VMH 2020 Presenters

Our Presentation Team for 2020:

Jennifer Bennett, CVA

Is Soft Risk Hiding in your Volunteer Engagement Strategy?

This session is designed to help attendees identify soft risks in their organization and give them the tools to make the necessary changes to their organization’s volunteer engagement process and their culture of volunteer engagement, and to mitigate these risks.

About Jennifer:

Jennifer joined VolunteerMatch to formalize and manage the organization’s volunteer engagement program. With her breadth of experience, she is well qualified to help VolunteerMatch’s community of nonprofits better recruit and engage volunteers. She shares her knowledge with volunteer managers through the webinars found on the Learning Center, in newsletters and blog entries, and in person at conferences around the country.

She contributed The New Volunteer Manager’s Toolkit chapter for Volunteer Engagement 2.0: Ideas and Insights that are Changing the World published by VolunteerMatch in 2015. And, she is the current Co-Editor and contributing author for the 4th Edition of Volunteer Administration: Professional Practice. She’s a strong believer in the importance of engaging volunteers in meaningful work and was Certified in Volunteer Administration in 2009. She served on the Board for the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration from 2012-2018, and was the Chair from 2015-2018.

She currently volunteers with the Justice & Diversity Center and Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco. She holds a B.A. from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, VA.

Lindsay Baker, CVA

Taking Smart Risks and Piloting Innovation

In our desire to manage risk, we sometimes hesitate to develop new programs, explore alternative ways of engagement, or adapt to trends in the field. But what might happen if we don’t risk innovation in our volunteer programs?  In this session, we will explore the delicate balance between risk and opportunity. Discover how to manage risk, test new ideas, and introduce fresh approaches through pilot projects designed to help you transform your program. Learn a proven step-by-step process to pitch your pilot, get staff on board, and evaluate its success. Find out how “failure” leads to success and why stepping outside of your comfort zone is always worth the risk.

About Lindsay:

Lindsay Baker is a respected leader, coach and trainer who is passionate about lifelong learning and always game to try something new. She has been leading volunteer teams for more than 20 years in a variety of settings. She is currently the Manager of Volunteer Services for the Ocean Wise Conservation Association at the Vancouver Aquarium.

Prior this role, she coordinated volunteers for 2010 Olympic-related events in Richmond and led Volunteer Richmond’s volunteer management training programs. Lindsay is a member of the board of directors for the Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada (VMPC) and one of the instructors for the virtual Volunteer Management Certificate Program at Conestoga College.

Lindsay holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, a diploma in Public Relations and is certified in volunteer administration (CVA). Most recently, she completed Co-Active coach training and was the 2017 recipient of the Impact Award for Exemplary Leadership of Volunteers awarded by the Administrators of Volunteer Resources BC.

Lori Gotlieb

Safe and Sound: Volunteer Management Check Up For Your Volunteer Program

As an administrator of volunteers, one of your key responsibilities is to protect your clients and volunteers from harm, and your organization from liability. But how can you be really sure that you have the all the necessary risk management systems in place? Are your policies and practices sufficient? Are your interview questions getting you the information you really need? Are your screening procedures appropriate? We will present practical tools and strategies so you can be confident that you have minimized the inherent risks in your program.

You will learn how to:

  • build a best practice foundation to minimize risk including policies, procedures, and position descriptions
  • work with staff to avoid the grey zone
  • ask the right questions to screen potential volunteers and learn how to say no
  • develop a volunteer support system to minimize ongoing risk

About Lori:

Lori Gotlieb is the President of Lori Gotlieb Consulting as well as co-developer and faculty member for Humber College Volunteer Management Leadership Certificate and recently developed a leadership course for Humber College for their continuing education program. She is a volunteer management leadership expert who provides a unique concierge service to her clients as well as an internationally published author and workshop facilitator who has taught workshops to many diverse audiences, including grassroots local organizations, National Nonprofit organizations, Boards and Committees and Associations across North America. Lori is a contributing author the Volunteer Management Handbook, 2nd Edition as well has having numerous articles published in both print and online. Lori was a recipient of the Linda Buchanan Award for Excellence in Volunteer Management and has worked as a subject matter expert in Volunteer Management for more than 30 years. Lori is an Executive Board Member and content reviewer for the International Journal of Volunteer Administration, past president of the Toronto Association of Volunteer Administration, mentor for the Provincial Association of Volunteer Administrators in Ontario. Lori has mentored and coached administrators of volunteers across Canada, United States and Europe. Lori continues to push the boundaries of traditional volunteer management through her writing and teaching.

Sarah Olivieri

Managing Risk through Program Design

Are you using a program design that’s left over from the industrial revolution? If so, you may find it hard to bring about meaningful progress when it comes to managing risk. In fact you probably struggle to innovate for your mission as well. Our program design determines what we can and can’t do well. If we want to supercharge our ability to innovate, change, and successfully manage risks then we need to change the model we use to imagine our organizations. In this workshop you will learn a new model for program & organizational design and leave with tools to help you implement it in your nonprofit.

About Sarah:

 Sarah Olivieri is a nonprofit business strategist, #1 International Best Selling author, and former Executive Director. She has been featured on over 30 podcasts and is the creator of the Impact MethodTM – a framework that helps nonprofits simplify their operations, build aligned teams, and make a bigger impact without getting overwhelmed or burning out. Sarah received her BA from the University of Chicago with a focus on globalization and its effect on marginalized cultures, and holds a master’s degree in Humanistic and Multicultural Education from SUNY New Paltz. Sarah has over 15 years of nonprofit leadership experience. She was the co-founder of the Open Center for Autism, the Executive Director of the Helping of War Foundation, and co-author of Lesson Plan ala Carte: Integrated Planning for Students with Special Needs.As the founder and heart behind PivotGround, Sarah helps nonprofits make a big impact with relative ease.

Faiza Venzant, CVA

Our Host and Moderator:

About Faiza:

From a very young age, Faiza Venzant’s parents instilled a strong sense of volunteerism in herself and her two older brothers. They, as immigrants to Canada from Uganda in the early 70s, made a successful transition into Canadian life with the help of many kind and generous volunteers. A volunteer herself from a very young age, Faiza has successfully managed volunteers at the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, Youth Employment Service, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Surrey Place Centre. She is currently General Manager, Volunteer Development at the YMCA of Greater Toronto.  Faiza holds her CVA and CVRM certifications in the field of volunteer engagement.

Faiza is also an active member and volunteer of the Toronto Association for Volunteer Administrators and Professional Association of Volunteer Leaders – Ontario (PAVR-O) where she has twice received the President’s Award (2010 and 2012) in recognition of her volunteer contributions and where she also received the Linda Buchanan Award for Volunteer Administration (2013). She is Board Member with the Council for Certification on Volunteer Administration and is a member of the Steering Committee for International Volunteer Manager’s Day. In 2018, Faiza published her first children’s book entitled, My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up! As a mother of two young boys, she has not actually eaten any of her children up.