Here are some ways you can celebrate IVMDay
- Have your local volunteer manager network or DOVIA host a special event on the day.
- Coincide annual conferences to fall on IVMDay 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 of 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 IVMDay as an excuse to write an article about your role for your agency newsletter or local paper.
- Place a link to the IVMDay 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 VPMs in your area.
- Host a luncheon for area VPMs 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 VPMs.
- Request a special recognition for VPMs from your local mayor or Member of Parliament.
- Send a recognition certificate and thank you note to VPMs in your area.
- Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper that highlights the special work that VPMs do in the community.
- Put a reminder to celebrate IVMDay on November 5 in the signature line of your emails.
- Prepare celebratory gift bags for the VPMs 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 VPMs as you can to attend. Take lots of photos and remember to use them to publicise IVMDay the following year.
“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!” — Joan Perry, Director of Volunteers, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
“I had a thank you card printed with the IVMD 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.” — Janet Compton, Head of Volunteering, PDSA National Volunteering Centre, Winchester, UK
“At the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), we are offering volunteers the opportunity to write a thank you note to their immediate supervisor at the museum. We’re providing a bunch of hand-made cards in the volunteer lounge, and volunteers just have to write their personal message to their supervisor. We in Volunteer Services are then collecting all of these cards, and will distribute them to the supervisors on IVMDay. The messages that are being written are so touching. We think the supervisors are going to really enjoy being recognized in this way.”