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Every once and awhile I get on my soapbox about boards, and this is one of these times! My inbox has entered the AGM era and with that comes board recruitment times. Fun times for all! There are often two versions of the coaching conversations we have around board recruitment, the first one is around scarcity “we can’t find board members” and the second one is around diversity, “our board is not reflective of the community”. The response to both of those needs is the same question and it is the one that I will pose to the reader now; what are you willing to do? The answer might be nothing and that is ok, it is not ideal, but it is honest which is something. If you are willing to do something different this year I would invite you to think about who is not at the table and spend some energy thinking about what is preventing them from being there. Maybe it is thinking about when and how you meet? The number of steps it takes to apply for a board position? Perhaps, it is the number of words and requirements in your opportunity? It could be far more complicated and require more intensive collective work but starting and trying are real accomplishments! 

A couple resources if you are thinking about doing something different for board recruitment:

Gateway to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Hub

An Interview with Stanford Scholar Roberta Katz

The Circle 

We were so lucky to host Tyler Sinke from Mohawk College for a session on the experience of the post-secondary student volunteer.

Great things happening in Hamilton, Ontario! The key takeaways for organizations looking to engage with this demographic are:

Get to know the school in your area… they can look different and have varied specialties which may or may not align with the work your organization does. There will be a student life human there who will be interested in building an authentic relationships and connection. So, reach out and see what can happen! 

Pre-emptively address barriers that students face; provide transportation, give out meals and snacks, vary the time commitments, maps, prioritize community belonging and fulfilling roles.  

Most students live by the post-secondary school calendar semesters, consider that when establishing your roles. 

During pandemic times lots of students missed out on co-op and work placements so opportunities that align to careers goals are interesting along with providing a letter of recommendation and/or references.

Check out the Mo Team on Instagram 

Sharing and learning with our fellow humans is one of our most favourite things here at VolunteerConnector. We love hearing how organizations and communities are navigating the world. It is also fun for us to share what we have been working on! We have some opportunities coming up to create spaces for building understanding and relating. Please feel free to join us for any or all and to let us know at info@volunteerconnector.org if there is something you want to chat about! 

We know where some volunteers are! 

Festivals, Fairs, Rodeos Oh My!

Tips and Tricks for Boards 

Can I ask you a question? 

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 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.

Making sure the people who give their time and energy to a cause that they are passionate about are celebrated is a vital part of any organization! The research suggests that burnout and turnover are at historically high rates in the charitable sector so it is more important than ever that we are valuing the humans that make all the work possible. This is especially vital in organizations that are made of solely of volunteers. Board members - you have to appreciate each other too! Many organizations tether their volunteer appreciation to National Volunteer Week and that is great if it works, if there is another time and space that makes more sense than do that - there are no rules to making other humans feel appreciated! We do recognize that this can all feel overwhelming and add to the stress that many are already feeling so we have done a couple things to help you out:

Volunteer Celebration Worksheet 

A template to help you get the information from your volunteers about the things that make them feel special! Find it on our Get Support and Learn page. 

Volunteer Recognition Learning Circle

 We are hosting a learning circle on volunteer recognition come prepared to share with your community peers things that are working or not working for you. We all learn more from failure than success! Join us March 15 at 11:00 MST, Register here on Eventbrite

Individual Coaching

If neither of these work for you or you feel like you need more specialized support or conversation, please do not hesitate to reach out for personalized coaching from one of our awesome team members (Coaching Intro Survey & Booking)

February is Black History month. Our sector is colonial, influenced by white supremacy and capitalism. Like all sectors that are built on the backbone of these forms of oppression, Black people continue to face extreme forms of discrimination, prejudices, and racism. Many of the people that work in our sector are altruistic, but this is often lost due to the system that continues to be upheld.

It is important to acknowledge this month's focus and the turmoil Black people have experienced and continue to experience. Here are some steps we can take now and throughout the year to support the Black Community: 

Give Your Money

Donate to organizations that directly support Black people. Here is a list of a few to get you started:

• Action Dignity - The B.L.A.C.K Project (Becoming Leaders Acquiring Critical Knowledge)
• Black Environmental Initiative - environmental action for black and equity seeking communities
• Canadian Voices Against Racism - a community of volunteers working to create a living database of police violence in Canada as a means to petition lawmakers to dismantle institutionalized racism, colonialism, and white supremacy within Canada’s governance
• African Friendship Society - our approach is to intentionally combine the caring and nurturing essence of African cultures and traditions with history and social studies through traditional dances, stories, songs and music of Africa.

Spend Your Money at Black Owned Businesses

Check out the link below to find Black owned businesses is your community.

• Canada Black Owned Business & Black Entrepreneurs Directory - Afrobiz

Continue Learning

Learn about Anti-Black Racism, but also learn about Black History and the Influence Black people have on our music, culture, and society. The talent and influence Black people have is often forgotten or ignored.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Attend Black led festivals and cultural events
• Read books, listen to podcasts, and watch movies that are created by Black people
• Listen to the music of Black Artists

Speak Up

Continue to say something when you see racist actions. The oppressive system can’t change over night, but even small steps can make a difference and improve the lives of Black people in our communities.

We are still learning. If you would like to talk to someone on our team about our antiracism journey and what we can do better, please reach out at info@volunteerconnector.org.

We recently got this email to our inbox here at VolunteerConnector . . .

“Hello, I hope you are well 

My name is Tamara and I am a 13-year-old girl. I was wondering if there were any places I could volunteer at my age. I know that not many facilities let younger kids volunteer but if there were any that could work please let me know. 

If not would there possibly be anything/projects I could do to help out? Such as making or baking something or anything that could be used to help others. 

Thank you”

We thought it might be helpful to remind people we are always available if you need a little extra support in finding volunteer roles that are a good fit for you. There are humans who care a lot about community behind VolunteerConnector and there are also 150+ Volunteer Centres across the country so no matter where you are reading this from there is probably one close to you!

We should also share how we responded to Tamara in case you are like her and looking for a way to help in your community and not exactly sure what that could look like . . .

Hi Tamara, 

Thank you so much for your email! Very cool that you are looking for ways to get involved in your community. There are certainly some organizations that have age requirements for volunteers but there are many others that don’t. I have some more questions for you to help clarify what might be a good fit; do you want to volunteer in person or online? How much time do you have available to commit (do you want to volunteer once? Or have a monthly/weekly time?) Are there certain things that are interesting to you…you mentioned baking is there anything else? Is it important that you volunteer close to home or are you ok with going to a different area?  

Sometimes volunteerism does not have to be with an established organization it can also be doing awesome things in your community like adding food to Community Pantry, shovelling a neighbour’s sidewalk, bringing muffins to someone, chalking the sidewalk with positive messages…

Let me know your thoughts and I can send you some specific opportunities!

VolunteerConnector Team

There were a couple more emails back and forth, but we eventually used the ‘proximity’ and ‘youth’ filters on VolunteerConnector to find some opportunities that met her criteria and ta-da another human finding belonging in community!

We hosted the first guest in our new speaker series this past Tuesday! No need to fret if you missed it here are the resources that were shared for you to check out at your leisure. Thank you to Kristie Pshyk for her time and insights into pursuing wellness in 2023. She shared this quote from Adam Grant which can hopefully guide us all this year “Too many people wait until they're exhausted or depressed to make change or seek help. Mental health isn't something to put on the back burner. We can't keep good habits in storage until we need them. Mental hygiene should be as ingrained in our daily routine as dental hygiene.”

Emily Nagoski (book) 'Burnout; The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle'

Jamie Gruman (book) 'Boost; The Science of Recharging Yourself in an Age of Unrelenting Demands'

Kelly McGonigal (tedtalk) 'The Upside of Stress'

Mental Health Commission of Canada (mentalhealthcommission.ca)

• The Working Mind
• Mental Health First Aid
• National Standard for Psychological Safety 

Canadian Mental Health Association (cmha.ca)

• Recovery College 
• Psychological Health and Safety Training 
• Not Myself Today Campaign
• Workplace Mental Health Programs/Training 

Wellness Works Canada (wellnessworkscanada.ca)

• Workplace Wellness Certificate 
• Webinars and Resources

Thanks again to Kristie for being such a great host and supporting all of us in our journeys!

This time of year, can be all the feelings - joy, overwhelm, grief ... all at once and everything in-between. It can also be the time of year when the demands of 'giving' feel like they are at an all-time high. Our mail and local newspaper are full of asks and it is a lot. Here is a list of three things that you can do this holiday season that do not cost a thing and will warm your heart. 

1. Meet your neighbours 

• We are a friendly bunch usually, but many Canadians do not actually know their neighbour; google puts this number between 30-50%. That is a big opportunity to expand your social sphere. These are people who we have friendly nodded at or quickly waved but here is your challenge to knock on the door and compliment some lights or offer a hot chocolate!

2. Go through your pantry 

• This not an invitation to donate the things you do not like or are expired (In The News) 
• This is very much an invitation to figure out where your local community free food cupboard or pantry is and replenish it with what you can. 

3. Think about how you will engage in community in 2023 

• The opportunities are endless, from a formal role on a board that does the work you care about to being the person who steps up for your kid's sports team to creating space to show up in person at a protest to writing a letter to an elected official about the policy issues which are impacting you. Reflect on the time you have in the next year and be honest. If it is a hectic year maybe using your social media platform to amplify messages is your choice, maybe it is the year that you commit to monthly board meetings or maybe it is the year you are the organizer in the community and rally people to make change. 

We are all in this together!