Certified Administrator of Volunteers
in North Carolina (CAVNC)

Application and Instructions

Updated and Approved by NCAVA Board of Directors, March 2021

CERTIFICATION IN VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION

Administered by the NCAVA Certification Committee, the Certified Administrator of Volunteers in North Carolina (CAVNC) designation is part of NCAVA’s strategy to enhance the professional credentials of leaders of volunteers. Our goals are to set clear, high, and consistent standards, increase knowledge, and improve both the experience and performance of volunteers and volunteer administrators in North Carolina. 

Requirements for Certification

  • NCAVA individual or organizational membership

  • Two or more years experience as an administrator of volunteers and/or volunteer programs

  • Bachelor’s degree or one year’s professional experience in exchange for each year of college  

  • Three peer references

  • Cumulative volunteerism that represents a significant investment in your community (NCAVA, nonprofit, faith community, etc.)

  • Completion of at least 24 hours of professional development in the volunteer administration competencies during the past three years

  • Submission of Certification Application and supporting documentation meeting NCAVA guidelines 

  • Payment of certification fee

Volunteer Administration Competencies

NCAVA recognizes four pillars of volunteer administration professional development. Applicants for certification are required to complete at least four hours of training related to each competency area.

  • Professionalism

    • Examples include: Communications, DISC, Emotional Intelligence, Enneagram, Myers Briggs Assessment, Public Speaking, Self Care, Soft Skills, Strengthsfinder, Team Building, etc.

  • Leadership and Accountability

    • Examples include: Accounting, ADA, Conflict Management, Crisis Management, Diversity, Equity, Emergency Management, Human Resources, Inclusion, Legal Issues, Management, Measuring Success, Policies, Reporting, etc.

  • Program Development

    • Examples include: Handbooks, Procedures and Policies, Recruitment, Onboarding and Training, Recognition, Retention, Retirement, etc.

  • Innovation

    • Examples include: Technology skills, Change Management, Current Issues/Hot Topics, Technology, Social Media and Web Presence, Volunteer Trends, Tips and Tricks, etc.

Professional Development Hours

At least 8 hours of training in the volunteer administration competencies must be recognized and/or endorsed by NCAVA. Examples of acceptable trainings include:

  • Endorsed workshops or classes offered by NCAVA or NCAVA affiliates (workshops, presentations, conference events,etc.)

  • Workshops/seminars offered through recognized volunteer administration or management professional associations

  • College courses directly related to one of the volunteer administration competencies

  • Other professional development opportunities submitted for consideration will be evaluated during application review

Other resources for volunteer management training include, though are not limited to: 

  • Basics in Volunteer Management course at Southeastern Community College  

  • Duke Certificate Program in Nonprofit Management 

  • Hospice for the Carolinas Volunteer Track

  • Points of Light Foundation

  • Governor’s One-on-One Program

  • www.volunteermatch.com

  • Graduate-level courses from an accredited university

For additional information, visit www.ncava.net.

CERTIFICATION OVERVIEW

Individuals must submit an application and supporting documentation containing the following sections:


Application

Completed NCAVA Certification Application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Individual Volunteer Philosophy

In 500 words or less articulate your personal philosophy statement on volunteerism and the administration of volunteers. A developed personal philosophy reflects your belief system and approach to volunteerism. 

Professional Development Documentation

Submit completed Certificates of Attendance and External Continuing Education Summaries with questions answered. Answer the questions directly on the form, answers may not exceed the space on the form with one additional page.

Leadership, Presentations, and Publications

Guidelines are provided to assist the applicant in sharing information about his or her specific leadership roles in NCAVA, local affiliates/chapters, or other volunteer-related community organizations.


Case Studies

Case studies require the applicant to assess situations and to outline a plan of action or strategy to successfully utilize appropriate resources to explain their courses of action.


Self-Expression
This section is an opportunity to share your creative professional endeavors. Provide two examples of how you engaged with potential or current volunteers. You might include an agency brochure you designed, photos of your volunteer week exhibit at the mall, an outline from a training session, notes from a speech or presentation, or other creative indications of your professional accomplishments. Screenshots and links to online materials created by you are acceptable as submissions.


