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Five tips for using secret shoppers at your nonprofit
Have you ever seen the TV show "Undercover Boss"? If you haven't, it's essentially a program that features CEOs from different high profile companies going undercover within their own operations to see what and how things are really done by their employees. In most...
Gratitude
Since January my mother and I have been emailing back and forth to each other a daily gratitude journal, picking three things from each day to tell each other that we are thankful for. Our emails stack up upon each other, creating one very long string of the best...
What does volunteer engagement look like?
The other week I was in Burnaby facilitating the first day of the "Leading Volunteers: Foundations in Volunteer Management" course, our blended model course in volunteer management. We have a small but mighty class of 11 people going through this 30-hour course, with...
Developing thought leaders in volunteer management
I just spent the last three and a half days immersed in thinking about volunteer management. The bi-annual conference for my professional group - the Administrators of Volunteer Resources British Columbia (AVRBC) was here in Victoria at the beautiful Delta Ocean...
Yes, volunteer management is a profession!
A few weeks ago I taught a half-day workshop called "Vital Volunteer Management" with a group of about 20 participants. It was a very interactive introduction to Volunteer Canada's volunteer screening cycle. I began the day introducing some of the major resources that...
An upcoming transition, and projects galore!
I've been a little irregular on this blog lately so I thought I better post about why. There are several reasons! One is that I've been involved in planning and preparing for a work transition. Another is that I've been gearing up activities as Workshop Program Chair...
Work-Life Balance When Facilitating Online
Last November I took Royal Roads University's Instructional Skills Workshop Online (ISWO) course in order to prepare for co-facilitating it in February as part of my work responsibilities there. (I'm on a one-year contract as an instructional designer until early...
The practice of council
A couple of weeks ago I took a fantastic course through RRU Continuing Studies called The Practice of Council. It was a course held in council (what some people call "circle"), and taught us the basics of council process. We had two fabulous facilitators who modelled...
Interview with the Volunteer Program Coordinator at Victoria Women’s Transition House
To recognize International Women's Day today I interviewed Dianne de Champlain, Volunteer Program Coordinator at Victoria Women's Transition House Society. Dianne was kind enough to explain more about her role, her work with volunteers, and why she's passionate about...
Connect with volunteer management professionals at the AVRBC 2013 Conference
There's an event coming up that I've been looking forward to attending since about December 2011. That's when I and a few other dedicated individuals started working on planning it! It's the 2013 Administrators of Volunteer Resources BC Provincial Conference, for...