BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Exware Solutions Inc.//ExSite v3.8//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:ExSite-EvtCal-232-@vmpc.ca DTSTAMP:20260718T235920 DTSTART:20260618 SUMMARY:Roots to Results: Balanced Leaders, Powerful Stories, Measurable Impact – VMPC National Forum 2026 DESCRIPTION:-- Roots to Results: Balanced Leaders, Powerful Stories, Meas urable Impact --\n\n-- VMPC National Forum 2026 --\n\nJoin us for a powe rful keynote on reimagining wellbeing in volunteer leadership, along wit h engaging breakout sessions and hands-on presentations exploring ethica l storytelling, confident communication, and smarter approaches to volun teer data and impact.\n\nDate: Thursday, June 18, 2026\n\nTime: 9am-1pm PDT, 10am-2pm MDT, 10am-2pm CST, 11am-3pm CDT, 12-4pm EDT, 1-5pm ADT\n\n Format: Virtual half-day seminar\n\n \n\nThe VMPC Forum was created to foster meaningful connection among volunteer engagement professionals ac ross Canada. Because our community does not gather in person every year, the Forum provides an important annual opportunity for members to come together virtually to share ideas, learn from sector leaders, and streng then professional relationships.\n\nThe forum is held every one to two y ears, typically in years when an in-person conference does not take plac e. Each forum features a distinct theme, reflecting emerging trends and priorities in volunteer engagement. \n\nImportantly, the VMPC Forum is offered free of charge to members, reinforcing VMPC’s commitment to su pporting the growth, connection, and advancement of volunteer engagement professionals across Canada.\n\nNot a VMPC Member yet? Sign up HERE.\n\ nVMPC Members, please register below. \n\n--   --\n\n-- AGENDA --\n\n- - Optional Networking has been added in 1 hour before the Forum start ti me - Speed Networking --\n\n------------------------------------------- -----------------------------\n\n-- Forum Welcome & Announcements --\n\n ------------------------------------------------------------------------ \n\n-- Keynote Speaker: Jenna Wray  --\n\n-- Reimagining Workplace Well being for Volunteer Leaders --\n\nJenna Wray (they/she) & Jayden Fox (sh e/her) are co-founders of Better Belonging, an organization dedicated to creating workplaces that foster psychological safety and collective wel l-being. As queer and neurodivergent entrepreneurs, with a combined 30+ years of professional experience, they use storytelling and evidence-bas ed strategies to influence change that supports mental health and inclus ion.\n\n---------------------------------------------------------------- --------\n\n-- Breakout Session #1 (Your Choice) --\n\n \n\nSession A\n \n-- Facilitator: Maggie Stewart, CVA --\n\nMaggie Stewart (she/her) is a dynamic leader and engaging speaker with over 12 years of experience i n people and volunteer management. She brings an innovative mindset grou nded in seven post‑secondary credentials, including certificates in vo lunteer coordination and management, and a Bachelor's of Science. Maggie is Manager, Foster Program at the BC SPCA and Chair of the BC Regional Committee for Volunteer Management Professionals of Canada. Her work has earned the Emerging Leaders Award (2017), Valedictorian Award (2022), a nd the 2025 VMPC President’s Award. Outside of work, Maggie enjoys tim e with her partner, family, friends, and her Golden Retriever, Rio. \n\ n-- Presentation: The Bucket Has Holes: Rethinking Growth, Data, and Imp act in Volunteer Programs --\n\nVolunteer managers are often asked the s ame question: “How many volunteers do you have?” But what if growth in volunteer engagement isn’t always about increasing that number?\n\n In this session, Maggie introduces a simple but powerful metaphor she us es to explain volunteer program data: The "Fluid Resource Bucket". The v olunteers we need represent a line in the bucket determined by operation al needs. Recruitment pours water into the bucket, while volunteers inev itably leave through holes—some we can fix (like poor onboarding) and others we cannot (life changes, health, relocation).\n\nThis metaphor he lps reframe how we interpret volunteer data. Maintaining the same number of volunteers may actually represent success if fewer volunteers are le aving. Likewise, growth might mean improving volunteer experience, incre asing efficiency, or strengthening the quality of engagement—not just adding more people.\n\nParticipants will explore how to challenge assump tions about growth, identify meaningful indicators of success, and use d ata-driven insights to guide program decisions. The session will also hi ghlight the value of qualitative feedback, thoughtful survey questions, and collecting baseline data to demonstrate meaningful change. Because m easuring the wrong things can send us chasing the wrong goals.\n\n--   --\n\nSession B\n\n-- Facilitator: Vladyslav Hryhorenko, CVA, ABCP --\n\ nVladyslav Hryhorenko, CVA, ABCP, is Executive Director of Volunteer Bé névoles Yukon and Principal of Rigóre Consulting, a management advisor y practice specializing in nonprofit governance and organizational strat egy. He holds the Certified in Volunteer Administration and Associate Bu siness Continuity Professional designations. He is developing a book on volunteerism and the cultural dimensions of civic participation, drawing on Hofstede’s cultural framework and the Inglehart-Welzel model. His writing on volunteer sector trends has been developed for professional s ector audiences across Canada and the United States.\n\n-- Presentation: Misreading the Decline: What Volunteer Participation Data Actually Tell s Us --\n\nThe volunteer sector has a preferred explanation for falling participation: people care less, younger generations will not commit, an d the pandemic broke habits that never came back. This session challenge s that diagnosis directly.