VOLUNTEER BUREAU

FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION REPORT

TO: Committee of the Whole FROM: S. Jones, Director of Corp. Admin. DATE: December 5, 2013 MEETING DATE: December 10, 2013

VOLUNTEER BUREAU

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated December 5, 2013 from the Director of Corporate Administration titled "Volunteer Bureau" be received for information.

CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER'S COMMENTS:

I concur with the recommendation.

PURPOSE OF REPORT:

To provide additional information in relation to a volunteer bureau.

BACKGROUND:

As part of the Town’s Strategic Plan, Councillor Mattson put forward the concept of a volunteer support program and established that he would undertake a feasibility study to examine this concept. Councillor Mattson provided the report to members of Council in early October 2013 (see Attachment “A”). The report describes the structure, services, communications, staffing requirements and financial implications involved in the development of a volunteer bureau. Based on that report, staff have reviewed the document and provide the following additional information.

DISCUSSION:

Without a clear understanding of the need for volunteers in the community – beyond Town initiatives – and recognizing that it is already extremely difficult to find enough volunteers for Town events or committees, staff wanted to investigate options further with other volunteer centres in the region.

Staff discussed with both Saanich Volunteer Services and Volunteer Victoria the opportunity to have either of these organizations undertake work for the Town on a contractual basis.

Saanich Volunteer Services noted that currently they are unable to keep up with their own demand and are only able to provide service to the residents of the District of Saanich. This agency indicated that most of their funding is provided by the District of Saanich and other grant sources.

Volunteer Victoria noted they would be open to the possibility of having services contracted out through them. As part of their business model, Volunteer Victoria already recruits volunteers for other organizations. Apart from recruitment, Volunteer Victoria could also provide advertising in relation to volunteers and direct potential volunteers to View Royal to go through the formal recruitment process. The other option would be to have Volunteer Victoria contracted for full services which would include volunteer recruitment, assessment, client support and volunteer advising.

Volunteer Victoria noted that there are several things to consider when recruiting volunteers such as criminal record checks and ensuring volunteers have specific training in order to deal with people who may have mental health issues, addictions or physical disabilities. As well, the on-going daily support for volunteers and the clients is a large undertaking.

Volunteer Victoria noted that they receive $54,000 annually from Island Health Authority to carry out a full service contract for health-care related volunteers.

CONCLUSION:

While the Town already does include calls for volunteers for other organizations in its publications and on the website, this role could be better publicized.

From the perspective of initiating a robust and more visible coordinating presence in the volunteer community, there are insufficient internal resources available to undertake the establishment of a View Royal volunteer centre or its on-going function at this time.

As Councillor Mattson’s report notes, there are opportunities to not “reinvent the wheel” and instead use already existing specialists in the volunteer recruitment and support community. Staff could meet directly with Volunteer Victoria to further explore what a full service contract would cost.

BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:

Costs for a contracted service arrangement could be explored further by staff with Volunteer Victoria.

Funds have not been included in the Administration's 2014 operating budget to establish such a service.

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report dated December 5, 2013 from the Director of Corporate Administration titled "Volunteer Bureau" be received for information.

SUBMITTED BY:

S. Jones, Director of Corporate Administration

REVIEWED BY:

K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer