United Nations Civil Society Participation – Activities

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Commission on Voluntary Service and Action Inc.

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Areas of expertise & Fields of activity:	Economic and Social: Aging Climate Change Decolonization Development Disabled Persons Education Environment Extreme poverty Food Human Rights Humanitarian Affairs Indigenous Peoples Justice Labour United Nations Reform Volunteerism Women Youth Social Development: Aging Disabled persons Employment Indigenous issues Poverty Social policy Youth Sustainable Development: Capacity-building Climate change Disaster management and vulnerability Education Health Poverty Sustainable development in a globalizing world
Geographic scope:	International
Country of activity:	China United States of America
Millennium Development Goals:	Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Ensure environmental sustainability Develop global partnership for development
Mission statement:	CVSA promotes and supports the world of voluntary service and involvement programs, and organizes to maintain and expand the ability of individuals to freely associate with others to donate their time and services to persons and communities in need. CVSA promotes and strengthens non-governmental voluntary service organizations that are accountable to those they serve and that are working to reverse the conditions of hunger, illiteracy, unemployment, lack of access to health care or legal justice, lack of care for the elderly, or that conduct disaster relief in areas of government abandonment, organize around environmental concerns and more. CVSA staff is made up of dedicated full-time and part-time volunteers. CVSA conducts speaking engagements, education and outreach in communities throughout the US to involve more people as volunteers with programs that truly serve urgent human needs, advance sustainable development in the U.S. and abroad, and to promote international solidarity with developing nations. Towards those ends, CVSA produces and distributes INVEST YOURSELF, a bi-annual, comprehensive catalogue of voluntary service opportunities with non-governmental organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. CVSA promotes full-time and part-time volunteer opportunities as described in the pages of INVEST YOURSELF. CVSA provides its own volunteers with an education about the history of the United Nations, its historic struggles such the campaigns to end colonization and apartheid, and current UN programs such as in the realm of climate change, protection of the right to self-determination and sovereignty of nations, reform of the UN consistent with the goals and principles of the UN Charter and addressing the world financial order, the financial crisis and development. CVSA advances the ability of individuals to choose voluntary service as a vocation, rather than an avocation. CVSA challenges the notion that world forces are too powerfully entrenched to be changed or that people are only victims and observers of their fate, versus the leadership of tomorrow.
Year established:	1945
Year of registration:	1972
Organizational structure:	Originally founded as a free and voluntary unincorporated association in 1945, CVSA sought and received recognition from the State of New York in 1972 as an unincorporated association and from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States government as a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, a status it has maintained since that time. In 1983, CVSA incorporated as a non-profit corporation, with an Executive Committee as the governing body, an Advisory Board that acts in advisory and support capacity, a full-time Executive Director, and a membership of volunteer-based non-governmental organizations that serve people and communities in need and individuals involved in voluntary service. Organizational members receive the benefit of being included in INVEST YOURSELF and have access to CVSA consultation, training and information exchange. The Executive Director is in charge of the day-to-day administrative operations, including providing supervision and direction to volunteers who coordinate the various input and output work of the organization's operations. The staff is entirely volunteer. CVSA volunteers receive on-the-job training in organizational tactics and methods, while also bringing their own specific skills and expertise to the work.
Number and type of members:	CVSA currently has 65 formal organizational members. They are non-governmental organizations and associations based in the U.S. or in other countries that sponsor or run volunteer service programs or involve volunteers in their work in significant ways. This membership is growing. Additionally CVSA has 155 informal organizational affiliations (of same type and character).
Funding structure:	Membership fees or dues Donations and grants from domestic sources
Funding structure other:	Sponsorship donations for CVSA Publications

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