CERTIFICATION TIMELINE

Applications may be submitted at any time and are approved four times per year and celebrated at the annual NCAVA Conference. Applications are considered for approval after payment for certification is received and applicants will be notified of their certification on the following dates:

  • January 15, complete application and payment received by December 31

  • April 15, complete application and payment received by March 31

  • July 15, complete application and payment received by June 30

  • October 15, complete application and payment received by September 30

Required application forms are available on the NCAVA website. The CAVNC certification workshop, “Let’s Get Certified!”, is offered intermittently and available virtually for those interested in learning more about the certification process.  

INDIVIDUAL VOLUNTEER PHILOSOPHY


Instructions: In 500 words or less (about 2 typed, double-spaced pages maximum), articulate your personal philosophy statement on volunteerism and the administration of volunteers. A developed personal philosophy reflects your belief system and approach to volunteerism. 


Writing a personal philosophy statement articulates your beliefs and expresses those beliefs to others. This process is helpful in providing clarity and direction as you develop professionally. Traditionally, philosophies explore the meaning of truth and knowledge. Your statement should be relatively free of jargon and utilize appropriate or accepted vocabulary and concepts. Philosophy statements are generally written in an active voice and use clear and logical ideas to support the statements.


One way to begin to write your personal philosophy statement is to complete a series of sentences, then further develop the thought by adding the “why” for each statement. This will provide a basis for the narrative statement that will be built from your personal beliefs and values.


Suggested sentence stems include:


  • I believe that volunteers are important because...

  • The roles of volunteers in community organizations...

  • My role as an administrator of volunteers...

  • I believe that coordinating volunteers is...


These are general ideas to help you get started. The following questions may be helpful in beginning to write your philosophy statement.


  • In what ways do volunteers change the lives of people in the communities you serve?

  • How does professionalism among volunteer administrators enhance the volunteer experience among both administrators and volunteers?

  • How does volunteerism contribute to the experience of community building across diversity (age, gender, race, etc.)?

  • Does it matter if an ethic of community service is instilled in young people?

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTATION


Instructions: Submit completed Certificates of Attendance and External Continuing Education Summaries with questions answered. Answer the questions directly on the form, answers may
not exceed the space on the form with one additional page.


In this section, include Certificates of Attendance and other documentation of participation in continuing education. Complete the questions section of the certificates and include them in your application. Complete all questions for each training including those not offered by NCAVA.


For certification, a total of 24 continuing education hours are required. At least 8 hours must be from NCAVA endorsed trainings. A list of upcoming endorsed trainings can be found on the NCAVA website. Promotional materials for NCAVA endorsed trainings will state their endorsement. 


Up to 8 hours of continuing education training may come from non-NCAVA endorsed trainings, or external continuing education sources, including, but are not limited to: webinars, workshops, conferences, and college courses that are relevant to volunteerism, etc. Topics must address one of the following core competency areas (as defined by NCAVA):


  • Professionalism

  • Leadership and Accountability

  • Program Development

  • Innovation


To submit hours by non-NCAVA endorsed sources, provide the following:


  • Course overview/agenda

  • Proof/Certificate of Attendance (certificate, email, etc.) 

  • Completed External Continuing Education Summary 

  • Copy of presentation (optional)



LEADERSHIP, PRESENTATIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS


Instructions: Using the tables provided, record information pertaining to your leadership activities, presentations, and publications. Please limit your responses to the space provided. Focus on the most recent three years for the purposes of certification. 


Leadership includes holding elected office in your affiliate or state NCAVA organization, but it is more than that. It involves teaching others, chairing committees, organizing events and activities, recruiting new members into the organization, motivating peers, and generally taking action to further the profession. Leadership roles may be with any community, civic or faith-based organization.

LEADERSHIP ROLES

Title

Start Date

End Date

Agency or Organization


Presentations include seminars, webinars, and workshops taught and speeches given. These presentations may be for any group or organization. This professional activity is indicative of your commitment to sharing best practice techniques with colleagues.

