Volunteering

Index by Content Type

Practical

• Advice on All Aspects of Volunteering
  - VoluntaryWorker contains over 50 articles all written by our team of experts and we add around 10 new articles each month.
• Australasian Volunteer Program Management Website
  - This website has been developed to assist those who have a responsibility for the management/coordination of volunteer groups.
• Centre for Volunteering NSW
  - The Centre for Volunteering is the peak body in NSW promoting and supporting volunteering and community participation.
• Employee Volunteering Guide
  - Produced by the NSW Premier's Department, the Employee Volunteering Guide aims to be a practical resource for company and not-for-profit organisations interested in employee volunteering in the community.
• Family InSight Inc - Volunteer home-visiting program supporting families with young children.
  - Family InSight is a volunteer-based organisation supporting families with young children in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.
• Finding and keeping Volunteers Kit
  - The following extracts from the Finding and Keeping Volunteers kit produced by the NSW Meals on Wheels Association offer a planned approach to attracting volunteers.
• GoVolunteer - volunteer recruitment website
  - GoVolunteer is an initiative of Volunteering Australia and is Australia's first national volunteer recruitment website.
• Hunter Volunteer Centre NSW
  - Online resource centre for Hunter based community organisations and individuals interested in volunteering.
• Idealist.org
  - Want to find volunteer opportunities? With idealist.org you can define what information you'd like to receive by email from among the volunteer opportunities posted by organizations all over the world. You can also design the perfect volunteer opportunity for yourself by setting up one or more Volunteer Profiles with your interests, skills, and schedule. These Profiles can then be searched by organizations in Idealist.
• Indigenous Community Volunteers
  - Indigenous Community Volunteers is an independent, not-for-profit company that offers support to Indigenous communities to pursue their community development goals in their own way.
• Institute for Volunteering Research
  - The Institute for Volunteering Research aims to develop knowledge and understanding of volunteering in a way that is relevant to practitioners and policy makers.
• Interested in volunteering for the environment?
  - VolunteerGreen is an initiative developed by the Australian Conservation Foundation.
• International Symposium of Volunteering - 2001 Report
  - Held in Geneva, November 2001, the Conference wrapped up the International Year of Volunteers and planned future action.
• National Volunteer Skills Centre
  - A web based centre with a range of knowledge and skills development resources on volunteering available online free of charge.
• Review of Volunteer Referral Agencies in NSW
  - The Review of Volunteer Referral Agencies in NSW, including options on possible directions and role of VRAs in the future.
• Rural and Regional Volunteering Support Strategy
  - This project was undertaken during International Year of Volunteers 2001 to identify the current needs of organisations in rural and regional areas of NSW that involve or engage volunteers to deliver a service as well as those organisations that support volunteers.
• SAIL (Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning)
  - A volunteer run, non-profit secular program that provides free English support and Community Services to the Sudanese refugee population in Melbourne, and as of 2007 Western Sydney.
• The State Emergency Service
  - The State Emergency Service is an emergency and rescue service dedicated to assisting the community. It is almost entirely volunteer, with over 200 units located throughout New South Wales, and comprising more than 9,000 volunteer members who are easily identified by their distinctive orange overalls.
• Toolkit for Volunteer Speed Matching
  - The concept of Speed Dating has taken off around the world and now one clever volunteer centre on the outskirts of London has created "Volunteer Speed Matching"- so get out your egg timers!
• Valuing Our Volunteers - how to support your volunteers
  - A fact sheet of ideas from ourcommunity.com.au to ensure your group's volunteers remain healthy, happy and an advertisement for the good work your group performs.
• Volunteer Management
  - Notes from a Workshop on working with volunteers presented by D. Nelson at the Queensland State Conservation Conference 1998.
• Volunteer Match
  - Pro Bono Australia's Volunteer Match a specialised service matching skilled professional volunteers and not for profit organisations.
• Volunteer Referral Centres
  - Interested in volunteering but don't know where to start? Try contacting these volunteer referral and resource centres within NSW.
• Volunteer WebLog - Creating Opportunities
  - Help us to help others. The Volunteer WebLog links organisations with enthusiastic and ready to volunteer volunteers!!
• VolunteerHub
  - VolunteerHub is a volunteer coordinator's assistant. Simply publish your events and volunteers can sign up with a user-friendly registration process. Reducing telephone traffic while organising, tracking, emailing, and reporting on your organisation's volunteer activity. VolunteerHub is a creative information technology for connecting people and purposes.
• Volunteering Australia
  - Volunteering Australia is the national peak body working to advance volunteering in the Australian community.
• Volunteering Organisations Australia
  - Are you interested in volunteering? Want to be involved in your community? Here are some of the many organisations that can offer satisfying opportunities for people willing to give some of their time.
• Volunteering information from the Department for Victorian Communities
  - A common feature of strong communities is a strong volunteer culture, which is why the Victorian Government has developed ways to encourage and support the participation of volunteers in communities.
• Volunteering outside the System
  - An article by Mary Merrill looks at the phenomenon of independent or unaffiliated volunteers who do not feel obligated to do their volunteer work through established channels.
• Volunteering support from the Australian Federal Government
  - The Australian Government provides support programs and resources to assist the work of volunteers and organisations that employ them.
• Volunteers Policy and Procedure Manual
  - Australian Conservation Foundation Policy and Procedures Manual for Volunteers.
• Volunteers in NSW Government agencies
  - Information about volunteer programs and activities within NSW Government agencies.
• Working with Technical Volunteers – Manual for Non-profits
  - A guide to help organisations and schools hire and work with technical volunteers.
• World Volunteer Website
  - The WorldVolunteerWeb.org supports the volunteer community by providing a global one-stop-shop for information, resources, and organizations linked to volunteerism.

