Justyce filled me in on the last VTA meeting and about the discussion about having the right resources for volunteers.
The VTA has grown quite a bit in the past few years. There are new volunteers that have stepped forward to give their time to keep the organization running which is a blessing as without them, there is no VTA.
That being said, I propose that the VTA spend some funds to make the job of volunteers easier and most importantly - time efficient.
- Newsletter – Kelsey elevated the professionalism of the VTA with a beautiful newsletter format. There were many complements on the polished look and is a great membership recruitment tool. The cost of Issu is less than $20/month. She’s outlined the benefits and features that would further the work and fundraising opportunities included in the software in previous meetings.
- Membership – this has turned into a fulltime job to manage the membership of the VTA. There are platforms that help manage the membership, send out reminders, reduce the time to input data, manage payment etc. The cost of a platform like Wild Apricot is $40/month. There are many out there and are very reasonably priced.
- Zoom – Using the Hike Ontario account has been helpful but the amount of time that is wasted waiting for them to start the meeting, calling them because they forgot etc is getting old. One licence for $250/year could be shared out amongst the clubs to use as well. That would be a value added service the CC can provide clubs. Schedule meetings, everyone would see when a meeting is scheduled and plan around if another meeting is being planned. The cost of this is less than the mileage paid to club members to attend an AGM.
Having worked for Not-For-Profit organizations for almost my whole working career, I understand the value of a dollar and trying to keep organizations financially afloat. But there comes a time when an organization needs to spend some funds for the sake of retaining volunteers. Having dedicated volunteers is a difficult thing to attract and has a cost as well. Spending less than $1,000/year to support those volunteers and grow the organization is money very well spent. I bet the growth of the organization using these tools would more than offset the cost in the long run and would go a long way in supporting our dedicated volunteers and helping to professionalize the VTA.
Thanks,
Kirsten
