Annual Report of Volunteer Canada 2010-2011

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About Volunteer Canada

Volunteer Canada is the national voice for volunteerism in Canada. Since 1977, the organization has been committed to increasing and supporting volunteerism and civic participation through ongoing programs, special projects, national initiatives, resource development, and by engaging in research and training across the country.

Volunteer Canada actively leads national dialogues on how volunteerism is related to citizen engagement and civil society. At the same time, it provides leadership on issues and trends in the Canadian volunteer movement. These goals are achieved through its collaborative work with volunteer centres, community and national organizations, and businesses alike.

Volunteer Canada’s vision is: Involved Canadians. Resilient communities. A vibrant Canada. Volunteer Canada’s mission is to provide leadership in strengthening citizen engagement and to serve as a catalyst for voluntary action.

Financial Summary

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITOR ON THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

To the Members of VOLUNTEER CANADA

The accompanying summary financial statements, which comprise the summary statement of financial position as at March 31, 2011 and the summary statement of operations for the year then ended, are derived from the complete audited financial statements of Volunteer Canada for the year ended March 31, 2011. We expressed an unmodified audit opinion on those financial statements in our report dated May 19, 2011.

The summary financial statements do not contain all the disclosures required by Canadian generally accepted accounting principles. Reading the summary financial statements, therefore, is not a substitute for reading the complete audited financial statements of Volunteer Canada.

Management’s Responsibility for the Summary Financial Statements

Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these summary financial statements in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles, and for such internal controls as management determines is necessary to enable the preparation of summary financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

Auditor’s Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the summary financial statements based on our procedures, which were conducted in accordance with Canadian Auditing Standard (CAS) 810, “Engagements to Report on Summary Financial Statements.”

Opinion

In our opinion, the summary financial statements derived from the complete audited financial statements of Volunteer Canada for the year ended March 31, 2011 are a fair summary of those financial statements, in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles.

Chartered Accountants
Licensed Public Accountants
Ottawa, Ontario May 19, 2011.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL
POSITION AS AT MARCH 31, 2011

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
AS AT MARCH 31, 2011

Membership

Our members have once again proven their commitment to supporting volunteerism by maintaining their affiliation with Volunteer Canada. We continue to keep our members informed of breaking news, research, and resources that support their work. Volunteer Canada takes pride in knowing that we can call upon members for reciprocal engagement and information sharing.

Volunteer Canada values the support of its more than 1,100 members and thrives on providing organizations the highest quality service. We put our member organizations first with these quality offerings and exclusive member benefits:

PREMIUM DISCOUNTS

  • Up to 30 per cent off standard insurance packages including Directors’ & Officers’ Liability and General Liability offered through Aon Reed Stenhouse for member organizations of all sizes (along with other exclusive insurance package offerings for non-profits);
  • 10 per cent off National Volunteer Week promotional items and a free NVW campaign kit;
  • 10 per cent off valuable resource materials available through our online store;

FREE SUPPORT, NETWORKING, AND INFO SHARING

  • Monthly newsletter, eVOLution, featuring important trends and issues in volunteering;
  • Member exclusive special editions of eVOLution including a forthcoming series on adopting the Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement;
  • Access to special events including topical tele-learning sessions and Webinars;
  • Consulting services for salient issues affecting your organization;
  • Participation in Volunteer Canada’s governance, leadership, and product development;
  • Listing on the Volunteer Canada online members directory;
  • Promotional support for select priority events through our Facebook and Twitter pages;
  • Digital promotional assets for use on your organization’s Web site and collateral materials;
  • Get free tools, resources, and research reports through http://www.volunteer.ca/.
  • Media relations materials for select national campaigns.

Please contact our Membership Services team toll-free at 1-800-670-0401 ext. 298 or via email membership@volunteer.ca if you have any questions or feedback relating to membership or other Volunteer Canada programs.

Volunteers

Volunteer Canada would like to thank all the volunteers who have contributed time and effort to supporting the organization. Your help is greatly appreciated.

  • Alison Stevens
  • Andrea Caven
  • Ann Coburn
  • Anne Deveau
  • Anne Perigo *
  • Anne-Kellie Eliacin
  • Barb Gemmell
  • Barney Ellis-Perry
  • Bill Pigott *
  • Bruno Bourdache
  • Cassandra Flett
  • Cathy Taylor *
  • Christine Epp
  • Craig Lapierre
  • Dave Baspali
  • Dave Jones
  • Dave Muir
  • David Lewis
  • David Styers
  • Deborah Gardner
  • Dennis Dyck
  • Donna Carter
  • Doug Appleby *
  • Ed Cayer
  • Elizabeth Specht
  • Frank Seguin *
  • Georgina Neville
  • James Drage
  • Jim Edward
  • Jo Nore
  • Joan Crittenden
  • John McBride
  • Jon & Tracey Hagerman
  • Judy Cadieux-Fortin
  • Karen Lynch *
  • Kathleen Thomas
  • Katie Campbell
  • Lauren Dobell
  • Lee Close
  • Leslie Wright
  • Liz Weaver
  • Lorrie Hathaway
  • Lyn Tait
  • Lynne Lessard
  • Manon Harvey
  • Margaret Fraser
  • Marc Charron
  • Mark Scott
  • Martha Parker
  • Michael Cybulski *
  • Miles Gariepy
  • Omaima Faris
  • Paul Richer
  • Penny Rowe
  • Robert Murray
  • Rosemary Byrne *
  • Ryan Lapierre
  • Scott Lundell
  • Stacy Ashton
  • Susan Philips
  • Susan Scotti
  • Todd Coopee
  • Venissa de Castro
  • Wayne Helgason *

* Denotes our Volunteer Canada active board members.

