From the Nominator

"The McGill Alumni Association (MAA) has volunteer branches and ambassadors around the world. Some alumni relations staff members hold regional portfolios to manage these groups, which often resulted in a one-to-one relationship with the lead volunteer with no other connection to other branches or staff. Between staff turnover and the pandemic, and the disparate nature of the groups across regions and time zones, it became important to broaden support through a holistic approach to volunteer management. In addition, MAA volunteers expressed an interest in meeting with other branch volunteers, having more interaction within the volunteer community, and increased support for social media engagement.     

The creation of the global volunteer program aimed to address these challenges and offer solutions that resulted not only in immediate internal efficiencies, but also in long-term added value, support, and community for our more than 200 volunteers. To this end, we implemented and then staggered several projects throughout the year to achieve our goals, notably (1) virtual volunteer meetups, (2) a biweekly volunteer e-bulletin, (3) updated training resources, and (4) a streamlined annual NDA process, all in addition to our ongoing one-on-one outreach. Through this work, we endeavored to promote the success and recognition of our volunteers' work.  

The global volunteer program has demonstrated how our strategic outreach efforts have inspired further innovation and connectivity amongst our volunteers, resulting in cross-regional events, greater communications engagement amongst volunteers, and a greater ability to track volunteer engagement."

From the Judges

This program reevaluated existing support and introduced new programs for their global volunteers, resulting in a thoughtful approach to a real need. The increased two-way communication and in particular, the increased NDA participation was impressive.