Volunteer Recognition

Making the Net Work for the Voluntary Sector
 
Public Relations Tool Kit

Good Neighbours

Community and Province Wide Grants (Ontario Trillium Foundation)

Ontario Screening Initiatives

Community and Province Wide Grants

High School Community Involvement Program

One-Step Charitable Organization

Community and Rural Development Handbook - Fact Sheets

WorkSmart Ontario

Volunteerism:  "Citizenship in Action"

Over 2.3 million Ontario volunteers help build strong and prosperous communities. In fact, not-for-profits form one of Ontario's largest economic sectors. In recognition of the contribution that volunteers and not-for-profit organizations make to our economic vitality and social well-being, the Government of Ontario supports a number of initiatives to promote volunteer action across the province.

Volunteer Recognition

Volunteerism is a valued tradition in Ontario. Each year, the Ontario government recognizes volunteers from all sectors through the Volunteer Service Awards, celebrating continuous years of service, and the Outstanding Achievement Awards, honouring exemplary performance. The Ontario Medal for Young Volunteers recognizes exceptional volunteer achievement by young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Making the Net Work for the Voluntary Sector

A collection of tools, resources and best practices briefs aimed at supporting Ontario voluntary organizations in the strategic use of Internet technology. These materials are drawing from the experience of over 60 voluntary sector Internet projects realized from 1999 to 2005.

Good Neighbours

Ontario's Good Neighbours campaign encourages each of us to reach out and help others in our neighbourhoods and is part of the Ontario Government's commitment to promote informal  volunteering and build strong, safe communities.  Being a "Good Neighbour" is citizenship in action. Ontario's communities grow stronger when more Ontarians reach out and help more of their neighbours.

Public Relations Tool Kit

Effective public relations can help achieve successful results for your organization by increasing awareness of what you do and why. The Ministry developed a practical Public Relations Tool Kit  that includes practical, easy to use resources and examples.  

Community and Province-Wide Grants

The Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, receives annually $100 million of government funding generated through Ontario's charity casino initiative. Ontario Trillium Foundation grants are awarded to fund capital, operating and/or specific project costs in support of: Arts & Culture, Environment, Human & Social Services, and Sports & Recreation. The Foundation makes grants that have province-wide impact as well as grants in local communities across Ontario. 

Ontario Screening Initiative

The government of Ontario contributed over $1.3 million, enabling leading voluntary sector organizations to deliver the innovative Ontario Screening Initiative (OSI), an intensive three-year pilot project, designed to help community groups promote safe, effective volunteer action across the province. The OSI encouraged organizations to build leadership commitment, change attitudes and improve practices that reduce risk of harm to their clients by screening individuals in positions of trust. OSI publications and resources continue to help community groups improve the way they screen.

Secondary School Community Involvement Program

To encourage civic responsibility and promote community values, Ontario's secondary school curriculum now requires students to complete a minimum of 40 hours of community involvement prior to graduation. This is in addition to the 30 credits required for a secondary school diploma. The Ministry and the Ontario School Counsellors' Association (OSCA) have compiled an annotated gateway to resources   on short-term student volunteering.

One-Step Charitable Incorporation

Not-for-profit and charitable volunteer groups can use the Not for-Profit Incorporators Handbook to learn more about incorporation and can apply for incorporation and charitable status through a simplified process that can save  time and money. The process for dealing with complaints about the misuse of charitable property has also been improved, to further strengthen public confidence in Ontario's charities. 

Effective Organizations & Rural Development Fact Sheets

Rural volunteer and community groups play a key role in promoting rural economic development. To support this, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has designed a comprehensive series of fact sheets that help community organizations operate more effectively. The Effective Organizations section on OMAFRA's website includes a wide range of material on managing a nonprofit organization and a Rural Development Handbook with over 50 informative fact sheets. All items can be downloaded or ordered in bulk. There's everything from Starting an Organization to Fundraising For your Organization to Recruiting Volunteers and Effective Community Decision Making.

WorkSmart Ontario

WorkSmartOntario is the first government website in Canada offering young people comprehensive information on both workplace health and safety and employment standards such as hours of work, overtime and holiday pay. WorkSmartOntario also contains information to help youth volunteers, parents of volunteers and sponsoring organizations provide a healthy and safe volunteering environment.