The Non-Profit Challenge & the Volunteer Partnerships Key

Your organization can grow to be a powerful change agent in your community, as you carry out your mission and grow your volunteer partnerships.
Humble Beginnings…
The genesis of the social services we have today is in the coming together of well-intentioned individuals and volunteers who wanted to meet community needs.
Here’s a recent video by the National Council of Social Service on the development of the Social Services in Singapore:
This coming together eventually saw the growth of the social service sector’s work and today, organizations continue to bear the fire and heartbeat of serving and caring for the various service users.
The Challenge…
As the social service sector celebrates 60 years of structured social services in Singapore, the greater challenge remains on how organizations can do more good better, by harnessing the resources available to them.
At the recent Social Service Summit, Ms Anita Fam, President NCSS, remarked how we need to achieve “measurable impact with limited resources”. She shared how Voluntary Welfare Organizations (or VWOs) will now take on the identity of Social Service Agencies (SSAs). She went on to explain how SSAs will continue to grow in professionalism as they work with volunteers (including board members), grow as agents of change, empower their service users and build a caring and inclusive Singapore.
Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development, also spoke at the summit on the longer-term strategies by the Ministry in, among the other strategies:
- Building stronger SSAs amidst the tight manpower situation faced by organizations across all sectors, and
- Harnessing the strengths of the community through, for example, skilled-based volunteerism
The Potential…
Today, the volunteer programme contains within it the great potential to resource organizations to do more good better, as they help to:
- expand the reach of non-profit organizations,
- expand the pool of skillsets and networks available to non-profits,
- help address the tight manpower issue faced by non-profits,
- help non-profit staff prevent burnout as they work in close synergy with volunteers to serve the service users, and
- build communities and their resilience.
… among the many other potentials.
The Volunteer Management Circuit…
In “fueling good”, Emmaus Strategies is proud to present to you the Volunteer Management Circuit, a comprehensive capacity building programme for Volunteer Management Professionals.
Fulfil the full potential of your volunteer programme by equipping your volunteer management professional(s) with the foundational skills to effectively grow your volunteer programme.
Find out more at www.emmaus.sg/vmcircuit today and indicate your interest today. Indication of interest closes soon.
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James is the Lead Thrive-Synergist & Founder of Emmaus Strategies; a social enterprise that “fuels good”. It does this through Mental Well-Being programmes for individuals and organizations, as well as Strategic Volunteer Partnerships consultancy and training for non-profits.