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Background & History
For a quick two-page
summary about the Volunteer BC basics, download our two-page backgrounder
(PDF) by clicking here.
The
History of Volunteer BC
It
all started in 1976…
Volunteer
BC's story started in 1976 when four Lower Mainland volunteer centres
( Burnaby , North Shore , Richmond and Vancouver ) started meeting
together to share information about trends in volunteerism. A year
later volunteer centres in Coquitlam, Delta and the Sunshine Coast
joined them. By September 1978, the group formalized by forming
the Council of Volunteer Centres of the Lower Mainland. With funding
from the Voluntary Action Resource Centre, the Council became the
BC Association of Volunteer Centres and was incorporated as a society
on October 15th, 1979 .
The
1980s: Setting Standards and Leading the Way
During
the early 1980s, Volunteer BC spearheaded the development of standards
and criteria for volunteer centres in the province. The association
worked hard to be a provincial leader in providing advocacy, agency
support, standards expertise, skills banks, board development, community
consultations, research, volunteer recognition, promotion, training
& information resources and recruitment & referral services.
In 1989, Vol BC launched Volunteer Management Standards to develop
standards that benefit the voluntary sector as a whole.
The
1990s: Harnessing the Information Highway to Serve Volunteerism
During
the 1990s, Vol BC started responding to the multicultural needs
of BC's communities. The volunteer centre movement continued to
grow with new centres emerging throughout the province (including
Powell River , Hazelton, Courtenay, Campbell River and Nelson).
In 1992, Vol BC worked on standards and criteria for volunteer centres,
programs and centres within multi-service agencies. In 1993 the
resource manual, “How to Start A Volunteer Centre” was published
for use across the province, and Vol BC won the BC Association of
Broadcasters' Humanity Award.
Vol
BC quickly started mobilizing the power of the internet to support
the volunteers centre movement and connect people to voluntary organizations.
In 2000 Vol BC went on-line and in 2001, Vol BC launched its Training
Resource Database. In 2003, Vol BC joined with the Vancouver Community
Network to create a BC Societies Networking Database for capacity-building
within the voluntary sector.
Evolving,
Learning and Growing
Throughout
its history, Vol BC has actively participated in a long list of
diverse activities promoting volunteerism, from leading needs surveys,
hosting Volunteer Week celebrations, marketing volunteer recognition
item, identifying relevant issues, and collecting data about the
voluntary sector to help guide policy and improve practice. Today,
Vol BC publishes a monthly newsletter and hosts annual conferences.
Looking
back over Volunteer BC's activities and achievements since 1979,
it is obvious our mission has been consistent. While the voluntary
sector has grown, volunteerism catches on to more and more people,
and the communities we serve have ever changing needs, Vol BC has
evolved alongside these changes. We've aimed to meet our goals in
a variety of ways - through the education of local and provincial
governments, promoting quality volunteer programs and services in
volunteer centres and non-profit organizations, and advocating the
value of volunteerism in Canadian society. Like other established
organizations, Volunteer BC has weathered its share of struggles
- facing core questions around identity, membership, purpose and
funding. Volunteer BC has battled against the temptations of being
too centralized and in duplicating services. The Society's survival
has depended to a large extent on a strong, committed Board and
an active membership of volunteer centres across the province. Volunteer
BC has accomplished much in its 30 years.
Want to know more about
our history? Click here for a full
Volunteer BC Chronology.
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