Community Connections - Issue No. 47 | November 1st, 2016
In this Issue:
- SHOW CASING: Volunteers Doing What they Do Best - Giving
- Nominate an outstanding volunteer
- Fundraising Opportunity
- Poirier Fundraiser for books
- 10,000 Tonight Returns to Sooke December 1st, 2016
- New RCMP in BC Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
- Nominate a Deserving Citizen for the BC Medal of Good Citizenship
- Volunteer Victoria Workshops October - November 2016
- A quick guide to engaging short-term volunteers
- Spotlight on Systems Thinking
- Maximizing the Strategic Impact of your Volunteer Program
- Volunteer Canada - 2016 Policy Summit Summary
- TechSoup Canada Contest
- Canada Revenue Agency: New educational video series on “Gifting and receipting”
- Job Opportunities
- Submissions
SHOW CASING: Volunteers Doing What they Do Best - Giving
Thanks to amazing community support, Team Sooke/Juan de Fuca, the local refugee sponsorship group has achieved their fundraising target of $50,000.
Some very generous people rose to the challenge of matching donations at the Sooke Fall Fair. And in Shirley, Colin McMechan and Catherine Hawkins’ online garage sale recently netted $350 for the family.
READ MORE
Showcase your volunteers in action. Send us pictures and a few words so we can share and celebrate!
Nominate an outstanding volunteer
The District of Sooke recognizes that volunteerism has played a major role throughout the history of Sooke in the betterment of the community in a great variety of ways.
For example, the Sooke Community Association was formed in 1934 to help raise money for a new community hall and has been called “one of the most effective volunteer civic groups in Canada.”
With over 120 known volunteer organizations in the area, Sooke has claimed the name “Volunteer Capital of Canada” and proudly displays the title on the “Welcome to Sooke” sign.
Nominations will be accepted until November 30 at the Municipal Hall.
READ MORE
Fundraising Opportunity
The Sooke Community Choir is looking for organizations interested in doing concessions for one of their Christmas concerts. They perform on Dec.9, 7:30 pm at the Church of the Advent in Langford
The Sooke performance dates are as follows:
Friday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 pm, at the Sooke Community Hall.
Sunday, Dec. 18, 3:00 pm, again at the Community Hall.
We know it is still early, but Christmas is such a busy time and we do like to plan ahead and have all the concessions confirmed early.
If your organization is interested in working with the Sooke Community Choir please contact Hildegard Burkart at 250-642-5525 or email hburkart@shaw.ca
Poirier Fundraiser for books
Our second Annual Online Auction raising funds for Ecole Poirier Elementary starts today. This online fundraiser will raise money for new Grade-level books in all their classrooms. Anyone can bid on items starting today until November 13.
Items will be added every day until the 13th November.
READ MORE
10,000 Tonight Returns to Sooke December 1st, 2016
My name is Ella Constandinou, and I am a student in Edward Milne Community School's Leadership class. Last year, our class pushed to make Belmont’s 10,000 Tonight Food Drive a school district-wide initiative. It was tremendous success. Last year, our school collected over 12,000 food items for the Sooke Food Bank, which serves a community of over 12,000 people from Sooke to Port Renfrew. This year, we are extending an invitation to other schools, community organizations/businesses, and prominent community leaders to become a part of this event.
We would like to make this year’s 10,000 Tonight an even bigger success than last year’s. We feel that the success of this year's event rests heavily on the amount of volunteers we have. We are hoping that could help recruit volunteers to help us with various tasks, such as collecting and sorting food. I'm sure your involvement would allow us to generate even more interest and awareness.
The event will take place on Thursday, December 1st. While the event is still a long way away, we would like to have volunteers commit early to ensure turnout.
I look forward to hearing back from you, and we hope that you will be able to work with us this year. Please email me at emcs.tentonight@gmail.com with offers to help.
Best regards, Ella Constandinou on behalf of EMCS Leadership
New RCMP in BC Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
Similar to the National RCMP Youth Advisory Committee (YAC), the RCMP in BC YAC will be a virtual Committee allowing any young person across the province to participate.
The YAC will be accessing a non-searchable Facebook page to communicate with the participants. Each month we will post youth, community, and police related questions/polls in order to get a better understanding of how youth perceive these issues, what changes they'd like to see, and what type of information and resources we should be providing to police officers, specifically officers in youth specific policing roles.
Also, we will encourage committee members to share content from their lives, interests, and communities to encourage them to be active participants of the committee, and to build connections with other participants.
If you have any questions, please contact us directly. Click here to view or download the application.