PRESENTATIONS

Title/Topic

Date

Type of Presentation

Audience


Publications may include any written materials you personally prepared. Examples include, but not limited to, blog posts, online articles, newspaper articles, marketing brochures, posters designed, etc. This professional activity is evidence of your ability to market your organization and/or NCAVA and its affiliates to the public

PUBLICATIONS

Title/Topic

Date

Type

Audience

CASE STUDIES IN VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION

Instructions: These case studies provide the opportunity for you to put your experience and philosophy as a volunteer administrator into action. Your responses should reflect your personal approach to the situation and should answer all questions included in the scenario. Respond to three of the following case studies using the space allotted on the page. If you utilize reference material, please include a reference at the bottom of the case study. 


CASE STUDY: RECRUITMENT

There is a new program in your agency or organization and it’s clear that it will need to depend upon skilled volunteers to accomplish its goals in the first year. You are asked to manage the volunteer recruitment for this project, which will need 10 volunteers in the next 3 months before implementation. What approaches will you take to volunteer recruitment and how will you assure that diverse volunteers are recruited? What considerations will be most important as you begin to do community outreach to find qualified volunteers? How will you define success for this process?


CASE STUDY: INTERVIEWING AND SCREENING

The motivations and interests of volunteers vary widely, Each individual has unique reasons for engaging with community organizations to offer their time. What types of interview techniques are important to evaluate whether or not a volunteer will fit with the needs of your organization? How do you address your own possible biases about volunteers before interviewing? What steps might you take if you determine that a volunteer is not going to be capable of or interested in accomplishing the work for which they have applied? 


CASE STUDY: ORIENTATION AND TRAINING

Share with us a sample of three training objectives that you would have for your volunteers, include the objective, the skill benchmarks, and the method you would use to assess their performance.

Alternatively, share a skills checklist (developed by you) or other tool you might use to assess volunteer performance and describe the process you would use to utilize the tool and give feedback to the volunteer.

CASE STUDY: EVALUATION AND SUPERVISION

A staff person from your organization comes to you with concerns about a volunteer. They are worried about the professional boundaries of this person and are concerned that the volunteer may be accepting gifts of money and goods from clients. What steps would you take to evaluate the concerns of this staff person? How would you communicate with the volunteer to assess and correct their behavior? How would you adapt your approach to volunteers to assure this circumstance does not happen again?


CASE STUDY: RECOGNITION

The volunteers in your program are spread out across a large geographic area and have diverse schedules and responsibilities. Given these circumstances, a single in-person volunteer appreciation event is not an option for your program. What kinds of appreciation activities might you consider? How would you cultivate a sense of camaraderie and community among your volunteers? What steps might you take to assure that volunteers feel recognized and acknowledged for their efforts?


SELF-EXPRESSION

Instructions: This section is an opportunity to share your creative professional endeavors. Provide two examples of how you engaged with potential or current volunteers. You might include an agency brochure you designed, photos of your volunteer week exhibit at the mall, an outline from a training session, notes from a speech or presentation, or other creative indications of your professional accomplishments. Screenshots and links to online materials created by you are acceptable as submissions.


RECERTIFICATION IN VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATION


Instructions: Complete the CAVNC Recertification Application. Using the Certificates of Attendance for seminars/workshops taught and for seminars/workshops attended, applicants should submit proof of training and development activities during the past three years. Submit recertification materials online via email.

Administered by the NCAVA Certification Committee, the CAVNC designation is part of NCAVA’s strategy to enhance the professional identity of volunteer administrators. Our goals are to raise standards, increase knowledge, and improve performance of volunteer administrators in North Carolina. Certification must be updated every three years. 


Requirements for Recertification

  • Continuous NCAVA individual membership during the past three years  

  • Completion of at least 10 professional development hours during the past three years

  • Submission of Recertification Application

  • Payment of recertification fee

At least four professional development hours must be earned by attending NCAVA endorsed training and up to six continuing education hours may be for training taught by the applicant.