Corporate Citizenship

The Corporate Council on Volunteering

The Corporate Council on Volunteering is a unique and exciting initiative, which started in 2005 when Volunteer Canada has joined forces with corporate volunteerism champions from across the country to build a Canadian-born Corporate Volunteer movement and through a partnership with The Home Depot Canada, the Corporate Council on Volunteering was formed. During its first year, the Council comprised of senior executives from 12 national corporations. In only five years, the group has expanded to 22 executives, representing a wide range of industry and sectors. As the largest corporate volunteerism initiative in the country, the Council calls on businesses of all sizes to encourage employees to volunteer time in a collaborative effort in the communities where they work and live.

The Council has continued to evolve since its inception and is now focused on the development of the Centre for Excellence in Corporate Community Involvement. The development framework for the Centre includes four pillars—Information, Curriculum, Research & Best Practices, and Consultation & Support. Led by the Corporate Council on Volunteering membership, The Centre for Excellence brings together the for-profit and nonprofit sectors on common ground for the first time in Canada. Participants from both sectors will learn how to better communicate and work together in partnership by learning about each other through the four pillars.

The site facilitates the development of communities of common interest for discussion, learning, and sharing. The site will also provide a platform for the collected best practices of the members of the Corporate Council on Volunteering and nonprofits across the country. The first phase of the Centre was the creation of a common space social networking tool with launched this past June (www.corporatevolunteering.ca)

The second phase of the Centre for Excellence is underway with the development of research and curriculum pieces to support both businesses and nonprofits. We are in the pilot phase of testing a new program development tool and about to engage in a volunteer program benchmark study that will result in a joint white paper with LBG Canada.

As a starting point we have worked with large national corporations from across the country. Through feedback from both Council members and nonprofit partners, we would like to expand the Council to include medium sized / regional businesses. We feel there are best practices from this group that will add value to the Centre as well as the research we are engaging in.

Members of the Corporate Council on Volunteering are identified as leaders and trailblazers in the area of corporate volunteering. Member benefits include access to a strong peer network of Corporate Community Investment professionals, positioning as a leader amongst an impressive group of leading businesses in Canada, the option to participate any of the Centre research endeavors, participation in other exclusive activities such as the Power of the Hour Challenge, and curriculum pilot testing. Members also gain access consultative services by Volunteer Canada.

Council members must be willing to collaborate in a non-competitive environment. They are not afraid to share both challenges and successes and are at the table to participate. We are specifically seeking companies from Western (BC & AB) and Maritime provinces with regional or national scope. Council members must have senior executive buy-in on behalf of the company and be willing to assign a working group member to attend meetings twice per year.

Corporate Council members include:

Michael Tierney, President, UPS Canada (Council Chair)
Annette Verschuren , President, The Home Depot Canada (Past Chair)
Bille Besse, Senior Vice President, AON Reid Stenhouse
Sal Iocono, Vice President (retired), Bell Canada
Alan MacGibbon, Managing Partner & Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Deryk King, Chairman & CEO, Direct Energy
Mike Pratt, President & COO, Future Shop
Dan Fortin, President, IBM Canada Ltd.
Murray Taylor, President & CEO, Investors Group
William MacKinnon, CEO, KPMG LLP
Dominic D' Alessandro, President & CEO, Manulife Financial
Phil Sorgen, President, Microsoft Canada
Kevin T. Boyce, CEO, Molson Canada
Chris Clark, Canadian Senior Partner & CEO, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Gordon M. Nixon, President & CEO, RBC
Mark Aboud, President and Managing Director, SAP Canada
Stephen G, Snyder, President & CEO, TransAlta Corporation
David Cheesewright, President, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Paul Desmarais, Jr. O.C, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Corporation du Canada
As well as our newest members TransCanada & Macquarie Group

For more information about the Corporate Council on Volunteering, please contact Wendy Mitchell, Manager of Corporate Citizenship & Fund Development at

wmitchell@volunteer.ca

or at (613) 231-4371 x 241

The Centre for Excellence (corporatevolunteering.ca)

As the national voice for volunteerism, Volunteer Canada leads the advancement of volunteerism in strengthening society and improving quality of life in Canada by recognizing volunteer involvement as essential to building healthy, quality communities.

Working with its members and partners in communities across Canada, Volunteer Canada develops and implements a wide range of research and public policy initiatives, as well as programs, which all relate to volunteerism and the voluntary sector.

For more than a decade, Volunteer Canada has been working with businesses of all sizes across the country to help them develop, improve and justify their employee volunteer programs.

In 2005, Volunteer Canada joined forces with 22 national corporations to form the Canadian Corporate Council on Volunteering—a peer to peer group of leaders who promote the value and impact of employee volunteer programs.

The Centre for Excellence brings together the for-profit and nonprofit sectors on common ground for the first time in Canada. Participants from both sectors will learn how to better communicate and work together in partnership by leaning about each other through the four pillars.

A social networking technology tool is now available at www.corporatevolunteering.ca that provides businesses and nonprofits will have the ability to login in to an interactive website and connect to communities of common interest for discussion, learning, and sharing. The site also showcases the collected best practices of the members of the Corporate Council on Volunteering and be the breeding ground for curriculum topics.