Ideas

IDEAS TO CELEBRATE

Here's a list of ideas for ways you can celebrate IVM Day

Have your local volunteer manager network or DOVIA host a special event on the day
Coincide annual conferences to fall on IVM Day and then make it a feature of the program
Have the President of your VM network / DOVIA write a letter to the line manager / CEO of each member telling them how important the work the VPM working in their agency is
Remember to send a thank you message to the extended group of staff in your agency who support the work of volunteers (but who may not be recognised as a VPM). It's a great way to gain support and educate
Send an e-card to your peers and colleagues
Encourage your local Volunteer Centre to host an event or mention the day in their newsletter
Find ways to educate your agency about your role through the promotion of the day
Use IVM Day as an excuse to write an article about your role for your agency newsletter or local paper
Place a link to the IVM Day website from your volunteer web page
If you are a member of a professional Association, create an annual award to celebrate the work of VPMs in your area
Throw a party to honor VRMs in your area.
Host a luncheon for area VRMs and allow them to bring their boss.
Hold a press conference and invite local dignitaries to talk about the community impact of the work of VRMs.
Request a special recognition for VRMs from your local mayor or Member of Parliament.
Send a recognition certificate and thank you note to VRMs in your area.
Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper that highlights the special work that VRMs do in the community.
Put a reminder to celebrate IVMDay on November 1 in the signature line of your emails
Prepare celebratory gift bags for the VRMs in your area so that they can have a treat on the special day.
Encourage your local Volunteer Centre to host an event and then encourage as many VPM's as you can to attend. Take lots of photos and remember to use them to publicise IVMDay the following year

Please share other ideas you may have
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REPORT POSTED BY JANET COMPTON, Head of Volunteering, PDSA National Volunteering Centre, Winchester, UK

Thought you might like to know that I had a thank you card printed with the IVMA logo etc and sent it to all locations in PDSA that work with volunteers - 181 shops, 43 PetAid Hospitals, plus our fundraising staff and office managers - approx 250 in total.

We also sent a press release to all areas in the country where we have volunteers, and although it takes several weeks to get all the cuttings in, I am aware that we had one piece in the Yorkshire area!

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Idea submitted by Joan Perry, Director of Volunteers, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

I wanted to pass along what we did for Volunteer Program Manager's Day .

At one of our local society meetings we posed for and took a group picture. We then wrote down everyone's name and the average number of volunteer hours that flowed through their management each year. It was incredible of course - almost 500,000 hours. We sent it with a press release to all the local press. Every single newspaper we sent it to printed it!

We also held an after work reception on the day last year and plan to do it again this year. We will rotate hosting it amongst the different agencies represented. This year everyone will bring a dish. At this reception we recognised our Volunteer Administrator of the Year. We also send that picture to the press and receive good publicity for it.

The other thing that we did was have the Society President send a letter to everyone's boss