Volunteer Opportunities

Welcome to the Volunteer Opportunities page.
Are you interested in volunteering with Oxfam Canada in Ottawa?

Current Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteers are the backbone of Oxfam. In Ottawa, Oxfam volunteers are active in the Oxfam Ottawa Local Committee, and also support the work of the Oxfam National Office (based in Ottawa) and the Ontario Regional Program Office (based in Toronto).

Volunteering with Oxfam is a great way to learn more about international development issues and effect change in the fight against poverty, at home and overseas. There are a wide variety of ways in which you can become involved with supporting Oxfam's work. Examples include assisting with research and policy development; delivering presentations on issues related to Oxfam campaigns in local schools; organizing public education and fundraising events; helping with media/public relations, and much more.

All new volunteers are encouraged to complete a volunteer registration form, to share with us more information about your skills and interests. Please take a moment to complete the form online, if you haven't already done so.

Following is a sampling of current volunteer opportunities that may be of interest to you. For additional information on any of these, please contact the Oxfam Ottawa Volunteer Committee, oxfamottawa@oxfam.ca. Tel. (613) 237-1698 ext. 277.

You can find more information on volunteering with Oxfam Canada on our public website.

National Office

Web Wizard, Oxnet
Stamp Out Hunger volunteers
Library/Resource Assistant

Current Volunteer Opportunities, Detailed
Oxfam Youth Program Are you interested in working on youth engagement in Oxfam issues? The Oxfam Ottawa Local Committee is looking for a volunteer to act as a liaison on the Oxfam youth network - a national working group which looks at ways to further involve youth in Oxfam campaigns, programs and policy development. You would represent Ottawa on a national committee, helping to advise the youth representative on the Oxfam Canada board of directors (Selena Horrell) on issues of interest and concern to Oxfam youth. This would involve participating in teleconference sessions, advising on and developing Oxfam materials for youth, outreach to Ottawa youth to engage them in Oxfam campaigns (i.e. helping support Oxfam youth and school groups), and working on implementing Oxfam's youth policy (included below) within a team of other youth liaisons from regions across Canada. If you have experience and interest in working with youth and would like to take on this role, or learn more about Oxfam's work with youth, please contact ottawavolunteers@oxfam.ca Jennifer Brammer, Ottawa Oxfam Local Committee
Financial Officer Are you interested in participating more with the Oxfam Ottawa Local Committee of volunteers? Sandy Ng, our Treasurer, is looking for two volunteers to assist her as Financial Officers. The work would be pretty light, but very valuable to the smooth running of the group as a whole. Your main role would be signing cheques to pay for various expenses (usually with our workshops), and depositing received money (usually workshop registration fees). Since this is mostly work related to our workshops, you can see why the work is quite light, usually just a few tasks during the courses once or twice a year. You can also see how it would be practical if at least one of the two officers were a workshop facilitator! If you'd like to sign up, or would like to learn more about this position, please contact Terry Newcombe and we can arrange a meeting with Sandy to talk about the details.
Web Wizard, Oxnet We are in need of a volunteer to assist with the maintenance of Oxfam's internal website, 'Oxnet' (www.oxnet.org). This is an opportunity to develop your experience working with internet based communications, web graphic design, html coding, etc. You will work directly with Elizabeth Ballard , Executive Assistant in the Oxfam National Office, as well as with other Oxfam staff with IT responsibilities. Responsibilities: - Format and html-code documents to be posted on website - Propose improvements for internal website - Implement proposals upon receiving approval - Communicate closely with other Oxfam 'web wizards' to ensure that there is a congruence with your efforts on the site Time commitment: 4 hours each week. Must be available to go to Oxfam National office on a weekday between 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. A minimum commitment of 6 months would be appreciated. Requirements: - Previous html coding and web design experience - Detail-oriented and organized - Independent worker For more information, please contact Elizabeth Ballard.
School Presenters Our Speakers Bureau is made up of volunteers who love to deliver educational presentations in an entertaining way. Yes, there are opportunities to lecture on Oxfam issues, but more often we're leading discussions, coordinating role-play situations, or playing games like "A World in Jeopardy" (where you get to be Alex). We always work in teams of two or more, so don't hesitate to join us if you don't have speaking experience. Think of it as educational playing. Our presentations are usually 60-75 minutes during daytime hours, but we also have the occasional evening or weekend presentation. Our audience is usually grades 7-12, but we have occasionally done primary school, college and university classes as well. You don't need to commit to a specific event or frequency of events. Once you're on our list, we'll notify you of upcoming opportunities and you just reply to any that sound interesting and fit your availability. For more information about volunteer opportunities with the Oxfam Ottawa Schools working group, visit the Schools page on this site. You can also contact Terry Newcombe for more information about this group.
Web Wizard, Ottawa Local Committee We are in need of a volunteer to assist with the maintenance of the Ottawa Local Committee's website (the one you're reading now). This is an opportunity to develop your experience working with internet based communications, web graphic design, html coding, etc. You will work with Terry Newcombe, Coordinator for the committee. Responsibilities: - Format and html-code documents to be posted on website - Propose improvements for website - Implement proposals upon receiving approval - Communicate closely with Terry and the coordinators of the various activity groups Time commitment: 1-2 hours each week. Requirements: - Previous html coding and web design experience - Detail-oriented and organized - Independent worker For more information, please contact Terry.
School Bookings Coordinator Are you interested in coordinating our school presentations? Unlike being an actual speaker, this is something you can do from your home or office, a few minutes at a time. Tasks include receiving requests from schools, obtaining event details from the school contact, and emailing or phoning our list of volunteer speakers to see who is interested. When things are slow (and this really isn't a high-paced job!), we have a list of school contacts that you could use to drum up a little business for our speakers. For more information about volunteer opportunities with the Oxfam Ottawa Schools working group, visit the Schools page on this site. You can also contact Terry Newcombe for more information about this group.
Researchers for Speaker Resources Our speaker resources are always getting out of date, so we'd love for someone with a sense of organization to tackle our files (both online and at Oxfam's Ottawa national office). We're also looking for someone with a detective's instincts, someone who'd enjoy surfing the web and/or phoning/emailing other organizations to discover useful games, role-plays, and other interactive activities that our presenters can use in front of a class. For more information about volunteer opportunities with the Oxfam Ottawa Schools working group, visit the Schools page on this site. You can also contact Terry Newcombe for more information about this group.
Stamp Out Hunger volunteers Volunteers are needed for Oxfam Canada's Stamp Out Hunger Programme! Those used stamps and envelopes can add up to help fight poverty. Oxfam Canada volunteers raise about $10,000 annually by sorting and selling stamps to collectors. The stamps are donated from schools, businesses, community groups, government offices and individuals across Canada. Since 1980, over $160,000 has been raised by the Stamp Programme for Oxfam, mostly going towards projects to combat hunger. For more info, please visit Stamp Out Hunger. The Oxfam's Stamp Out Hunger volunteer group, based in Ottawa, are looking for new people to get involved! If you are interested in promotions/public relations, fundraising, and would like to help out in small or big ways with the stamp program (you can help sort/organize stamps, help with deliveries, help contact new donors, help with publicity, etc), please take a look at the following volunteer activity descriptions, which will give you more detail on what help is needed: Stamp Prospector Stamp Sorcerer Stamp Transporter If you are interested in more information or would like to get involved, please contact Bill Woodley, the Stamp Programme coordinator
