The Centre for Volunteering is the peak body in NSW promoting and supporting volunteering and community participation.

The Centre for Volunteering includes Volunteering NSW - our service-delivery arm, and the School of Volunteer Management, a registered training organisation.

We connect people and organisations in order to enrich our community. We achieve this through referral, training, resource development, information and education services to help people get involved in their communities, and enhance the capacity and skills of not-for-profit organisations, corporations and government to become involved in the community.

Key programs

Our key program areas reflect our focus as a peak body. They include:

• Volunteer referral
• Corporate volunteering
• Engaging young people through student community involvement (SCIP)
• Research and policy
• Accredited and non-accredited training
• Information and communication

Objectives

Our core business and objectives are to:

• Develop and deliver high quality mission-focused programs.
• Strengthen our peak agency role and key relationships.
• Attract, serve and retain members.
• Ensure a strong and sustainable financial base.
• Clarify, develop and communicate our brand, who we are and what we do.
• Attract, develop and retain good staff.
• Be guided by key governance issues.

The Centre employs 12 staff and involves more than 100 volunteers delivering services, programs, training and information to not-for-profit organisations and people wishing to volunteer.

Achievements

As one of the most established volunteer bodies in Australia, our track record spans over 30 years. Just some of these achievements include:

• Establishment of the Student Community Involvement Program (SCIP) which began as a model of services to school students more than 15 years ago.
• Initiator of the first conference on volunteering in 1985
• Creation of the 'V' logo with designer Tony Lunn, now an international symbol of volunteering and adopted by the International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE).
• Played a key role in the establishment of a federal body, Volunteering Australia.
• Joint lobbying for Volunteer Centres and 10 regional Volunteer Referral Agencies (VRAs) across Australia to receive the first ever federal funding for the effective support and management of volunteers.
• Establishment of the first training body focused on the application of best practice principles in volunteer management around Australia - the School of Volunteer Management.
• Part of the Sydney 2000 Olympic & Paralympic Games Volunteer Advisory Committee to advise on the best practice policy, recruitment and management of volunteers for the Olympics.
• Played a key role in the UN-designated International Year of Volunteers in 2001
• Establishment of the Sydney Major Events Pool – a group of volunteers involved in events - with support from the NSW Premier's Department.
• Launch of the 2005 Future Visions Young Filmmakers' Competition, part of the SCIP program encouraging young people to 'get involved'.
• Launched and run the first ever State-wide volunteer recognition program open to all volunteers in NSW - the NSW Volunteer of the Year Award, now in its seventh year.