Sharing your expertise, in service of the community: skills based volunteering by retirees
When we leave the workforce, we do not lose what we know. We gain time to pass it on. Skills based volunteering means putting professional know how at the service of an organization or a project that matters to you. At the VBM, we see retirees and older adults help teams get organized, level up, and deliver better services for the community.
We launched the programme Working Hearts, a pathway that makes it easier to match retirees with organizations for targeted skills-based volunteer assignments. Goal: turn experience and know how into concrete results, at a realistic and supported pace.

Why it is powerful

• Concrete, fast impact: focused expertise unblocks a file, secures a process, and avoids costly errors.

• Intergenerational transfer: years of experience become useful shortcuts for younger teams.

• Recognition of life paths: each person contributes what they do best, with realistic and flexible pacing.

• Stronger organizations: a well aimed technical boost improves service quality, governance, and sustainability.

Examples of assignments that move the needle

Finance and administration

• Set up a simple annual budget and a monthly dashboard.

• Improve bookkeeping and prepare for audit season.

• Train the team on receipts management and internal procedures.

Communications and engagement

• Clarify key messages, review a website, structure a newsletter.

• Advise on a strategy to recruit volunteers or donors.

• Run a workshop on public speaking.

Technology and data

• Choose fit for purpose digital tools and secure passwords.

• Build a simple tracking form and a useful data table.

• Support a straightforward move to a cloud service.

HR and governance

• Write clear role descriptions and welcoming processes.

• Equip a board of directors to prepare better meetings.

• Set up a feedback and recognition cycle.

Project management and logistics

• Turn an idea into an action plan with milestones and owners.

• Optimize an events calendar and checklists.

• Structure purchasing, storage, or distribution.

Flexible formats that respect your pace

• Express clinic in 2 to 4 meetings to solve a precise issue.

• Short term mentoring over 3 months to support a key person.

• Team sprint over a weekend to deliver a ready to use tool.

• Remote volunteering with online meetings and shared documents.

• Intergenerational buddying pairing a retiree and a younger teammate.

What this changes for organizations and the community

• Better informed decisions and safer practices.

• Smoother services for clients and families.

• More autonomy for teams, thanks to simple, documented tools.

• A stronger local network, because qualified mutual help leaves useful traces.

Keys to successful skills based volunteering

• Frame the mission: clear objective, expected result, defined duration.

• Co build: listen to real needs and adapt the solution to the context.

• Keep it simple: choose tools the team can maintain.

• Document: leave a short how to and a named point person.

• Hand off well: plan a closing meeting and follow up.

The VBM’s role

• Personalized guidance: matching based on your skills, interests, and availability.

• Preparing welcoming settings: clear roles, a simple and safe framework, real recognition.

• Light follow up: a contact person to adjust if needed.

• Recognition of every form of contribution: we also value informal mutual aid and caregiving, without supporting them directly, and we refer to specialized resources when needed.

Want to contribute with your skills?

Contact the VBM to create your profile, name your areas of expertise, and discover assignments that fit you. Together, let us turn experience and knowledge into practical levers for stronger organizations and more vibrant neighbourhoods.