Stamp Out Hunger: Stamp Prospector Purpose: To identify and recruit new sources of stamps and envelopes Responsibilities: identify potential sources of stamps and envelopes (eg. companies, non-governmental organizations, government offices, universities, schools, service organizations like Scouts and Guides, church groups, apartment buildings, seniors' homes, post offices, stamp clubs) contact these sources and explain the Oxfam stamp program, seek their support, and follow-up with additional information as required send posters and brochures to newspapers, radio, TV, church bulletins and company internal publications. draft new publicity material Time commitment: A minimum of 4 hours / week for 2 months Requirements: an outgoing friendly personality who comfortably can contact new people over the telephone or in person some knowledge of community to better be able to identify potential sources of stamps an orientation in person or by phone /email with Stamp Program Leader Benefits: meeting a cross section of people in your community supporting an innovative fundraising initiative that benefits people overseas Reports to: Bill Woodley, Stamp Program Leader - Ottawa
Stamp Out Hunger: Stamp Sorcerer Purpose: To transform donated material into saleable items Responsibilities: sort donated envelopes and stamps into categories according to the sorting guide and the mail order price list clip most stamps and some postmarks from the envelopes leaving only one layer of paper and about 5mm or ¼ inch around the stamps or postmarks ensure the left-over envelope remnants are recycled (or burned if there is confidential information, or returned to the donor if that is their wish) provide feedback to the donor about the condition and value of the donated material, to help and encourage them to donate in the future seek advice from Stamp Program Leader as required advise Stamp Sales Team when stamps are ready Time commitment: There is no minimum time requirement. This task can be done at any time at home, at the donor's home base, or at a local Oxfam office. It can often be combined with other activities like meetings or TV watching. Requirements: nimble hands, pair of scissors and good eyesight some knowledge of philately is desirable but not essential Benefits: discover the beauty and diversity of stamps from around the world a task suited to individuals, families, service organizations, senior citizens residences, hospital rehabilitation programs, or school groups to be performed at home, school or community centre satisfaction from supporting an innovative fundraising program that benefits people overseas Reports to: Bill Woodley, Stamp Program Leader - Ottawa
Stamp Out Hunger: Stamp Transporter Purpose: To pick up donated material from donors and deliver it to processors. Responsibilities: keep in touch with stamp donor contacts by phone arrange times and designated places to pick up stamps and envelopes from donor locations (offices, churches, schools etc) on occasion provide feedback to donors eg leave information about projects supported by the stamp program this assignment can also be combined with either stamp prospector or sorcerer Time commitment: There is no minimum time requirement, although a regular routine of pick-ups (say once a month) is desirable. Some pick-ups may need to be scheduled during regular office hours (ie 9-5 weekdays). Requirements: interest in meeting people use of a car would be desirable Benefits: discover the beauty and diversity of stamps from around the world participate in an innovative fundraising initiative that supports people overseas a task suited to individuals or service groups Reports to: Bill Woodley, Stamp Program Leader - Ottawa
Library/Resource Assistant- Oxfam National Office Oxfam is looking for volunteers to assist in administration in the National Office during weekdays. You would work directly with Oxfam staff on a variety of administrative tasks, including catalogueing and organizing the Oxfam resource library. If you are interested in volunteering in this area, or would like further information, please contact Anne Moreside.

