April 2006

In This Issue

- Features              - Events & Training              - Latest News & Views

feelgood love story
News.com.au
Giving your time to help others can improve health and fitness. Moreover, new research has found that volunteering could boost your love life. News.com.au spoke to couples who discovered they had much more in common than just a good cause. MORE

Survey finds more companies taking one step forward
The Age
A survey commissioned by Volunteering Australia has found that 57% of companies have invested between $20,000 and $30,000 in volunteer programs, with one in three dedicating a full-time staff member to coordinate the activities. Forty per cent of respondents allow their staff one day to do volunteering work, another 21% give them two or three days and 2% more than a week. MORE

International Volunteer Manager Appreciation Day Survey
IVMA Day Steering Committee
The International Volunteer Manager Appreciation (IVMA) Day Steering Committee has released a survey on their website asking for your views on IMVA Day. Let us know what you think. Do volunteer managers need a special day or do you feel that appreciation should be reserved for volunteers? Email The Centre for Volunteering with your thoughts and we'll publish them on www.volunteering.com.au

The Centre for Volunteering Members Breakfast Forum
Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 9am–10.30am

Join us for our regular Members Breakfast Forum held monthly at The Centre for Volunteering, Level 2, 228 Pitt Street (between Park and Market Streets), Sydney.

This month, Karen Taylor, trainer in the School of Volunteer Management, will give a brief overview and lead a discussion on the School of Volunteer Management's workshop Finders Keepers – Retaining Your Volunteers, which is designed to enable managers to develop and implement systems, processes and strategies for retaining the talents of their volunteer staff.

It is essential that you RSVP to attend and order breakfast in advance. Breakfast costs $5 and includes fruit salad, raisin toast and muffins. Tea and coffee are free.

- Email Melissa Ehrhardt or call her on 9261 3600.
- Mark your calendar with the dates of our 2006 Breakfast Forums.

SVM Workshop: Train Small Groups
Wednesday–Thursday, 10–11 May 2006

Train Small Groups provides information on the latest methods of preparing, delivering and evaluating training in the workplace and to help you discover your own skills as a trainer. This two-day workshop is ideal for anyone who trains small groups in their own organisation.

- Find out more about Train Small Groups.
- Enrol online for Train Small Groups.

ENGAGE Corporate Shares Community Profits Workshop, Sydney
Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 9am–12.30pm

This is your chance to attend a hands-on workshop designed to help not-for-profit organisations build strong and sustainable volunteer-based partnerships with business. Led by Dr Kenn Allen of Global Civil Society Consulting, Washington DC, the workshop will focus on:

• Understanding what companies are looking for when they launch corporate volunteer programs.
• Assessing your organisation's readiness and capacity to respond to its goals.
• Implementing practical steps to prepare to work effectively with companies to support the volunteer efforts of their employees in the community and expand the volunteer base.

This is a must-attend workshop if you want to learn more about how you can harness the benefits of corporate volunteering for your organisation. You will leave with your own plan of action.

- Download the ENGAGE registration form (911 KB).

National Volunteer Week Update
Monday–Sunday, 15–21 May 2006

Just to remind everyone, the theme for this year's National Volunteer Week is Change Your World. Although we'd all love to change THE world, it's a big ask, so this year the focus is on what we can each do within our own lives and spheres of influence, which in turn, will influence and change others.

The Centre for Volunteering will promote NSW-based events on our website. Just email the details of your National Volunteer Week event to Kristin Romanis and include location, date and start/end time, what's happening, the contact person's name and title, email address and phone number, and any photos or graphics.

Volunteering Australia will provide the following promotional material which you can download from their website in the coming weeks:

• Key media messages (statements) for use during NVW
• Volunteer poster designs
• School colouring-in poster
• Radio and print community service announcements
• Media 'how to', template releases, certificates and logos
• A place to register and promote events.

For more information, visit www.volunteeringaustralia.org

Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management
Tuesday–Thursday, 29–31 August 2006

The second Australasian Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management sponsored by OzVPM and People First - Total Solutions will be held in Brisbane from 29–31 August and will feature the theme Volunteer Management – Have we gone too far? The retreat is strictly limited to 70 participants and is already half full. If you are planning to attend, please book soon at www.vpmretreat.com.au

Youth Project receives additional support
The Centre for Volunteering

The Centre for Volunteering has recently received additional financial support from the Matana Foundation For Young People for our program Volunteering Makes a Difference, for young people at risk who could benefit from volunteering in a positive and supported environment. The project is being undertaken with the assistance of Sydney University and Justice Health. Find out more about Volunteering Makes a Difference.

Nominations open for NAB Volunteer Awards worth $364,000
National Australia Bank and Volunteering Australia

Nominations are now open for the 2006 National Australia Bank (NAB) Volunteer Awards. This is the community service and volunteer awards program that recognises the efforts of over 40% of Australians who volunteer regularly. Now in its ninth year, the Awards are conducted in association with Volunteering Australia.

Volunteer organisations will share $364,000 worth of awards from NAB, with a total of 49 state and national winners chosen from seven categories. One winner is chosen in every state and the combined territories in each of the following categories: Art and Culture; Community Service and Development; Education and Youth Development; Emergency and Safety; Environment and Wildlife; Health and Wellbeing; and Tourism, Sport and Recreation. An overall national winner is selected from each category. MORE

QLD SES volunteer numbers reach record levels
SES Queensland

The State Emergency Services' deployment of volunteers to the region affected by Tropical Cyclone Larry is the largest in the state's history. So far, 837 volunteers have gone to the cyclone-affected areas of Far North Queensland.

"It's been a huge effort by SES volunteers both from within the Far North region and those who have travelled to the region from across the state," said SES Director Eddie Bennet. MORE

Cost of Emergency Management Volunteering overview
Australian Emergency Management Volunteers Forum

The Australian Emergency Management Volunteers Forum is currently undertaking research into the costs to the individual volunteer of being involved in emergency management volunteering. Through Emergency Management Australia, funding is now available to develop a national survey of emergency services volunteers to examine the negative direct cash costs and in-kind contributions that volunteers make over a 12 month period as a result of this type of volunteering commitment. MORE

Beijing seeks slogans for Olympic volunteer program
Xinhua News Agency

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has started to solicit slogans for its volunteer program of the 2008 Olympics. The deadline is 31 August 2006. "The slogan should be in line with the concept of the Beijing Olympic volunteer program which is Service first and harmony first and highlight the striking features of the times and the Chinese culture", said Wang Minghao, an official in charge of the Olympic volunteer program. MORE

Copyright © 2006 The Centre for Volunteering | ABN 28 002 416 024
Level 2, 228 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000
T: 02 9261 3600 | F: 02 9261 4033 | E: info@volunteering.com.au
www.volunteering.com.au
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