Volunteers are the lifeblood of most any charitable organization, and that’s even more true for most smaller groups, which rely almost exclusively on unpaid staff.
Volunteer Toronto is looking to shine a light on some of these lesser-known grassroots agencies, bringing attention to the good work they do and linking them up with other organizations and potential people power through Grassroots Week.
Running from March 20 to 26, the week is a culmination of a two-year project undertaken by Volunteer Toronto with support from the provincial government.
“For the past two years, we’ve been working on our Grassroots Growth project, which has been provincewide, but mostly focused in Toronto,” said Grassroots Growth project co-ordinator Claire McWatt. “We’ve been holding workshops and smaller events to reach out, but the biggest problem has been finding a lot of the groups.”
As volunteer-run organizations — Volunteer Toronto considers a grassroots group to be one with a budget of $75,000 or less with no full-time paid staff — many of these groups have little or no online presence.
“What we found over these two years is that the word ‘grassroots’ is very meaningful, but people who are involved with these groups don’t necessarily see their work as volunteering,” McWatt noted.
Despite the challenges in tracking down these groups, Volunteer Toronto has managed to touch base with hundreds of them over the past two years and worked to train them, connect them with others and provide additional supports.
“They have no staff, no budget, they have a major impact, but there’s been no support for them,” McWatt said. “We’ve been able to hold 125 workshops for 300 grassroots groups to help them get some of the training and support they need.”
Grassroots Week features a number of events, ending off with a bang on Sunday, March 26 with a Raise the Roots Brunch and a Grassroots Volunteer Fair, both at the Toronto Reference Library. Both events are open to the public and to grassroots groups alike, with the public encouraged to visit and see where they can put their skills to use helping others.
It will also give the groups a chance to learn from one another one last time before the Grassroots Growth project ends.
“What we’ve found is that there are a lot of things these groups have in common,” McWatt said. “A seniors’ bocce group might not realize they have a lot in common with a youth group from Rexdale, but they can really learn from each other.”
There is still some limited seating available for the brunch, which takes place in the Toronto Reference Library’s Beeton Auditorium from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Volunteer Fair will take place in the Bram and Bluma Appel Salon at the library from 1 to 4 p.m.
For more information or to register for the brunch, visit www.grassrootsweek.ca
For more information on the Grassroots Growth project, including information and webinars on how to help a grass-roots organization find new success, visit www.grassrootsgrowth.ca
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