Current Volunteer Opportunities, Detailed

Oxfam Youth Program

Are you interested in working on youth engagement in Oxfam issues? The Oxfam Ottawa Local Committee is looking for a volunteer to act as a liaison on the Oxfam youth network - a national working group which looks at ways to further involve youth in Oxfam campaigns, programs and policy development.

You would represent Ottawa on a national committee, helping to advise the youth representative on the Oxfam Canada board of directors (Selena Horrell) on issues of interest and concern to Oxfam youth. This would involve participating in teleconference sessions, advising on and developing Oxfam materials for youth, outreach to Ottawa youth to engage them in Oxfam campaigns (i.e. helping support Oxfam youth and school groups), and working on implementing Oxfam's youth policy (included below) within a team of other youth liaisons from regions across Canada.

If you have experience and interest in working with youth and would like to take on this role, or learn more about Oxfam's work with youth, please contact ottawavolunteers@oxfam.ca

Jennifer Brammer, Ottawa Oxfam Local Committee

Financial Officer

Are you interested in participating more with the Oxfam Ottawa Local Committee of volunteers? Sandy Ng, our Treasurer, is looking for two volunteers to assist her as Financial Officers. The work would be pretty light, but very valuable to the smooth running of the group as a whole.

Your main role would be signing cheques to pay for various expenses (usually with our workshops), and depositing received money (usually workshop registration fees). Since this is mostly work related to our workshops, you can see why the work is quite light, usually just a few tasks during the courses once or twice a year.

You can also see how it would be practical if at least one of the two officers were a workshop facilitator!

If you'd like to sign up, or would like to learn more about this position, please contact Terry Newcombe and we can arrange a meeting with Sandy to talk about the details.

Web Wizard, Oxnet

We are in need of a volunteer to assist with the maintenance of Oxfam's internal website, 'Oxnet' (www.oxnet.org). This is an opportunity to develop your experience working with internet based communications, web graphic design, html coding, etc. You will work directly with Elizabeth Ballard , Executive Assistant in the Oxfam National Office, as well as with other Oxfam staff with IT responsibilities.

Responsibilities:
- Format and html-code documents to be posted on website
- Propose improvements for internal website
- Implement proposals upon receiving approval
- Communicate closely with other Oxfam 'web wizards' to ensure that there is a congruence with your efforts on the site

Time commitment:
4 hours each week. Must be available to go to Oxfam National office on a weekday between 8:30 am - 4:30 pm. A minimum commitment of 6 months would be appreciated.

Requirements:
- Previous html coding and web design experience
- Detail-oriented and organized
- Independent worker

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Ballard.

School Presenters

Our Speakers Bureau is made up of volunteers who love to deliver educational presentations in an entertaining way. Yes, there are opportunities to lecture on Oxfam issues, but more often we're leading discussions, coordinating role-play situations, or playing games like "A World in Jeopardy" (where you get to be Alex). We always work in teams of two or more, so don't hesitate to join us if you don't have speaking experience. Think of it as educational playing.

Our presentations are usually 60-75 minutes during daytime hours, but we also have the occasional evening or weekend presentation.

Our audience is usually grades 7-12, but we have occasionally done primary school, college and university classes as well.

You don't need to commit to a specific event or frequency of events. Once you're on our list, we'll notify you of upcoming opportunities and you just reply to any that sound interesting and fit your availability.

For more information about volunteer opportunities with the Oxfam Ottawa Schools working group, visit the Schools page on this site. You can also contact Terry Newcombe for more information about this group.

Web Wizard, Ottawa Local Committee

We are in need of a volunteer to assist with the maintenance of the Ottawa Local Committee's website (the one you're reading now). This is an opportunity to develop your experience working with internet based communications, web graphic design, html coding, etc. You will work with Terry Newcombe, Coordinator for the committee.

Responsibilities:
- Format and html-code documents to be posted on website
- Propose improvements for website
- Implement proposals upon receiving approval
- Communicate closely with Terry and the coordinators of the various activity groups

Time commitment:
1-2 hours each week.

Requirements:
- Previous html coding and web design experience
- Detail-oriented and organized
- Independent worker

For more information, please contact Terry.

School Bookings Coordinator

Are you interested in coordinating our school presentations? Unlike being an actual speaker, this is something you can do from your home or office, a few minutes at a time. Tasks include receiving requests from schools, obtaining event details from the school contact, and emailing or phoning our list of volunteer speakers to see who is interested. When things are slow (and this really isn't a high-paced job!), we have a list of school contacts that you could use to drum up a little business for our speakers.

Researchers for Speaker Resources

Our speaker resources are always getting out of date, so we'd love for someone with a sense of organization to tackle our files (both online and at Oxfam's Ottawa national office).

We're also looking for someone with a detective's instincts, someone who'd enjoy surfing the web and/or phoning/emailing other organizations to discover useful games, role-plays, and other interactive activities that our presenters can use in front of a class.

Stamp Out Hunger volunteers

Volunteers are needed for Oxfam Canada's Stamp Out Hunger Programme!

Those used stamps and envelopes can add up to help fight poverty. Oxfam Canada volunteers raise about $10,000 annually by sorting and selling stamps to collectors. The stamps are donated from schools, businesses, community groups, government offices and individuals across Canada. Since 1980, over $160,000 has been raised by the Stamp Programme for Oxfam, mostly going towards projects to combat hunger. For more info, please visit Stamp Out Hunger.

