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National Volunteer Week Campaign

Helping Volunteer Canada Celebrate National Volunteer Week

Given our long involvement with not-for-profit and healthcare organizations, we have long admired the tremendous contributions that volunteers make. From saying hello when you walk into a hospital to delivering meals to seniors, volunteers make so many things happen across Canada each and every day.

That’s why we were so excited to get a chance to work with Volunteer Canada as they planned to roll out their 2020 National Volunteer Week campaign. Given the effects of the global COVID 19 pandemic, previous plans for the celebratory week needed to be shifted quickly and messaging needed to adjusted to reflect the new realities.

“Without Canada’s, almost 13 million volunteers and their more than 160 million hours of volunteer time each month, so much of what must get done, would go undone.”

Working directly with Volunteer Canada’s CEO and Vice-President, Public Engagement and Knowledge Mobilization we started with a succinct project plan that detailed messaging, outreach, social media and design requirements.
 

Getting the Word Out Through Social Media

Over the course of a week, we developed a series of key messages, designed an updated look and feel for digital assets and background information and tips that would be posted to the National Volunteer Week web page where volunteer organizations from across the country could download social media posts, window posters and a poster that youngsters could colour. We suggested a fun animated gif that was widely embraced as well as a hashtag #CheersToVolunteers that supported the existing #NVW2020 hashtag.

It was great fun to see the creative materials pop on social media from coast-to-coast-to-coast. We even took the opportunity to celebrate the volunteers in our lives from friends and family members to clients and suppliers.

Cheers to Volunteers

Canada’s volunteers work tirelessly to achieve progress in communities of all sizes. They give time in support of causes and programs they believe in and ask for nothing in return. Their time contributes billions of dollars to the Canadian economy every month, at last count over $55 billion per year. Their smiles bring happiness and hope.

Without Canada’s, almost 13 million volunteers and their more than 160 million hours of volunteer time each month, so much of what must get done, would go undone. Meals would have no wheels. Seniors would miss medical appointments. Cats and dogs would have no foster homes. Walkways and driveways of elderly neighbours would pile up with snow. Groceries at food banks wouldn’t make it to those in need. Children’s sports teams would all be benched.