Program areas at CVNL
Volunteer Wheels:This program operates Sonoma County's paratransit service, providing rides to people with a disability or a health condition that prevents them from using Sonoma County's regular bus services. Staff and volunteers drove more than 39,000 passengers over 523,000 miles to doctor visits, critical appointments, and work sites. Volunteer Wheels provides elderly and disabled residents and visitors in Sonoma County with the opportunity to live with a degree of independence they could not otherwise achieve. Volunteer Wheels is funded through our service contract with Sonoma County Transit and community contributions.
Nonprofits throughout Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, and the surrounding Bay Area rely on CVNL for expert guidance, professional and organizational development, and nonprofit management expertise through Volunteer Services, Leadership Programs, Executive Search, and Consulting Services. In 2023, CVNL's Learning & Leadership department served 85 professionals through a portfolio of leadership training programs and professional development curricula. The Learning & Leadership programs include Management Essentials for managers to enhance team dynamics and performance. Leading for Equity and Inclusion focuses on supporting nonprofits to plan, implement, and monitor strategies for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and with community partners. The Board Governance Bootcamp is delivered as a series of four topical sessions. In this same period, CVNL introduced two new programs: Grant Writing as well as Program Development and Evaluation certificates. These programs were made possible through a partnership with Mission Quest, an organization with expertise in the specific subject matters related to grant seeking as well as evaluating new and existing programs. Another partnership involves GrantStation. 25 CVNL members were provided discounted access to the proprietary database which supports nonprofit professionals conducting grant research and strengthens their fund development process. CVNL's Executive Search department placed two senior level positions in the Bay Area. CVNL's Consulting Services advanced the capabilities of 56 organizations through 4,651 consulting projects and capacity-building activities related to board governance, organizational assessment, strategic planning, executive coaching, meeting facilitation, among others. In addition to the consulting services offered, our team provides brief pro bono sessions to new member organizations and supports general information and referrals to the broader nonprofit community. Our Membership Program includes free and discounted workshops for staff, board members, and volunteers of member organizations; one-on-one support and consultation services from CVNL staff; and opportunities to network with other nonprofits in the community. For the period of July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, there were a total of 186 CVNL member organizations, of which 40 were new members and 146 were renewed members.
CVNL's Volunteer Services operates throughout the North Bay by engaging individuals, nonprofits, government agencies, businesses, and community groups in volunteering.This department matches volunteers and groups with the causes they care about, and also works to build the capacity of nonprofits and government agencies to utilize volunteers more effectively. We run an online volunteer matching portal which matches over 8,000 volunteers annually. CVNL trained and consulted with nonprofits to help them elevate their levels of volunteer engagement and disaster readiness. The training courses focused on disaster leadership and communication, continuity of operations planning, donations management, emergency volunteering, virtual volunteering, DEI in volunteer recruitment and engagement, returning to a new normal post pandemic, and more. CVNL also virtually brought volunteer managers, executives, and government staff together for leading with a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Volunteer Engagement. During times of disaster, such as wildfires, floods, or a widespread pandemic, CVNL operates Emergency Volunteer Centers (EVCs) in Sonoma, Napa, Solano, and Marin Counties. These EVCs mobilize the power of volunteers to respond to the urgent community needs that arise during disasters. In 2021 and 2022, CVNL recruited and deployed hundreds of volunteers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic to staff and operate the vaccination and testing sites for the County. In 2023, CVNL recruited and deployed over a hundred volunteers to staff shelters during the floods in North Sonoma County. In January of 2023, CVNL focused on staffing the shelters with bilingual staff as many of the evacuees were monolingual Spanish speakers.
Events: Produced by CVNL, the 30th Annual Heart of Marin Awards recognized outstanding Marin nonprofits and the committed individuals who served throughout the previous year. The virtual event was attended by over 500 community leaders, volunteers, local dignitaries, and distinguished members of the business community. Our honored recipients were presented with awards totaling $35,000. Similarly, the 8th Annual Heart of Napa Awards was successfully executed at the Napa Valley Expo Center. Approximately 250 were in attendance and $22,500 was awarded to outstanding nonprofits and leaders serving Napa County. The 3rd Annual Heart of Sonoma County Awards received a warm reception from a relatively new audience, which drew a crowd of nearly 300 and distributed $35,000 to local nonprofits, volunteers, and leaders. The Secret Santa program is a partnership of CVNL, KZST Radio Station, and Friedman's Home Improvement, along with thousands of local businesses, agencies, volunteers, and donors who work together to bring joy and hope community wide. This year the Secret Santa program raised over $350,000 and benefitted 19,676 individuals.Court Referral: This program is the referral agency for residents of Sonoma County who are assigned community service work by the Sonoma County Courts and Probation Department. The program provides placement, follow-up, monitoring, and reports on people referred to complete community service work. Those referred to the program may be from traffic courts, adult diversion services, the adult and juvenile probation departments, or directly from the criminal and civil courts with conditional sentences. Referrals for community service work are made in lieu of fines or jail, as a condition of diversion or dismissal, or as a condition of sentencing. Clients are matched by holding telephonic and virtual interviews to determine skills, availability, and limitations. The court referral program also manages student volunteers from the Sonoma County Office of Education who are completing volunteer hours for their school district or as a condition of a return to school contract.Fiscal Sponsored Projects:The Marin VOAD fosters effective service delivery to those affected by disasters in Marin through the collaboration of community agencies throughout the disaster cycle - mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Opening Doors Marin is a public-private coalition working to end chronic and veteran homelessness in our community by increasing housing opportunities for the most vulnerable. We also support the broader efforts in affordable and workforce housing to create a balanced community with options for all income levels. Powerful Beyond Measure educates and empowers underrepresented girls from the Bay Area to become leaders in their communities. Shore Up Marin City, which recently rebranded as Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice, is an organization advocating for equitable inclusion of low-income communities in planning and community preparedness with a focus on Emergency Preparedness; Flooding and Hazard Mitigation; Sea Level Rise and Climate Adaptation; Habitat Restoration; and Social Equity. San Francisco Debutante Ball provides philanthropic support of capital and operational projects, community relations, medical education, and research of the California Pacific Medical Center Foundation.