Financial services company Investors Group and Volunteer Canada have once again joined forces on a superhero-inspired campaign designed to thank volunteers for their hard work in Canadian communities.

Set to coincide with National Volunteer Week (NVW) from April 10 to 16, the multimedia campaign was created in-house by Volunteer Canada and includes PSAs, billboards, posters and email thank-you cards. Designed to drive traffic to Volunteer Canada’s website, all elements of the campaign are free to use by non-profit organizations and are available in English and French.

According to Ruth MacKenzie, president & CEO, Volunteer Canada, over 1,000 NVW media kits were sent out to organizations participating in the campaign last year, a strategy that helped Volunteer Canada attract hundreds of new followers on Facebook and Twitter. The video from the 2010 campaign became the second most viewed on YouTube in the non-profit category in Canada.

This year, animated superhero characters are the stars of the multimedia effort, designed to embody the real-life volunteers who dedicate their time and effort to building their communities. The goal is to encourage conversation online about volunteerism in Canada, MacKenzie tells MiC.

The companies have partnered on NVW for 12 years, forging a strong connection when it comes to corporate philanthropy and volunteerism, MacKenzie says.

‘They have a really strong program where they support their employees to volunteer in the community,’ she explains. ‘I think that volunteerism is one of their strong values and them sponsoring National Volunteer Week made it a really great fit.’

According to Volunteer Canada’s 2007 Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering & Participating, 12.5 million Canadians volunteer their time to charitable and not-for-profit organizations.