For more information contact:
Vijay Morancie
RCMP in BC, Crime Prevention Services - Youth Strategies
Ph: 778-290-4021
Nominate a Deserving Citizen for the BC Medal of Good Citizenship
BC is recognizing outstanding citizens with the Medal of Good Citizenship for their exceptional long-term service, and contributions to their communities without expectation of remuneration or reward. The medal reflects their generosity, service, acts of selflessness and contributions to community life. Nominations are accepted throughout the year on an on-going basis. Nominate someone today!
Volunteer Victoria Workshops November 2016
Volunteer Victoria Learning Events and Workshops
Management/Board/Governance Workshops:
- Understanding Financial Statements - New Date - Nov 1st, 5 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
- Designing Your Board - Nov 3rd, 1 pm @ West Shore Recreation Centre OR Dec 7th, 4 pm - 7 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
- Defining Your Members - Nov 7th, 1 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
- Governance Salon: Expanding the Conversation on Governance and the BC Societies Act - Nov 22nd, 5 pm - 7 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
- ELN: Auditing - Lunch and Learn - Dec 5th, 12 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
- Developing Your Non-Profit Leadership Practice - 2017 - Jan 30th, 1 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
Essential Skills Workshops:
- Project Management 101: Half a day workshop! - Nov 17th, 9 am @ Volunteer Victoria
- Grant Wwriting 101: Framing, Writing & Standing Out - Nov 29th 10:30 am @ West Shore Recreation Centre
- Facebook 101: Strategic Social Media - Nov 30th 5 pm - 7 pm @ Volunteer Victoria
Save your spot for a workshop by clicking here.
Questions?
Email Anabel Wind, Manager of Learning and Development: anabel@volunteervictoria.bc.ca
A quick guide to engaging short-term volunteers
Written in collaboration with Sara Wessling, Project Manager, MAVA.
In our increasingly modern world, time is becoming ever more precious. Almost half of Americans feel they don’t have enough time each week to spend on personal activities, according to a Workplace Trends report.
That statistic has trickled down to affect how much time people spend volunteering in America.
One theme that emerged is the trend in volunteers making shorter time commitments. To learn more about the challenges and opportunities organizations face in responding to this, MAVA surveyed over 250 leaders of volunteers and nonprofit managers.
READ MORE
Spotlight on Systems Thinking
This month we are celebrating systems thinking: a tool for finding the root cause of challenging problems and situations. Systems thinking allows us to understand complex issues (such as food security) by viewing them as part of larger systems. Understanding the root cause of complex problems gives us the perspective needed for pursuing strategic opportunities that create lasting change and build healthier, more resilient communities.
Maximizing the Strategic Impact of your Volunteer Program
Original broadcast date: Thursday, October 20, 2016
Summary: This recorded webinar, presented by volunteer management expert Stacy Ashton, will take you beyond the idea of volunteers as “free labour” and explore how your volunteers currently contribute to your donor base, goodwill in the community and the labour force. From there, we’ll learn how to benchmark and track the full impact of your volunteers on organizational success, and build strategy to connect those impacts to fulfilling your mission.
READ MORE AND WATCH THE VIDEO
Volunteer Canada - 2016 Policy Summit Summary
Organizations have moral, legal and ethical responsibilities to the people they reach. This includes members, clients, employees and volunteers. Screening is especially important for organizations that work with vulnerable people.
In September 2016, Volunteer Canada and La Fédération des centres d’action bénévole du Québec co-presented the 2016 Policy Summit on Volunteer Screening. The Summit included presentations on the screening process in varying regions in Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta and Québec.
Download the full Policy Summit Summary Report here.
TechSoup Canada Contest
Our friends at TechSoup Canada just launched a design contest for non-profits!
Does your non-profit have a knack for creating beautiful posters? Or maybe you designed a stellar pamphlet or educational resource that you're really proud of?
If so, then this contest is for you -- Adobe and TechSoup Canada have teamed up to bring you a Facebook contest where your creative material (e.g., posters, brochures, any marketing collateral), designed in any Adobe program, can win your organization up to $2,000 CAD. Check out details.
Canada Revenue Agency: New educational video series on “Gifting and receipting”
The Charities Directorate is pleased to announce that the first educational video of our new “Gifting and receipting” series is now available. Learn about the types of donations for which registered charities and other qualified donees can issue a tax receipt, and the various rules on receipting.
Watch the Gifting and receipting 101 video on the Videos and recorded webinars for charities and donors webpage, or on our YouTube Channel for a better resolution.
We will be uploading more videos in the series as they become available.
Also, as announced on September 27 by Minister Lebouthillier, in-person consultations with representatives from the charitable sector about political activities will take place in Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver later this year. Information on the consultations and on how charities can express interest in participating is now available on The Canada Revenue Agency's online consultation on charities' political activities.
Job Opportunities
Submissions