Case Studies

• Community Volunteers Success Story
  - Labour intensive work by volunteers to remove a woody weed without using pesticides results in the additional benefit of producing nesting and refuge for wildlife in a NSW sanctuary.
• How Wildlife Corridors are Reconstructed Using Crown Roads in Southern NSW
  - The Friends of Oolong and Landcare are promoting programs which will produce reforestation and wildlife protection in large areas, not close to national parks and reserves, with the cooperation of local communities and incentives to landholders.
• Landcare
  - Landcare groups consist of volunteeers of all cultures, ages and backgrounds and have a common concern about the quality of land, water and vegetation in their local areas.
• Manitoba Voluntary Sector Initiative
  - The voluntary sector of Manitoba, Canada, has initiated a three-year community-based process to develop and improve the long term sustainability of the voluntary sector in their area.
• Royal Botanic Gardens - Volunteer Program
  - The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney (RBGS) has a strong commitment to volunteers and sees their value in building links with the community as well as enabling the extension of its programs.
• The Beginning of the Men’s Shed Concept in Grenfell.
  - By Len Wallace

Related Reading

• Employee Volunteering Guide Launch
  - Carmel Tebbutt, then NSW Minister for Community Services, launched the Employee Volunteering Guide on 5 December 2002.
• Improving Employee Volunteer Programs - a View from Both Sides by Hayley Hext
  - Commissioned by Philanthropy Australia, this report explores the realities of corporate employee volunteering from the perspective of both corporate and non-profit organisations.
• Measuring Civil Society and Volunteering
  - The civil society sector contributes as much to the gross domestic product in a wide range of countries including Australia as do the construction and finance industries, and double the utilities industries according to a Johns Hopkins University report. The report also details the role of volunteering within this contribution.
• National Volunteering Conference papers 2004
  - Keynote speeches from the 10th National Conference on Volunteering – evolution, devolution, revolution? – are now available on Volunteering Australia website.
• National Volunteering Issues Survey Results
  - Volunteering Australia’s second annual National Survey of Volunteering Issues, released during National Volunteer Week (May 14-20 2007) has identified that most volunteers are positive about the benefits their work brings to the community.
• Not for Profit, Not for Volunteers – produced by Liz Keen for Radio National’s Background Briefing, 27 June 2004
  - ‘All around Australia, people are volunteering. In every town, in every suburb of every city, there are millions of volunteers. They contribute around 700-million hours of volunteer work each year.’ Liz Keen discusses issues facing volunteers and not-for-profit organisations with a range of representatives from this sector.
• Older People and Volunteering
  - Report on research conducted on volunteering and "baby boomers" for the 2001 Premier's Forum on Ageing.
• Sandy Hollway Launches International Year of Volunteers 2001 in NSW
  - Speech by Sandy Hollway at the launch of the International Year of Volunteers dinner. Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, 4th December 2000.