Born in Vancouver, Barney Ellis-Perry has been a voluntary sector fundraiser for more than 15 years in a variety of organizations. A certified fundraising executive, he currently teaches fundraising at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

 

Barney graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) with a BA in Psychology, and has a Certificate in Fundraising Management. He is currently the Strategic External Relations Officer for UBC's Department of Land and Building Services, where he is responsible for developing relationships that will generate new financial resources to support the University's infrastructure.

 

A volunteer from a very young age, Barney's volunteer experience spans a wide range of organizations, including in the faith community (teaching Sunday school), sports (including serving for 10 years on Whistler's Freestyle Championships organizing committee), the arts (with the Vancouver International Film Festival), health care (with the Western Canadian Paediatric AIDS Society), social services (as Governor of the Developmental Disabilities Foundation), the corporate sector (with the Vancouver Board of Trade's Leaders of Tomorrow Mentorship Program), education (with UBC's Alumni Association), and the voluntary sector (for five years as a Volunteer Vancouver board member, and four years as chair).

 

A member of Volunteer Canada's Board of Directors since 2002 and chair since 2006, Barney believes volunteerism is the ultimate opportunity for Canadians to act on their values by engaging as citizens in their community instead of acting solely as consumers. He is interested in the opportunities technology brings to the volunteer movement and believes convergence will make access to volunteer opportunities easier for all Canadians.

 

Barney hopes to see a tremendous amount of capacity building in the voluntary sector in the years ahead.