the excitement’s about!

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Edmonton Journal Feature

June 18, 2009

Check out the great feature in yesterday’s Edmonton Journal.

Thanks, Muttart Foundation, for your assistance in making this happen.

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Blog - More Volunteers!

June 10, 2009

So we face a conundrum. (Yes, I said conundrum. Now I should probably look that up in a dictionary.) Volunteerism has increased. According to the 2007 Canadian Survey of Giving Volunteering and Participating, both Canadians and Albertans volunteer more than they did in 2004.

Seriously? Wasn’t everyone saying volunteerism is on the decline? Weren’t we worried that the fabric of society was being torn apart? Well, it turns out ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Volunteerism in Alberta is up!

June 9, 2009

The 2007 Canadian Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating has been released. The results show an increase in the rate of volunteerism in Alberta of 3.5%.
Download the full report here.

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Amazing Video

May 28, 2009

This video was forwarded to us and demonstrates what happens when you unleash the power of volunteerism!

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Blog - What's in a Word?

May 25, 2009

I was at some national meetings last week with Volunteer Canada where there was a lengthy discussion around the word volunteer. We were debating the national definition of a volunteer centre and whether or not a centre should be required to have the word “volunteer” in its name in order to qualify for the special status of “Volunteer Centre”.

Now whether we came to a consensus or not isn’t the ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Our exciting new website!

May 1, 2009

Welcome to our new website! Come in. Click around. It’s for you.

We have so many people to thank who have their fingerprints all over this. We certainly haven’t bought enough gigabytes to thank everyone. But we’d especially like to thank Micah and the guys (and Kristi) at Lift and the Wild Rose Foundation, who funded this adventure.

To the rest of you? Thanks for visiting. We hope you ...

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Are we really going to blog?

May 1, 2009

So what business does the Information and Volunteer Centre have blogging? It seems everyone is doing it these days. Why add to the clutter and noise of cyberspace? Well let me tell you, there aren’t very many non-profits out there blogging. Which means very little of that clutter and noise has a non-profit slant to it.

Don’t worry, we’re not going to blog about what we had for supper last ...

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

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