The Oxfam's Stamp Out Hunger volunteer group, based in Ottawa, are looking for new people to get involved! If you are interested in promotions/public relations, fundraising, and would like to help out in small or big ways with the stamp program (you can help sort/organize stamps, help with deliveries, help contact new donors, help with publicity, etc), please take a look at the following volunteer activity descriptions, which will give you more detail on what help is needed:

Stamp Prospector
Stamp Sorcerer
Stamp Transporter

If you are interested in more information or would like to get involved, please contact Bill Woodley, the Stamp Programme coordinator

Stamp Out Hunger: Stamp Prospector

Purpose:
To identify and recruit new sources of stamps and envelopes

Responsibilities:

identify potential sources of stamps and envelopes (eg. companies, non-governmental organizations, government offices, universities, schools, service organizations like Scouts and Guides, church groups, apartment buildings, seniors' homes, post offices, stamp clubs)
contact these sources and explain the Oxfam stamp program, seek their support, and follow-up with additional information as required
send posters and brochures to newspapers, radio, TV, church bulletins and company internal publications.
draft new publicity material

Time commitment:
A minimum of 4 hours / week for 2 months

Requirements:

an outgoing friendly personality who comfortably can contact new people over the telephone or in person
some knowledge of community to better be able to identify potential sources of stamps
an orientation in person or by phone /email with Stamp Program Leader

Benefits:

meeting a cross section of people in your community
supporting an innovative fundraising initiative that benefits people overseas

Reports to:
Bill Woodley, Stamp Program Leader - Ottawa

Stamp Out Hunger: Stamp Sorcerer

Purpose:
To transform donated material into saleable items

Responsibilities:

sort donated envelopes and stamps into categories according to the sorting guide and the mail order price list
clip most stamps and some postmarks from the envelopes leaving only one layer of paper and about 5mm or ¼ inch around the stamps or postmarks
ensure the left-over envelope remnants are recycled (or burned if there is confidential information, or returned to the donor if that is their wish)
provide feedback to the donor about the condition and value of the donated material, to help and encourage them to donate in the future
seek advice from Stamp Program Leader as required
advise Stamp Sales Team when stamps are ready

Time commitment:
There is no minimum time requirement. This task can be done at any time at home, at the donor's home base, or at a local Oxfam office. It can often be combined with other activities like meetings or TV watching.

Requirements:

nimble hands, pair of scissors and good eyesight
some knowledge of philately is desirable but not essential

Benefits:

discover the beauty and diversity of stamps from around the world
a task suited to individuals, families, service organizations, senior citizens residences, hospital rehabilitation programs, or school groups to be performed at home, school or community centre
satisfaction from supporting an innovative fundraising program that benefits people overseas

Reports to:
Bill Woodley, Stamp Program Leader - Ottawa

Stamp Out Hunger: Stamp Transporter

Purpose:
To pick up donated material from donors and deliver it to processors.

Responsibilities:

keep in touch with stamp donor contacts by phone
arrange times and designated places to pick up stamps and envelopes from donor locations (offices, churches, schools etc)
on occasion provide feedback to donors eg leave information about projects supported by the stamp program
this assignment can also be combined with either stamp prospector or sorcerer

Time commitment:
There is no minimum time requirement, although a regular routine of pick-ups (say once a month) is desirable. Some pick-ups may need to be scheduled during regular office hours (ie 9-5 weekdays).

Requirements:

interest in meeting people
use of a car would be desirable

Benefits:

discover the beauty and diversity of stamps from around the world
participate in an innovative fundraising initiative that supports people overseas
a task suited to individuals or service groups

Reports to:
Bill Woodley, Stamp Program Leader - Ottawa

Library/Resource Assistant- Oxfam National Office

Oxfam is looking for volunteers to assist in administration in the National Office during weekdays. You would work directly with Oxfam staff on a variety of administrative tasks, including catalogueing and organizing the Oxfam resource library.

If you are interested in volunteering in this area, or would like further information, please
contact Anne Moreside.