Alberta Nonprofit/Voluntary Sector Initiative (ANVSI)

On July 18, 2006, Alberta's Minister of Alberta Community Development Denis Ducharme announced the new Alberta Nonprofit/Voluntary Sector Initiative (ANVSI) to encourage collaboration between the sector and the provincial government to ensure sustainability of the sector and help address current and future challenges. The first stage included the development of a framework to guide and strengthen the relationship between the provincial government and the charitable sector.

With roots extending back to 2004, our continuing participation on the Collaboration Committee of the Alberta Nonprofit/Voluntary Sector Initiative (ANVSI) — Alberta’s umbrella mechanism to re-examine, clarify and strengthen the relationship between the province and the sector — has been a major aspect of our public policy work.

ANVSI is a ground-breaking initiative, bringing together leaders from the voluntary sector and senior government staff to explore how to develop a more collaborative relationship, focused on common interests. CCVO has played a leadership role in this initiative, for example, co-chairing the HR Project Team that is addressing workforce strategies that require action by the Provincial Government. We also co-chaired a working group that organized a Funder Forum in February 2009, bringing together representatives from community foundations, United Ways, private foundations, municipal funders and corporate community investment programs with nonprofit leaders and government partners to discuss the emerging implications of the economic downturn on their collective capacity to support the voluntary sector.

And CCVO’s second economic impact survey, conducted in conjunction with several of our ANVSI partners, provided an important snapshot of the sector, stimulating discussion at the Funder Forum and beyond. This collaborative initiative contributed to increased participation in the survey across Alberta, improving our understanding of the issues and increasing the impact of the report. The many requests we received for the report including from the media, are a measure of the success of our work with ANVSI.