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| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Research Articles : Feature Article |
Volunteer centres a valuable resource for fundraisersAugust 22, 1994; Canadian FundRaiser
If you need help recruiting volunteers, setting up programs or finding additional resources for fundraising, one sometimes-overlooked source is your local Volunteer Centre. There are at least 200 of these centres across Canada, with at least one in every provincial capital. Each centre can provide a variety of information on volunteer recruiting and training, as well as ideas for programs and recognition.
Each centre's services vary slightly. Helen Hayles, Executive Director of the Volunteer Centre of Winnipeg, says, "Our Centre is unique because it offers consultation and custom-designed training for agencies rather than pre-packaged training programs." The Winnipeg centre has a library with more than 2,000 listings on volunteer management, board development, planning, and non-profit trends and issues. It is also the national resource library for the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy.
In Calgary, the Volunteer Centre offers similar programs to encourage professional fundraising at all levels in nonprofits. Executive Director Martha Parker and her staff are working to form an association of fundraising executives in Alberta. And in St. John's, Supervisor Sandra Murphy points out that the centre's work with the corporate sector has made the centre an in-kind clearinghouse.
"Some centres, like those in Calgary and Edmonton, recruit aggressively by holding an annual, province-wide Volunteer-A-Thon on CBC television," says Pam Simmons of Winnipeg-based FastTrack Consulting. "Last year, 1.1 million hours of volunteer time and talent were pledged to agencies during the television special."
Centres are eager to help charities improve their level of volunteer involvement. For further information, contact Lorraine Street, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Volunteer Bureaus and Centres, 2 Dunbloor Rd., Suite 203, Etobicoke, ON, M9A 2E4; (416) 236-0588 or Fax: (416) 236-0590.
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