Our Mission

To contribute to stronger, healthier and more vibrant communities by serving as a one-stop resource centre for the voluntary sector.

Our Goals
Focused on providing support and services in the following areas:

• Information and Resources
• Consulting and Research
• Training and Skill Development
• Technology Resources
• Profiling and Celebrating the Sector

Impact of our Services
Our services build and strengthen the capacity of the voluntary sector by:

• providing access to leading-edge research, data and expertise
• increasing awareness and understanding of issues and trends within the voluntary sector and the community at large
• improving networking, sharing and linkages among organizations and sectors
• facilitating partnerships and alliances
• providing resources and support that will contribute to more effective service delivery
• stronger community leadership
• a sense of collective entrepreneurship

Values and Beliefs
We are persons of hope. We believe in:

• the goodness of others,
• the importance of vision,
• the value of collaboration,
• the need for challenge and support
• and the possibility of productive change.

We believe that the business/private, government and voluntary sectors can learn much from each other and become stronger for the learning.
We believe in finding and cultivating opportunities for voluntary sector organizations to improve their self sufficiency and organizational capacity.
We believe in trying early and trying often.
We believe in supporting others to solve their own challenges.
We believe that diversity adds to our value and strength.
We believe that facilitating purposeful work environments as learning communities contributes to more active and engaged citizens.
We believe in outcome based work that minimizes the need for rigid hierarchies and structures.

History and Background

The staff and volunteers within the voluntary sector deliver what can perhaps best be described as the work of the heart. United by this belief, and understanding that community matters a small group of concerned leaders in Niagara came together in 1996 convinced that the third or voluntary sector plays as important a role as business or government in contributing to each community’s social capital – its prosperity, quality of life and humanity. The first priority of the group of leaders when they met was to develop strategies for supporting and strengthening a voluntary sector doing its best to respond to increased demands with declining resources.
The result of the discussion was the Centre for Community Leadership at Niagara College. The intent of the Centre is to provide a place where anyone involved with the voluntary sector can find resources and opportunities to connect with others who share similar questions, needs, issues and solutions. The Centre for Community Leadership serves as a one-stop resource centre supporting the voluntary sector. . . because community matters!
The voluntary sector is composed of self-governing organizations that exist to serve a public benefit, generate social capital but do not distribute private profit to members, depend to a meaningful degree on volunteers, involve participation on a voluntary basis and are independent or institutionally distinct from the formal structures of government and the profit sector. Some are registered charities, some are incorporated non-profit organizations and others exist independent of these classifications.



Source: Voluntary Secretariat Initiative