\n\nDrawing on Statistics Canada’s 2023 Surv ey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, Labour Force Survey data o n gig work, and Canadian Social Survey findings on affordability, the se ssion identifies two structural forces that better account for the obser ved decline: economic competition for discretionary time and the fragmen tation of civic participation across informal, digital, and non-institut ional channels.\n\nParticipants will work through the data together, exa mine what it can and cannot tell us, and apply a structural diagnostic l ens to the planning assumptions their own organizations are currently op erating under. The session is designed to be genuinely interactive: part icipants will be invited to identify which of their current recruitment and retention strategies address structural barriers and which assume a motivation problem that may not be the primary issue. The goal is to giv e practitioners a more accurate diagnostic frame so that organizational strategy starts from the right problem.\n\n----------------------------- -------------------------------------------\n\n-- Breakout Session #2 (Y our Choice) --\n\n \n\nSession A\n\n-- Facilitator: Marcela Zafra --\n\ nMarcela Zafra is a fractional marketing strategist with over ten years of experience in the nonprofit and social impact sector. She helps small and mid-sized nonprofits move from reactive marketing and communication s to proactive strategy through partnering with nonprofits, working as a n embedded marketing partner alongside leadership, programs, and fund de velopment teams. Marcela also runs Comms Connect, a free monthly communi ty of practice for nonprofit communicators and marketers. Her work is gr ounded in the belief that marketing is capacity building, and that stron g systems, clear messaging, and ethical storytelling create sustainable impact. \n\n-- Presentation: Build an Ethical Storytelling Framework Yo u Can Actually Use --\n\nMost organizations know storytelling matters. F ewer know how to do it without causing harm.\n\nVolunteer engagement pro fessionals are often at the center of storytelling, whether they are gat hering stories from volunteers, sharing impact narratives with leadershi p, or helping community members feel safe enough to share their experien ces. But without a clear framework, even well-intentioned storytelling c an cross lines around consent, dignity, and privacy.\n\nThis interactive workshop moves beyond principles and into practice. Participants will l earn a four-phase ethical storytelling framework that covers the full li fecycle of a story: gathering, crafting, distribution, and stewardship. We will explore what informed consent actually looks like, how to conduc t trauma-informed interviews, how to craft stories that center dignity o ver drama, and what to do when something goes wrong.\n\nParticipants wil l walk away with a downloadable ethical storytelling toolkit, including the full framework, a media consent form template, and practical guideli nes they can adapt and implement in their own organizations right away.\ n\nWhether you manage five volunteers or five hundred, this session will give you the structure to tell stories that build trust instead of brea king it.\n\n \n\nSession B\n\n-- Facilitator: Jessica Pang-Parks, MES, CVA --\n\nJessica is a volunteer engagement thought leader who helps org anizations build trust, create  impact, and inspire belonging. She is t he recipient of the 2021 Alison Caird Young Leader Award in  recognitio n of her leadership and excellence in volunteer engagement and the recip ient of the 2023  VMPC Exemplary Leader Impact Award in recognition of her contributions to the field as a mentor,  leader, trainer, and advoc ate.  \n\nJessica was named one of the Top 10 Volunteer Leadership Voi ces in 2025. She earned her CVA  credential in 2023, became Trauma of M oney Certified™ in 2025, and has facilitated Fleming  College’s Vol unteer Management: Spectrum of Engagement course since 2022. She has hel d professional volunteer and community engagement roles at Crohn's and C olitis Canada, Pathways to Education Canada, the Heart & Stroke Foundati on, Volunteer Toronto, and WWF-Canada. Jessica has the privilege to work on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the  Miss issaugas of the Credit. Learn more about Jessica at www.learnwithjpp.com . \n\n-- Presentation: Authentic Visibility: Sharing Your Work with Con fidence --\n\nDo you ever struggle to talk about the amazing work you do as a leader of volunteers, including to  boards and executive teams, w ithout feeling like you’re bragging? You’re not alone.  \n\nMany v olunteer engagement professionals find it easier to shine the spotlight on others than on  themselves. The truth is: your voice, accomplishment s, and impact deserve to be seen and heard. This interactive session is all about finding ways to share your work that feel natural and aligned with your values. We’ll explore why some forms of self-promotion mak e us cringe, and how to  reframe visibility so it feels authentic, empo wering, and even enjoyable. \n\nUsing Mentimeter, you’ll have the cha nce to reflect anonymously, brainstorm with peers, and  practice new te chniques in real time. You’ll leave with practical tools and the confi dence to show up  more fully: whether on LinkedIn, at networking events , or in conversations. \n\n-------------------------------------------- ----------------------------\n\n-- Speaker Panel --\n\nLearn more from t he Breakout Session Facilitators as we explore key issues in volunteer e ngagement: Marcela Zafra, Maggie Stewart, Vladyslav Hryhorenko, and Jess ica Pang-Parks.\n\n----------------------------------------------------- -------------------\n\n-- Forum Wrap Up & VMPC Announcements --\n\n  END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR