CCVA submission to the Ethics Forum at the IAVE World Volunteer Conference, Panama 2008

FORUM PROPOSAL 

• Name: Katie Campbell, CVA
• Position and Title:  Executive Director
• Organization: Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration (CCVA)
• Address: P.O. Box 467, Midlothian, Virginia  23113  USA
• E-mail: ccva@comcast.net  
• Phone: 804-794-8689
• Membership status: Not currently a member, however we plan to join within the next month.

Forum Topic: Ethics and Values in the Practice of Volunteerism

Profile of person submitting this proposal:
Katie Campbell has worked in the field of nonprofit and volunteer management for 30 years as practitioner, author and leader.  She is also a very experienced trainer and facilitator. From 1997 to 2003 she served as executive director of the international Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA), and participated in two global conferences during IYV 2001.

Abstract:
During IYV 2001 the Association for Volunteer Administration convened an international group

to produce the “Universal Declaration on the Profession of Leading And Managing Volunteers.”  This document defined the role of Directors of Volunteers, and identified several core beliefs and values as follows: 

“As Directors of Volunteers, we hold these beliefs and seek to demonstrate them in our actions:

• We believe in the potential of people to make a difference.
• We believe in volunteering and its value to individuals and society.
• We believe that change and progress are possible.
• We believe that diversity in views and in voluntary contribution enriches our effort.
• We believe that tolerance and trust are fundamental to volunteering.
• We believe in the value of individual and collective action.
• We believe in the substantial added value represented by the effective planning, resourcing and management of volunteers.

We also believe that we share the responsibility:

• to manage the contributions of volunteers with care and respect
• to act with a sense of fairness and equity
• to ensure our services are responsible and accountable, and
• to demonstrate the practices of honesty and integrity

AVA also published “Professional Ethics in Volunteer Administration”, stating that those who mobilize, direct, and motivate volunteers must be committed to the following core ethical values:

1. Citizenship and Philanthropy
2. Respect
3. Responsibility
4. Compassion and Generosity
5. Justice and Fairness
6. Trustworthiness

These core ethical values are based on international research done by the highly respected Josephson Institute of Ethics, and were selected as the basis for AVA’s professional ethics because of their universality.

As the present custodians of this material, CCVA will share them with forum participants.  We will discuss how these documents were developed, how the core values are relevant to volunteer management, and how they can be used to help leaders of volunteers make ethical decisions.  The documents will be translated into Spanish and French for forum participants.