Culture: People First

Embedding Team Values

Blog
Maria Turnbull
October 9, 2019
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Silhouettes of people on a hill jumping in a row, some with hands in the air in celebration.

 

Vantage Point is often engaged to facilitate board and staff team efforts to develop organizational or team values. We deeply believe in the impact that clear and aligned values have on driving high performing teams, ultimately generating more mission impact. Though the creation of shared team values is essential, an equally important next step is to determine how to effectively "implement" or "embed" the values across the team or organization.

When the Vantage Point staff faced this very challenge, I did some research on our staff Pro-D Day and came across lots of interesting ways to...

GoVolunteer. Seriously, go volunteer!

Blog
Alison Brewin
September 3, 2019
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Hands in a huddle circle

 

Vantage Point began its career as a volunteer centre. In recent years we have relied heavily on our online posting service, Go Volunteer, to play the role of connecting individuals to organizations hoping to engage people to deliver their mission. As we clean out our storage room in anticipation of some possible renos to the office we have uncovered some fabulous tidbits of our history. This history reminds us that personal connection is still deeply important, even in the days of ‘surely there is an app for that?’

Take young Linda Johnson. In 1967, she was a sixteen-year-old student at the...

The BC Budget 2020 Consultation: A guide for conversations with your local MLA

Blog
Miranda Maslany
August 28, 2019
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BC Budget Consultation Report


Each year, the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services conducts a consultation with the public and develops a report of recommendations for the BC budget. The consultation process went from June 3, 2019 to June 28, 2019 and the Budget 2020 Consultation report was published on August 7, 2019.

All submissions for the consultation can be found here – which includes many not-for-profit organizations (Access BC, Canadian Mental Health Association, the BC Alliance for Arts and Culture, David Suzuki Foundation, Board Voice, Pacific Legal Education Outreach Society, and many more...

Build Your Own Pro-D Day

Blog
Miranda Maslany
August 7, 2019
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Silhouettes of people on a hill jumping in a row, some with hands in the air in celebration.

 

At Vantage Point one of our values is being a living laboratory. We test things out and share the results with YOU: our wonderful not-for-profit clients, supporters, and community.

This year, we tried and tested…. Team Professional Development (Pro-D) days!

Our Pro-D Days are focused on self-directed learning. There are now so many free and affordable avenues to learn new skills and we wanted to make the best use of these resources. It can be tough to find time to read a book or go through a video course, but ultimately this time can make us more effective!

The Pro-D Day Format

To date, we...

Part Four: Making the Final Tech Decision -- What Steps Should I Take?

Blog
Philip Manzano
July 23, 2019
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A long, cropped image of a laptop, cell phone, notepad and water glass.

 

 

Over the past few months we have been taking some time to unpack the most common challenges and objections not-for-profits face when considering investing in a Customer Relationship Management System ("CRM"). First, we took some times to look at the basics of a CRM. We then explored what a CRM looks like to different members of a not-for-profit team. We looked at all the missed opportunities your organization piles up without a CRM and finally, tackled the fear of losing data by exploring institutional knowledge.

The ultimate question remains: how does all of this convince my organization to...

Part Three: Creating a Technology Budget for Your Not-for-Profit

Blog
Philip Manzano
January 21, 2019
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In the last blog in our not-for-profit technology series, we took a look at finding right tools for your organization. It’s always best to ask as many questions as possible to your technology vendors, to make sure you feel comfortable. Once you find the right tool – here comes the fun part. Finding the budget for it.

Be Realistic

When you start setting a budget for your technology purchase, it’s important to be realistic. If you have the benefit of historical perspective, take a look at similar purchases in the past. Look at some of the biggest purchases that your organization has made, and...

Five resources to start your year!

Blog
Miranda Maslany
January 9, 2019
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Start your 2019 with some fantastic not-for-profit resources!

 

It’s the New Year and here at the Vantage Point office we are ready take on 2019! I’d like to share some of our top resources that can support you in to have a dazzling and productive year ahead.

1. Annual Goal Setting & Development (downloadable resource)

It’s the time of year that everyone is making shiny new goals. We sure are! In January each Vantage Point team member creates on their goals for the year and comes up with an action plan. Use this resource as a starting point and modify it to suit the needs of your organization! Also consider planning out one or two stretch assignments...

Community Impact and Culture – Two Sides of the Same Coin?

Blog
Mark Friesen
August 1, 2017
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Organizational culture is an important part of your organization. Learn key insights into how to adapt your organizational culture to increase effectiveness in your organization.

Imagine a community service organization with no explicit policy manual on customer communications. Yet somehow, whenever the phone rings or someone walks in the front door, whichever staff member is in the office stops what they’re doing to provide immediate assistance, regardless of that person’s role in the organization. How does this happen? How does a particular pattern of behaviour become consistent across a diverse team?

Our Reconciliation Journey Continues

Blog
Maria Turnbull
June 5, 2017
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In recognition of National Aboriginal History Month we wanted to take a moment to reflect on our reconciliation journey to date. Vantage Point recently established a Reconciliation Task Force with the goal to guide and support our efforts in reconciliation.

HIGHLIGHTING VOLUNTEERS IN YOUR ANNUAL REPORT

Blog
Carol Neuman
February 20, 2017
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As a primary tool of communicating impact, your annual report tells an important story about your organization: who you are, what you value, how you impact the community, and who contributes to your success. So, it can serve you well to highlight the role of volunteers in your annual report.

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