Volunteer Canada would like to thank all the volunteers who have contributed time and effort to supporting the organization. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Partners

Home Depot Canada

A founder and active participant in the Corporate Council on Volunteering, The Home Depot Foundation is helping increase the reach of the Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement and supporting the initial scoping of a volunteer centre in Nova Scotia. Through its Team Depot program, The Home Depot contributes more than 60,000 volunteer hours nationally.

Investors Group

This Winnipeg-based firm and its national network of employees and consultants have sponsored National Volunteer Week for more than a decade. Investors Group encourages its employees to volunteer and honours volunteers through its recognition programs and support for many national and community organizations.

Manulife Financial

Volunteer Canada and Manulife Financial released the results of a pan-Canadian research study on December 8, 2010, that provided insights on Bridging the Gap between what Canadians look for when they consider volunteering today and how organizations engage their volunteers. With gaps identified, the focus is now on the Building the Bridge campaign. This multi-faceted effort includes a suite of digital components including: the Volunteer Quiz (VQ); a ‘Get Volunteering’ Web portal, Facebook page and application; a volunteer matching tool, at the recently enhanced Getinvolved.ca, sponsored by Manulife Financial; and the new Action Bénévole! Canada, a Web portal specifically geared to the francophone volunteer community. New tools and resources will continue to roll out throughout 2011.

PWC

In addition to updating the 10-year-old Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement , our partnership with PWC will allow us to develop different versions of the code for different kinds of volunteer-based groups, from sports leagues to ethnic associations.

q media solutions

q media solutions is the company behind Getinvolved.ca. We worked with q media solutions to enhance Getinvolved.ca, including a volunteer matching tool that’s provided by Manulife Financial, which is an integrated feature on Getinvolved.ca. We also collaborated with q media solutions to produce www.ActionBenevoleCanada.ca and the recently released Volunteer Quiz (VQ).

RCMP

We held a highly successful series of webinars on the subject of volunteer screening in collaboration with the RCMP and hundreds of participants logged on from across Canada. Employees at the Canadian Real Time Identification Services Directorate continue to help the sector stay up to date. The RCMP is interested in learning more from Volunteer Canada about the impact on volunteer-involving organizations, inviting us to present to the Criminal Record Information Policy Working Group.

 

SAP Canada

Employees from its Montreal head office and other volunteers built a green deck and garden on the roof at the Dawson Boys and Girls Club. The food grown there will go to the club’s food bank and its youth cooking program.

The Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development at Carleton University

The Centre at Carleton led the research summarized in the report Bridging the Gap: Enriching the Volunteer Experience to Create a Better Future for our Communities. The centre also provided the training for the pilot-project participants working on the Bridging the Gap research study. In addition, Volunteer Canada collaborated with the centre to research and write a discussion paper on skills-based volunteer engagement.

TransCanada

Based on last year’s planning, this year TransCanada will help develop a capacity-building measurement tool that will enable volunteer centres to prove their worth to funders.

UPS

With support from this long-time partner, we are developing a kit for hiring executive directors of volunteer centres . As executive directors retire or move on, volunteer centres will be better-equipped to consider all their relevant factors and select leaders who can navigate the changing volunteer sector.

Volunteer Canada and the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education

The Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education co-hosted the launch of Volunteer Canada’s pan-Canadian volunteering campaign titled Building the Bridge, which kicked off in Halifax. We are also collaborating with department officials to examine the feasibility of creating a provincial volunteer centre and consulting with professionals in various regions to explore a range of service models that would meet the province’s goals.

Volunteer Centres

By partnering with many volunteer centres and several community organizations on a variety of programs and initiatives during the year, we were able to develop high-calibre tools and resources. Volunteer centres participated in the skills-based volunteering project, either guiding us as members of the advisory committee or delivering training in their communities as pilot participants. We also benefitted from partnerships with many volunteer centres on the emergency preparedness project, Emergency Planning: Community Training in Disability Issues. In September, we participated in a think tank with select volunteer centres to set the stage for revising the Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement. In addition, we continued to collaborate with provincial/territorial associations, recognizing their special role in connecting with their volunteer centres to support and build capacity. In 2010-2011, these and many other projects strengthened the Canadian voluntary sector tremendously. Volunteer Canada is grateful for the continued support from volunteer centres as we work hard to support them, engage with them and realize our shared mission of advancing and strengthening volunteerism.