Latest News | Features Update

We recently put together a list of things that sets VolunteerConnector apart. We have never been very good about bragging about ourselves so this is good stuff! 

Why the VolunteerConnector 

VolunteerConnector is the only Canada-wide platform that blends national reach with unique local needs, equity-first design, and sector-shaping data — empowering every organization, from grassroots to large-scale, to engage volunteers inclusively and effectively. 

National Reach + Local Relevance 

The VolunteerConnector connects 5,000+ organizations and over 1.5 million volunteers across 293+ communities. 

Most competitors are either hyper-local or purely national; VolunteerConnector blends nationwide accessibility with localized support, customization, and relationships, including regional partnerships and on-the-ground sector connections. 

Regional partners and volunteers help shape the platform based on their experience and knowledge of community needs. 

Equity-Driven Volunteer Engagement 

The VolunteerConnector shifts the responsibility for inclusive engagement onto organizations — a major differentiator from platforms that focus solely on supporting organizations. 

This reframes volunteerism as systemic change work, not just matching skills to needs, aligning with social sector values and priorities. 

The VolunteerConnector integrates anti-racism and accessibility principles directly into the digital platform, making equity practical and scalable. 

Data-Backed Sector Influence 

The VolunteerConnector holds one of the largest datasets on volunteer behaviour in Canada, showing who engages, how, and where barriers exist. 

This insight is not only operationally useful; it positions us as a thought leader capable of influencing policy, funding priorities, and best practices for volunteerism nationwide. 

Competitors may track volume, but few transform that data into storytelling, advocacy, and sector capacity-building. 

We are a nonprofit with over 65 years of experience supporting volunteers and organizations. 

Technology + Human Support 

Many platforms are just volunteer postings or just management software. VolunteerConnector is both, a digital recruitment tool with built-in volunteer management software. 

The platform provides sector-specific support 24/7, along with coaching and resources that help organizations improve their practices — all for free. 

Our widget and API-like integrations give partners customized access to the platform that aligns with their branding, streamlining postings and support for local communities. 

We are not profit-driven — our priority is removing barriers and creating more connections for volunteers to support the organizations they care about in the communities where they live. 

We are committed to continuous improvement and investment in the platform to ensure the needs of volunteers, organizations, and regional partners are met. 

Low Barrier for All Sizes of Organizations 

Grassroots groups, large institutions, and everything in between can join without the barrier of a fee or technical complexity. 

This democratization means VolunteerConnector isn’t just serving the “usual suspects” — we are expanding the volunteer pool and improving access and representation across the sector. 

You might have noticed a difference with how VolunteerConnector looks and feels on the landing page. We are constantly collecting feedback from the huge cross section of humans who interact with our platform- from people in community to organizations to our awesome Regional Partners to other stakeholders who care about thriving communities. Due to this awesome feedback we have shifted the landing page to be more reflective of people's desire to connect to causes in their community. This means a recommended sort of results puts more priority on location and proximity of the opportunity to the individual. 

You might be curious about changes like this are made and honestly it is Miranda in the Devil Wears Prada vibes, everything is done with massive intention and a ton of thought considering all the different ways VolunteerConnector is being utilized across Canada. 

We always value hearing from people who use the site so please let us know what you think of the change! 

We are super excited to announce that we have added a resource library to VolunteerConnector! From your dashboard click on Resource Library under Tools to find a bunch of things to help you on your volunteer engagement journey. We are always looking to add things to this area so please feel free to share anything that you think is helpful for anyone who supports people engaging in their community. We would love to feature it on there. 

Please let us know if you have any questions or if you feel like something is missing we are happy to create it! Get in touch with us at VolunteerConnector 

VolunteerConnector is a platform that exists on the world wide web, which is very cool! It also offers a hyper-local solution to people looking to be connected inside their community! It is the best of both worlds helps humans to build thriving community whatever that version is for them! There are three spots when posting your opportunity that can help ensure the humans you want to see your postings are. We have this handy little sheet to help you make the best out of those features!

Remote- use this toggle if it does not matter where a volunteer is located. Remote means someone can be in a different time zone and at a coffee shop or in their living room! It does not mean 

Address- use this for the physical location of role. If you are needing humans live and, in the flesh, (think a festival, museum greeter, youth programming, fitness instructor) use the most accurate location for where this work is occurring. People need to know where they need to be and if that works for them. 

Audience- you get to choose where your opportunity will show up for people. If you are thinking the humans, you need are in your postal code select local. If you are looking for someone who lives anywhere across the country than national is the space, you need. If you are looking for support in different provinces or territories, you can directly target them as well. Choose the option that works best for you and what is reasonable for the person seeing this opportunity

Create your holiday opportunities now while thousands of volunteers are looking.

Did you know that over 6,500 volunteer searches are happening everyday? People are looking for you!

We are just starting the holiday season. Well, maybe it's a bit early to say that . . . but it is never too early to be thinking about how to engage current and new volunteers over the next few months.Take advantage of the 3 month trial that allows you to access all the features of the VolunteerConnector.

Inspiring individuals - not sure where to start when recruiting? 

Be inspired by our Guest Bloggers. As they share their experiences you will find there is plenty of ways to engage people to share their passion with you and your cause. In many ways it is volunteering that has shaped their lives more than any other as these friends of ours looked to make an Impact, build Connections and find that sense of Belonging in their communities.

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!

We've been busy working on new features. We're a charity and every new feature is built with the support of volunteers and funders and our subscribers so let's start with a big thank you to them!

We are making volunteering easier for everyone. This update includes a load of helpful features for organizations.

Subscribers can now recruit directly from a pool of skilled volunteers looking for opportunities that meet your criteria. This matching feature will make it easier for you to find volunteers. Better matches will lead to quicker connections with the right volunteers for your organization. Less time in admin, more time with actual humans!

With all of this connection to volunteers it can be difficult to stay organized! We now offer advanced sorting and filtering options for subscribers to make it easier to reach out to the volunteers you're already connected to.

** VolunteerConnector will always be free to volunteers. Organizations will continue to have access to our free features. We are looking for more support and if you'd like to join our community to support new and innovative supports to volunteerism Subscribe or Donate today.

Get recommendations — specifically tailored to you.

We're launching a new feature that will help you find your perfect volunteering opportunity: personalized recommendations. These suggested opportunities are custom designed just for you, based on your unique combination of interests and abilities.
 

Looking for the perfect fit? Keep your profile up to date with the Causes and Activities you are interested in and the Skills you have, and that will help us give you better recommendations.

Your Connection to Volunteer Experiences,
The VolunteerConnector Team

For those of you looking for a bit more insight into the features on the VolunteerConnector we have a bunch of videos on the Get Support & Learn page.

In the meantime here is a complete Overview of Signup to get you started followed by a special highlight on the Scheduling Tool.

Overview of Organization Signup & Profile

Special Profile of Scheduling Tool

In response to the global pandemic, we have made some changes to the VolunteerConnector to support an even quicker connection for volunteers.

New features added this week:

• Give your COVID-19 and Virtual Volunteering needs priority recruitment during the crisis
• Donate Now button added to link to your CanadaHelps account
• All for free while the crisis lasts (enter code: THREEFREE2020 to get started)

Existing features:

• Volunteers can sign up online
• Volunteers can choose their shifts and schedule themselves
• Track your volunteers, easily identify their skills and interests relative to your crises response
• Upload your current volunteer list to get started
• Download volunteer list for offline use

Any issues/questions connecting, contact info@volunteerconnector.org.