July 22, 2025
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June 15, 2021This paper is intended to stimulate discussion and consideration of the importance of citizen and community participation and to put forward an argument for investment and leadership. The potential “investors” in this remarkable phenomenon are many: governments, foundations, the corporate sector, voluntary and non-profit organizations, communities and even individuals. Like participation itself, the process required to think through ways to lever and enrich citizen and community participation needs to be multi-faceted, collaborative and creative. No one agent of society can or should own the leadership or enabling role. Ultimately, action must be harnessed to a shared vision; a vision for a Canada in which each person makes a contribution and together we build a better world.
June 08, 2022In the midst of COVID’s sixth wave, Canada’s nonprofit sector continues to struggle with uncertainty and increased demand on services. While we don’t have exact percentages on how many volunteer engagement (VE) professionals (often referred to as Managers or Coordinators of Volunteers) were laid off, we can only surmise that between the reduction in volunteer engagement and reduction in nonprofit staffing in general, VE professionals were likely hard hit either through layoffs or redeployment. In fact, according to this blog piece by Volunteer Toronto, potentially 1 in 2 employed volunteer managers were dismissed or reassigned. With this reduced capacity to engage volunteers and a burgeoning interest from the public in grassroots and community involvement, established nonprofits may struggle to rebuild the volunteer base necessary to meet service demand as we enter the “new normal” of the endemic phase of COVID-19.
November 02, 2022Do you want or need to volunteer but not sure how to get started? You’ve come to the right place! In this series of short articles, we will cover the what, why, where, who and how of volunteering. We begin this learning journey by defining what exactly is volunteering.
