Chapter 5: Non-profits and Managing Volunteers
Description
Compared to working in a for-profit environment where working towards increasing value through improving the product or service is the main goal, working for non-profits poses a unique challenge as both an employment opportunity and from a management perspective. Non-profits often focus on a specific societal mission, such as the environment (such as Natural Resources Canada), healthcare (such as the SickKids Foundation) or economic success of their region (such as local Chambers of Commerce). In this module, you will explore charities and non-profits and the unique role of managing volunteers who often make these organizations tick.
Learning Goals
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Differentiate the types of non-profit organizations in Canada
- Compare the management of ’employees’ in for-profit and non-profit settings
Charities and Nonprofits in Canada
Read
Start by learning about the form of the over 170,000 registered non-profits in Canada by carefully reading through all the information in the linked infographic:
Knowledge Check
Volunteers in Nonprofit Settings
Volunteers are crucial to the effective operation of non-profits, with the average volunteer contributing 131 hours/year to causes they believe in.
Read
Given the important role of volunteers, please review this article this article which was published in the context of the 2012 London Olympics:
Engage. The Marriage of HR and Volunteer Management: The Odd Couple?
While reading be sure to compare how human resources compares with more traditional volunteer management.
Following your reading, check your knowledge on the flip cards below
Knowledge Check
Key Terms
- Nonprofit: An organization that uses its revenue to support a mission instead of making a profit (Oxford University Press, n.d.-a).
- Charity: A type of nonprofit focused on helping people or communities (Canada Revenue Agency, n.d.).
- Social Sector: Part of the economy made up of nonprofits and charities working for public benefit (Law Insider, n.d.).
- Volunteer: Someone who offers time and work without pay to support a cause (Oxford University Press, n.d.-b).
- Donation: Money or goods given to a charity or nonprofit to support its mission (Oxford University Press, n.d.-c).
- GDP (Gross Domestic Product): The total value of goods and services a country produces; nonprofits contribute to it (Investopedia, n.d.).
- Big Four Causes: The main areas Canadians donate to: Religion, Health, Social Services, and International aid (Imagine Canada, 2018).
