The Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA) advances excellence in volunteer administration by delivering professional certification and advocating ethical practice.
Independent Sector recently welcomed CCVA as a member and talked with Executive Director Faiza Venzant. Venzant also co-led a workshop with IS member VolunteerMatch at the Upswell Summit in Dallas/Fort Worth last fall to discuss more equitable access to volunteerism.
IS: What motivated your career in the nonprofit sector?
FV: In 1972, Idi Amin expelled all Asians from Uganda in East Africa. My nonprofit story began with my mother and father who immigrated to Canada as a result of the expulsion. At the time, they were 25 years old and the volunteers who greeted them in Canada made their transition into early Canadian life a little easier. They immediately began volunteering as they set down roots for our family in a new country on a new continent. Six years after they immigrated to Canada, I was born. I am grateful to have grown up in a household where community was centered in our neighborhood, school, and mosque. I volunteered as a child and when I graduated from university, I started working as a volunteer engagement professional.
Twenty-five years later, it’s the communities I am a part of and the ones I want to understand better that motivate me. I immigrated to the United States two years ago and the first thing our family did was look for ways to get involved with and learn about our community.
IS: Is there a special person or event that inspired you to be a changemaker?
FV: Growing up as a second-generation Canadian daughter of immigrants, I was sometimes the “recipient” of help by well-meaning community members who had notions about what the immigrant experience must be like. I remember receiving a knockoff Barbie doll for Christmas. It was part of a community initiative within my elementary school that was trying to reach out to immigrant children. The doll looked weird to me and it didn’t look like me. I am pretty sure the disappointment showed on my face. I also grew up in a Muslim household and Christmas wasn’t that important to us. I remember being scolded for not showing enough gratitude to the volunteers for what they were trying to do for me.
This experience serves as a daily reminder to me that volunteers can be both helpful and harmful. Volunteers can and should partner for and with communities. Volunteers are most effective when they listen to the communities they serve and see them as brimming with assets versus people to be saved. Having proximity to each other’s struggles and victories breeds empathy. That is the power volunteerism has.
IS: Tell us about the people and community your organization serves.
FV: The Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA) advances excellence in volunteer administration by delivering professional certification and advocating ethical practice. Our work includes:
- serving leaders of volunteers all over the world who are committed to excellence in their practice. We also serve people who volunteer in their communities through the belief that people who choose to volunteer deserve to be managed by competent, trained professionals;
- championing the CVA credential, current certificants (whom we refer to as CVAs), and the profession to ensure quality, credibility, and sustainability.
- strengthening the global field of volunteer engagement by promoting a universal framework for excellence in professional practice; and
- inspiring and encouraging practitioners to apply an ethical lens to their work with volunteers.
Anyone can attend a free workshop on the Professional Ethics in Volunteer Engagement at cvacert.org/ethics.
We also elevate global professionalism in volunteer administration by sharing the Body of Knowledge and being responsive to emerging interests in certification.
IS: How does your organization’s work help to advance a healthy, trusted, and equitable nation?
FV: Within charitable and nonprofit organizations, your volunteer coordinator or manager is often one of the people who is most in tune with the community you exist to serve. They broker that participation and have the skills to recruit, train, motivate, and coach community members to work together on whatever your mission is. Oftentimes, your volunteer base is more diverse and more representative of the community you serve. Your volunteer engagement professional or staff who partner with volunteers can have the most meaningful proximity to the community you serve.
IS: Describe a moment that affirmed your organization is making a difference in your community.
FV: CCVA has been engaged in some amazing research over the past few years. Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion (ADEVI) is a multi-faceted investigation of the diversity of volunteer administrators and the equity journey of organizations in which they work. The project’s guiding principle is that organizations that are attuned to inclusiveness will be able to engage a more diverse cross-section of their communities. The initiative is a partnership between Arizona State University (ASU) and the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA). The project is funded by AmeriCorps, a federal agency in the United States.
Ensuring equitable access to volunteer opportunities is one way that many organizations can work to fulfill their missions. Sixty percent of those Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) participated in this study, which let us know that this is an area they are passionate about and an area of their work that they are deeply invested in now. Bringing this opportunity to CVAs, hearing from them, and seeing them support this research affirmed that we are in tune with their needs.
IS: What would you like people to know about your organization that might surprise them?
FV: We offer free webinars on the professional ethics of volunteer administration. Anyone who partners with volunteers is welcome to attend. Register at cvacert.org/ethics or contact us if you would like us to deliver a session for your team or event.
IS: How has your work changed in the wake of COVID-19, economic uncertainty, climate change, and the fight for racial justice?
FV: In the wake of COVID, our profession is facing a lack of job security, challenges re-entering the workforce, burnout, and distrust in organizational leadership. We know this is not unique to our profession and so are taking the time to have strategic conversations about equitable access to the credential. We are also doing our best to create opportunities for learning, networking, and camaraderie among our global group of CVAs.
IS: What influenced your decision to become an Independent Sector member?
FV: Last November, I attended my first Upswell Summit. Jennifer Bennett, a fellow CVA from VolunteerMatch, had been telling me about her incredible Upswell experiences for a few years. We facilitated a workshop about how white supremacy culture shows up in volunteer engagement and the group who attended was highly engaged and deeply invested.
As a new immigrant to the U.S. and a seasoned nonprofit professional, I was impressed by the work of Independent Sector, by the authenticity of Dr. Akilah Watkins’ leadership, and by how connected the staff and board members are to the realities of the American charitable sector and those that work with the sector.
I couldn’t believe that CCVA wasn’t already a member. We’re late to the party, but happy to have been invited and proud to be members of Independent Sector.
IS: How can collaborating with the Independent Sector community help you better achieve your mission?
FV: There is a disconnect between many leaders of volunteers who work on the frontlines of their organizations and their leadership. We hope to take what we learn from the advocacy and research that IS is doing and pass that along to our American CVAs. Our hope is that they will better understand the issues that their Executive Directors and CEOs are facing so they can talk about the work they do in volunteer engagement in ways that are relevant and meaningful.
Learn about other Independent Sector members and becoming a member.
Lindsay Marcal is Manager, Membership at Independent Sector.
