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In celebration of National Volunteer Week I had this great idea of visually displaying the thousands and thousands of different roles that humans have connected with over the past year via VolunteerConnector. Alas, it turns out that a 100 page pdf is pretty hard to condense in a way that is not just a black void so here we are, a bejewelled valentine of sorts as a deep and heartfelt acknowledgement (with a couple of those volunteer roles inside the heart).

To the people who wake up in the morning and think about someone else, to the person who wakes up and sees a gap in their community and tries to fill it, a person who speaks out at town council on causes they care about, the person who manages social media for the group that does not really know about this space, the person who hears a neighbour has a bunch of sick kids and leaves some muffins, the people that use their skills on boards, the people who share their community stories, the list goes on and on. You not only make people’s lives better, you make our communities places of comfort and belonging, you make other people want to keep going, you create places and spaces where people feel safe. So from our hearts- thank you. Profoundly thank you for being the reason we get to exist. Thank you for believing that changing our world is possible. Thank you for trying. 

Happy Volunteer Week! We’ve got some big news for you about the tools that you use for recruiting volunteers.

Have you ever wished that it was possible to have a posting automatically renew instead of disappearing from the VolunteerConnector? If so, you’re not alone — it’s regularly been one of our most requested features. Well, we are happy to announce that now you can set your posting to auto-renew, either when editing it, or from our completely re-designed postings page.

We had a huge list of improvements that we wanted to make to the postings page, so we used this opportunity to re-think it from the ground up. If you run a national organization with postings across the country —or a regional organization with multiple locations— you will love that you can now see the location and audience of each posting at a glance. No matter the size of your organization, you will love that you can now quickly get access to all of the key details about all of your active postings. This is a massive upgrade to the postings page, and we hope that you find it useful.

We've already started work on a revamped dashboard and features that will make reaching your volunteers and new volunteers in your community even more accessible!

Context

I watch 90% of the Toronto Blue Jay game every year as I try to relieve my ongoing sadness from the 1985 playoffs in spite of my joy in 1992. Melancholy anyone?

• Rabbit Trail 1: I still can’t look at a picture of George Brett without feeling anger from somewhere pushed down deep for many years.
• Rabbit Trail 2: I still can't think about Lloyd Moseby without shedding a tear for a trapped ball that was definitely NOT a trapped ball!

Back to the story

The Blue Jays play in one of the oldest baseball stadiums in the major leagues. It was opened in 1989 to much fanfare as the first retractable roof for a major sporting venue. Quite the source of pride for Canadians and in even fans nostalgic for Exhibition Stadium. The “Skydome” was built as a multi-purpose venue and therefore not uniquely suited to baseball. Still, no one was complaining.

Fast forward 30 years, low and behold the way fans expect to interact with their professional sports team has changed. In some cases, changed expectations and in some cases increased expectations. So, the Jays looked at building a new stadium or renovating the existing one. They chose to renovate and bring some exciting new changes to the game and fans. We shared last week some of the trends shaping volunteer expectations today, here is how the Toronto Blue Jays adapt to trends.

7 Lessons

Here are seven lessons from that renovation that can be applied to engaging volunteers in your cause:

• We don’t have to start from scratch every time. Too often when there is new person or a change in our organizations the approach is to start from the beginning, again and again. There’s a time and a place for abolish and rebuild. But what the Jays demonstrate is that a thoughtful approach to renovating can be wildly successful as well.
• Sure, take the old and make it new – but look around and learn from others and what’s working for them. A small team of people took time to travel to other sporting venues, not just baseball venues, to learn and personally experience what works and what doesn’t in other contexts. When was the last time you volunteered yourself? I love an opinion survey and a coffee to learn from people’s experiences but there’s something to experiencing it first hand as well.
• Book that coffee and grab those surveys! To hear Mark Shapiro, the Jays President, tell the story, they met with loads of people . . . loads of people to hear from them what they knew about trends, what works for baseball fans and what key things should have their attention. It focused their travel times. Data informed, intuition led.
• Think about how to treat all the people well. That seems like an easy one for our sector but sometimes it’s good to be reminded. They revamped whole sections for fans. They expanded the exercise facilities for players. They created a new specially designated space for the player’s families. They are thinking about everyone and how to improve for everyone. Even the three-year-old kid gets consideration because their experience has an impact on the game.
• Speaking of impact – include everyone, all the ways. There are places where the fans are almost hanging over the outfield. By lowering the fence in the centre field, they have removed a barrier preventing a game changing play. In the second inning of the home opener that play happened! Centre fielder, Kevin Kiermaier, jumped up reaching over the 8 ft fence to catch a ball destined to be a home run. To hear KK talk about it, he is adamant that having 42,000 people engaged can change the course of the game. What do we all gain when we remove barriers to our programs? Everyone can feel the impact that we all can make on the mission and the cause
• Create many ways, not just one way, to connect with other people. Encourage all the connections. From family friendly spaces with a hot dog see-saw to standing room tickets for other fans to bleacher style seating for some. More options to connect allows the fans to decide how they want to experience the game vs one size fits all approach. What happens when we curate community connections that otherwise may not exist?
• Don’t keep people away from the “important stuff”, people belong . . . the Jays decided the fans belong as close to the bullpen as possible. Look at the pictures, fans are almost inside the bullpen with the players. The knock-on effect of that decision, as shared by the Blue Jay pitchers, a feeling of being in the game before joining the game. Fan induced adrenaline starts before taking the field which gives the pitcher a competitive advantage over the other team. How much richer is community when we all know we all belong in all the places?

Bonus time

Of course . . . above all, the Blue Jays renovation wants us to know it’s okay to have fun, cheer loud and hey guess what . . . even the Blue Jays must take a multi-year approach to their program changes, probably due to funding (an all too familiar refrain). There are more renovations to come in the next off season. Perhaps you’ll get a part two to this post!

The Volunteer Perspective (Pt3) – dig deeper with me!

We have a special advantage at the VolunteerConnector. We get a birds-eye view of what people are seeking out as interests and what people are choosing to give their time to after all that exploring. It’s through this that we can identify volunteer trends and more. Here’s a taste . . .

If the choices volunteers are making with their searches, views and applications are to be believed then here’s a list of do’s and don’ts when recruiting your neighbours:

• Do create opportunities that are connected to Diversity/Anti-Racism and Environment/Advocacy.
• Don’t create opportunities that are connected to Fundraising and Information Technology.
• Do ask people to interact directly with your clients such as Patient Care and Tutoring.
• Don’t ask people to do your Contract Writing and vague Board Positions.

Kudos to a couple organizations that volunteers found exciting:

• The Calgary Bridge Foundation for Youth
• Vancouver International Children's Festival

Top Tip: work hard to find the balance between being too vague and too verbose in your postings, neither of those work.

People always want to be connected to fun and excitement . . . stay tuned next week as we look at the Toronto Blue Jays recent renovation of the Rogers Centre and what lessons can be applied to community engagement!

Happy to connect to dig deeper with anyone interested in telling the story of the volunteer!

The Volunteer Perspective – dig deeper with me!

I have a huge spreadsheet for crunching numbers and tracking our org’s story. It’s one that causes my colleagues and board to release a dramatic sigh when I open and say “I just have to show you something” … most often accompanied with heavy eyerolls. So follow along with my best Dwight Schrute impression …

We cannot support the narrative that “Canada has seen a dramatic decline in volunteers” because the data provided by volunteers year over year does not say/show/exhibit that behaviour.

Fact: Volunteers applying to volunteer increased 18.114% from 2021 to 2022.

We can support the narrative that organizations are struggling with demand and volunteer engagement is feeling that.

Fact: Organizations seeking volunteers decreased 22.852% from 2021 to 2022.

What is our best guess as to why there are capacity struggles on the organization side? Probably a familiar nonprofit story of “do more with less”. We actually see a lot of information out there answering that question right now. Most of our friends point to the need for increased funding to the sector.

We just think, with the data from volunteers in mind, that it’s not helpful to the volunteer movement and all Canadians to suggest our neighbours aren’t ready and willing to show up for one another. (see previous post for volunteer trends)

You may wonder why we have a different story to tell?

• That’s because we have centered the volunteer in the VolunteerConnector
• That’s because we intentionally built a digital platform from the ground up to have access to volunteer data as well as the organizational perspective
• That’s because in sector starved for data, we have millions of data points telling a different story!

Happy to connect to dig deeper with anyone interested in telling the story of the volunteer!

#nonprofit #engagement #canada #impact #connections #belonging #volunteering

The Volunteer Perspective - dig deeper with me!

In response to the narrative that volunteers aren’t around and ready to support community - we see a deeper story in the reams of data we have. It still speaks to stress of nonprofits that need to adapt … but we see plenty of volunteers!

Three key trends inform volunteerism right now:

1. Formal volunteer programs that rely on an aging volunteer base that is stepping back are struggling to adapt.
   • This was happening prior to the pandemic and, anecdotally, we heard stories of baby boomers stepping back due to volunteer burnout as soon as pandemic began. This means this volunteer base is not returning the same way.
2. A highly engaged new generation of volunteer in Gen Z that is careful about how they spend their time.
   • Important to this demographic is that their volunteer efforts be connected to social justice and/or climate action. If an organization can’t clearly demonstrate their connection to these two causes then these volunteers are willing to look elsewhere for their opportunity to engage in their community.
3. Grassroots initiatives have been growing, possibly at the expense of formal volunteering in organizations that uphold the barriers to community engagement.
   • There are many barriers that still exist related to volunteer engagement. Because of that, and the expectation that volunteers want to connect to their preferred cause (not organization), grassroots initiatives have been on the rise. (Barriers are covered in our report An Anti Racist Approach to Volunteering).

It is definitely challenging for organizations to adapt to these changing trends, especially as increase demand for services further stresses out staff. There are probably no end of organizations that could provide the perspective that volunteering is down.

But from the volunteer perspective #impact #connections and #belonging have never been more important!

Finally ... 

Our data, based on volunteer behaviour all over the nation is something we have been able to track throughout the pandemic. Briefly the pandemic story has been:

1. A hastening of the above trends
2. A surge of volunteer interest at the beginning of the pandemic which we attribute to neighbours wanting to care for neighbours
3. Tiny blips of volunteer interest that coincided with the various levels of government putting out conflicting messages of “stay home and distance” and “get back to normal . . . maybe”. But even then they were tiny blips that lasted only a week or two.

Happy to connect to dig deeper with anyone interested in telling the story for the volunteer!

Ramadan Mubarak to everyone observing! Some things to consider as an organization or if you are the person who engages volunteers at this time of year: 

Learn about this observance and what it means to community. Google is your friend, avoid putting the labour on the human. 

Have considerate/open conversations with volunteers and their unique needs. 

Provide time and space for daily prayers.  

If a volunteer opportunity time overlaps with sunset, make sure to provide time for people to break their fast (this will vary depending on where you are in Canada)

Be conscious of physically demanding work during the month. 

Check out these organizations doing awesome work (let us know if we can add you to the list) 
Project Ramadan is a project of Muslim Welfare Canada, they work with First Nations communities, shelters and food banks to support families during Ramadan. 
Muslim Foodbank began small in a garage and now delivers meals across Canada as well as providing daily meals to those who need them. 

We love to share some things that we are listening to, reading and watching! Feel free to get in touch if there is something you are enjoying!

Watch.  If you were a fan of the podcast by Canadaland then this docuseries is going to be for you. Ryan McMahon once turns his gaze to Thunder Bay, Ontario. 

Listen. Some of our team is already working in the earth, preparing the ground and starting the planting process. Join grower Poppy Okotcha as she is saving the world with gardening. 

Read. Sam Smith describes this book as love. It is truly a beautiful read by Alok Vaid-Menon “Beyond the Gender Binary” 

The World Happiness Report was released this week and not surprisingly it has some great things to say about volunteerism how it impacts a persons’ happiness. There are two things we want to draw your attention to from the report that should make you feel good. 

Firstly, despite being a rough couple years (anyone celebrate the 3 year anniversary of the COVID lockdown last week? Oh memories) there has been a global surge in benevolence which began in 2020, really got going in 2021 and according to the data is still going strong in 2022. This is a world that cares more about each other than previous years. This is showing up in volunteerism as more grassroots organizing, more neighbours helping neighbours and more people identifying gaps in their communities and finding a way to respond to it. This is good news. 

Secondly, there is new data in the World Happiness Report around the link between positive social connections and happiness. Positive social support was strongly tied to “how satisfied people are with their relationships with other people.” The takeaway is that people are more resilient in crisis when they have relationships. For people who engage volunteers this is a reminder that the space you create in your volunteer program might be the only place that human is finding belonging and connection in their life. Your cause is important but the interaction between the humans engaged with your cause is just as valuable. 

You can read the full report here.

Spring feels like it could be just around the corner on this side of the country. The snow is melting, the birds are singing, the warm sun is making a coffee on the patio possible. Spring is all about growth and so here are two simple wishes for volunteerism and organizations this week. They might seem like little things but best believe they could make a massive difference in the experience of a volunteer inside an organization. 

Wish 1: Be specific in your asks 

In the past couple months I have seen a couple posts on our local community page asking for volunteers and it goes something like this "looking for volunteers to help with XYZ event, date, time, email address" This is an awesome first step but volunteers are humans with a million things going on in their lives so the more information you can provide up front the better. It saves everyone time and energy in the beginning and fills in the blanks and questions you might not even know exist (ps our opportunity posting page does a great job of walking through this if you need some help!) Volunteers need to not just know where to be and when but everything that is involved. Sometimes it is hard to think about those people who are not yet swimming in the water of your organization. 

Wish 2: Show gratitude to the humans 

I recently read a volunteer info page that has been living rent free in my head for the past 2 months, one line in particular "if there is food leftover the volunteers at this event can have some". While there is absolutely no ill intent meant by this and I am 100% certain this is a simple logistical issue, meant to be interpreted as a 'perk' to volunteering I can assure you as a potential volunteer it is not. If having a meal provided is indeed a bonafide perk of a volunteer role - wonderful brag about it! Put it all in caps! If it is not than simply do not include it, and instead include the long list of very legitimate benefits that someone will get from giving their time to your organization. Think about what this perk/benefit will mean to the volunteer because dedicating time to an organization is a massive gift which deserves more than a maybe sandwich.  

Do you have wishes for volunteerism? We would love to hear info@volunteerconnector.org