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Volunteering can be a family affair! 

Since we all just spent the weekend spending MORE time with our immediate families, we thought we would take a look at family friendly opportunities on the Connector. 

We compared the first 6 weeks of the past 3 years and volunteer opportunities for families have DOUBLED! There are also THREE times the number of youth friendly opportunities. The families that contact us are all shapes and sizes; an aunt looking for something to do with her niece, a grandma looking for an opportunity to do both with her son and her granddaughter. Universally they are looking to engage with causes that they care about and share that experience with a person that they also care about. 

Like many sectors the pandemic is shifting the way the non-profit and charitable sector operate. One aspect of this shift that we are monitoring and most interested in, is the way organizations engage volunteers. Volunteer Canada recently published a report outlining some specific examples of how organizations are having to adapt during this difficult time, as well as the ongoing struggles many organizations are facing.

Some key findings from their report that stood out include the following:

• Organizations are struggling to find the time to transition new volunteer positions to virtual positions.
• Organizations are struggling to find enough staff to support their overall volunteer engagement efforts.
• There are too many volunteer applications being submitted in comparison to open positions.

With the use of technology through the VolunteerConnector platform we are always trying to stay one step ahead of the sector to offer timely support. To support organizations that are struggling to find the time to transition new positions to virtual positions, we have made more changes to the volunteer posting page to make it easier for organizations to submit postings. There are tips along the side of the form providing support to organizations that are new to virtual volunteerism. We have made it easy so that organizations can break-up larger positions that were previously done in person to smaller positions that can be done by multiple people virtually. What is most exciting about this upgrade is that the VolunteerConnector is so well optimized online that we can guarantee organization will receive interest in their postings.

For organizations that are struggling to find enough staff to support their volunteer engagement efforts, the VolunteerConnector offers sophisticated software that is built on best practices to make it easier to engage, screen, connect, organize, and schedule volunteers. Taking advantage of all the features the VolunteerConnector offers will save organizations countless time and money.

Finally, to support organizations that are receiving too many applications from volunteers we have made changes to the platform so when an organization selects virtual in their posting their position will show up in communities outside their own. This is an amazing feature as it provides opportunities to volunteers in smaller communities who may not have a lot of active posting to choose from - meaning the volunteer can offer virtual support to other communities and then once this pandemic is over, they can go back to their in-person positions in their local communities. This is a win-win for organizations and volunteers, as organizations continue to receive the support they need while volunteers continue to be engaged in meaningful ways, which is especially important now. This also means that organizations that do not have the capacity to engage their usual number of volunteers, can feel less guilting knowing that there are other opportunities out there that volunteers can participate in.

To read more about Volunteer Canada’s findings you can find the complete report here: Volunteering Lens of COVID-19: Fall Survey Highlights or to learn more about the work we are doing to support communities through volunteerism reach out at info@volunteerconnector.org.

Shared Platforms are pretty awesome, the Ontario Nonprofit Network describes them as “an innovative model for emerging projects that foster collaboration and eliminates administrative barriers, allowing projects to focus on their community work”.

For us here at VolunteerConnector that means we put all our time, energy and resources into making the platform work for volunteers and organizations so that those humans can spend their capacity doing their work in community.

We also get to feel a part of all the wonderful work that organizations on VolunteerConnector are doing, a quick look on the opportunities posted now shows that there is work being done via VolunteerConnector is every of the 29 cause categories. It also means all the groups and VolunteerConnector are working together to help people engage in their communities.

If you are interested in learning more about Shared Platforms check out the work Ontario Nonprofit Network is doing - Shared Platforms.

January has not been blah or blue! We have had four Januarys on VolunteerConnector and here is what we know from that: 

This January with varied and widespread restrictions across the country, humans are still seeking connections through doing good work in their community. January 2021 actually looks remarkably pre-pandemic.

In order to make sure VolunteerConnector is reflective of the needs of the community it archives postings after 90 days. Here is the catch . . . organizations have the ability to retire their posting once their opportunity has filled! This graph compares the number of opportunities taken down by organizations in each January (2018-2021).

More organizations archiving their own opportunities means more volunteers finding places to share their skills. 

Also "Blue Monday" was the busiest day of the week on the Connector . . . so this all seems like a pretty good way to start the year!

We want you to get the most out of your experience on VolunteerConnector. Did you know we run quick tip sessions? The first session of 2021 is on February 3. This is a chance for you to learn a little bit more and ask any questions you might have. 

Register here and we will send you the zoom link! 

If this session does not work for you, get in touch and we are happy to chat! 

You may be wondering what we at VolunteerConnector do when we are not working with organizations doing wonderful work in the world and volunteers who are impacting their communities. We do a lot of walking and running but we also love podcasts!

Here is one we think is awesome and we think you should know about, featuring the very knowledgeable Tim Fox.

"Sharing the Responsibility for Decolonization"

If you have heard something you think we would enjoy, let us know! 

New year and everyone is getting back into the swing of things. If you are reading this as an organization that means you are looking forward to the year and what sort of needs, you might have to change your volunteer team. If you are a human who wants to utilize their skills and abilities, you are on the lookout for opportunities to suit your needs and availability. 

Every single opportunity posted on volunteerconnector.org gets views. Each and every one! So there really is an opportunity for everyone looking and there is a great fit for every organization. 

Here is to another 2,215,214 connections between humans wanting to do good in their community and organizations working on making the world better. 

If you are looking for something to listen to check out Youquest on CBC Radio.  From their founding Youquest recognized and embraced the value that volunteers would hold in their organization; they have continued to use VolunteerConnector as they have grown over the past couple years. Their impactful program is now being replicated in different parts of the country! Just another example of humans seeing a need in their community, rallying together to do good and using technology to bring others along!

Two different organizations, different scopes of work, different causes, different cities. Both Better Environments and ARKS used VolunteerConnector to thrive and adapt in uncertain times.  

ACCESSIBILITY RENOVATIONS FOR KIDS 

Accessibility Renovations for Kids is an established organization in Calgary, whose goal is to ease the daily lives of children with mobility challenges by renovating or modifying their family home. They started this year with 3 volunteers, they were up to 65 by Thanksgiving and plan to have 120 humans engaged with their cause by Christmas. VolunteerConnector enabled them to develop specialized teams and bring people who cared about their cause together.  

BETTER ENVIRONMENTS 

At the beginning of 2020 Mac McAlear was a university student, 8 months into a global pandemic and she is now a CEO of an organization that operates in 4 cities across Canada and has volunteers from around the world. Better Environments recognized the need for people to get outside and do something in their communities. They used VolunteerConnector to expand their reach and empower people to take responsibility for the environment within their community.  

Well the VolunteerConnector has been up and awesome for a couple years. In that time we’ve made tweaks here and there and added features that made it better for volunteer and organizations! We decided it was a time to refresh the Postings page. This was done with lots of consideration, research, data and insights from organizations/regional partners. What has changed?

• We have streamlined- time is a valuable commodity, now you can only fill out the sections that you need to. 
• We have made posting happen with just one click, no more scrolling to choose draft or later. 
• We have made it more mobile friendly so it’s easier to post an opportunity on the go. 
• Best for last ... an audience section that lets you target where you want to recruit from! 

Login to your profile to check it out, there is help text to guide you along but you probably won’t need it! If you need help or have questions we are here to help - info@volunteerconnector.org.