Volunteer Leadership Profile—Alvin Wasserman

Chances are, if you’ve been in Vancouver for a while, you’ve met, heard of or been impacted by Alvin Wasserman and his work. President of Wasserman + Partners Advertising, Vancouver’s largest independent full-service advertising agency, Alvin is the creative force behind many memorable ad campaigns like “Super Natural British Columbia” and Whistler’s “Go To Heaven, Ski Like Hell".

His work also resonates in the Jewish community. He has donated time and resources to the branding development of the Chutzpah! Festival, including the name, logo, posters and billboards, and has provided creative direction and support for a number of Federation's Annual Campaigns.

Community Engagement
Apart from lending his creative chutzpah to Vancouver’s Jewish community, Alvin stepped into the role as the Agency Relations Chair for Federation Annual Campaign. In this position, his goal is to engage Jewish Federation’s partner agencies more closely in the Annual Campaign. He meets with agency board members to get a sense of the community needs that will shape campaign’s case for support, works on engagement strategies and helps develop agency communication materials.

“My first objective is to have partner agencies more deeply involved in the campaign,” Alvin explains, “not just in the ask and the giving, but also in what our case for support is each year and how we’re talking about their stories. As that grows, we’d like to have closer ongoing relationships with our partners throughout Annual Campaign to fuel broader participation and ongoing dialogue—that’s the vision.”

The Heart Behind the Work
Alvin’s commitment to Jewish Federation is both about community and responsibility. First, community: “Community means a lot to me. I think it enhances everyone’s lives,” he shares. “It’s hugely challenging to define the new Jewish family and extended neighbourhood. Jewish Federation has a role in that, and we will continue to engage in this important and challenging work to try to bring it all together.”

With respect to responsibility: “In Jewish tradition there’s the idea of being a mensch, doing things properly and doing things right, and volunteering is a part of that. To me, it’s the way I want to be and the way I think other people should be,” he laughs.