Change, Dealing with/Managing

In recent years, democracy around the world has been declining. According to one report, the “global index score is at just 5.17 out of 10, its lowest point in the history of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Democracy Index.” 

In September 2024, TAVA’s Leadership Committee, which at that time consisted of the Treasurer, Membership Chair and Administrative Chair, made the difficult decision to shut down the unincorporated Toronto Association for Volunteer Administration (TAVA).

It’s been our goal for over 20 years at Engage to get Volunteer Engagement Professionals to interact with our content and each other. On our "About" page, we state clearly that our articles are "interactive, inviting you to contribute comments and additional materials.”

We know, however, that this rarely happens. Sure, we get the occasional comment about content we publish, but that rarely gets any kind of conversation going.

So in this issue, we are trying something new.

The year 2024 marks the 40^thanniversary of International Volunteer Managers Day. With this in mind, Erin did a little digging. She discovered that in just three years from now, 2027 will mark the 80^th anniversary of the first document that discusses the management of volunteers as a paid job, leading to the development of the professional Volunteer Manager.