July 2006

In This Issue

- Features              - Events & Training              - The Centre's News

PM looks at plan to pay volunteers
[Andrew Fraser, The Canberra Times]

Prime Minister John Howard has agreed to look at a backbench plan to pay retired volunteers for their efforts and to give tax breaks to volunteers still in the workforce. The plan was put to Mr Howard in a joint Coalition party room meeting by South Australian MP Kym Richardson and Tasmanian Senator Guy Barnett on Tuesday, 20 June.

Under the Barnett–Richardson plan, volunteers in employment would be entitled to a personal income tax deduction for the out-of-pocket expenses incurred in their volunteering.

Elderly volunteers on limited incomes and those who were pensioners should be considered for some direct monetary return for their efforts.

The two backbenchers have set up an independent taskforce to investigate options to remunerate volunteers. MORE

Volunteer Small Equipment Grants (VSEG) – 2006
[Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs]

The Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, The Hon Mal Brough MP, has announced funding of $3 million for the 2006 Volunteer Small Equipment Grants (VSEG) to help Australia's volunteers support their vital work.

This funding will provide grants worth up to $3,000 (GST inclusive) for community organisations to help them purchase small equipment items that will make the work of their volunteers easier and safer. MORE

CPNS Alumni prize for best student paper
[Volunteering Australia]

The Centre of Philanthropic and Nonprofit Studies (CPNS) at the Queensland University of Technology together with Volunteering Australia is very pleased to announce the second annual prize for the best paper on volunteering written by a university student. The prize is $500 and publication of the winning paper in the October issue of the Australian Journal on Volunteering. MORE

The Centre for Volunteering Members Breakfast Forum
Tuesday, 18 July 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, Geoff Copeland, trainer in the School of Volunteer Management (SVM), will give a brief preview and lead a discussion on the workshop Improving Your Leadership Effectiveness. This workshop is practical, hands-on and involves a high level of participation. It aims to assist participants to improve their leadership effectiveness by building on their individual and collective experiences, using their actual work situations as case studies. Various leadership models and associated techniques are presented. Geoff Copeland runs his own management and training consultancy and has performed senior leadership roles in a variety of organisations. Geoff has been formally recognised for his leadership ability and effectiveness.

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 Janine Cowen or phone 02 9261 3600.
- Mark your calendar with the dates of our 2006 Breakfast Forums.

You must be a member of The Centre for Volunteering to attend. Download our membership brochure or phone our membership team on 02 9261 3600 for more information.

SVM Workshop: Managing Conflict and Change
Thursday, 27 July, 9am–5pm

This one-day course explores strategies for ensuring that individuals, teams and organisations gain from change and that clients and service users also benefit through improved services. The course also explores ways to minimise and manage conflict arising from change, so that opportunities are created for learning, improved teamwork, increased productivity and innovation.

- Find out more about Managing Conflict and Change.
- Enrol online to attend the Managing Conflict and Change workshop.

SVM Workshop: Legally Speaking (2 days)
Wednesday–Thursday, 23–24 August, 9am–5pm

If you are a manager of volunteers, management committee member or a policy taskforce member, learn about the legal and technical issues involved in working with volunteers.

- Find out more about Legally Speaking.
- Enrol online to attend the Legally Speaking workshop.

- View the School of Volunteer Management's course calendar.

SPECIAL EVENT
Effective volunteer management: Mobilising all your resources
Monday, 14 August

The School of Volunteer Management is proud to partner with two volunteer management training organisations, OzVPM and People First – Total Solutions, for the Sydney date of their National Volunteer Management Training Series in 2006. US trainer and author Rick Lynch will present Effective Volunteer Management: Mobilising All Your Resources and help you understand how to expand your volunteer program.

The day will cover:

• the four elements of jobs that are intrinsically motivating
• how to really measure the impact of volunteer activity
• how to stop micromanaging your volunteers
• how to talk to volunteers who fail to meet your standard.

- Register online to attend.

Thank you: Grants and donations
We would like to thank the following organisations for their generous support of The Centre for Volunteering:

• The NSW Department of Community Services extended our grant by $20,000.
• The Deloitte Foundation donated $1,500 to the SCIP project.
• hogan print, Artarmon, donated the printing of 7,000 volunteer information cards.

If you would like to support The Centre for Volunteering, please phone Lynne Dalton, CEO, on 02 9261 3600.

15–50% off the price of all volunteering merchandise
Don't miss your chance to purchase your volunteer recognition gifts at a massive discount. During The Centre's Winter Sale we are offering 15–50% off the price of all volunteering merchandise:

      Make a Difference. Volunteer t-shirts are now $15

      V-Sports drink bottles are now $3
 
      Make a Difference. Volunteer wristbands are
      now just $1.75

      Red V-Pins are now $3

We also have some great International Volunteer Day t-shirts, key rings and gift of time cards. And for those of you who missed out at the time we have a limited number of 2001 International Year of Volunteers t-shirts and drink bottles. Browse our V-merchandise and download an order form

Calling people to experience indigenous Australia
The Centre for Volunteering partnered with Indigenous Community Volunteers (ICV) to present two information sessions on volunteering in Sydney on Friday, 30 June. ICV supports Indigenous communities to pursue their community development goals in their own way by providing the community with volunteers who can transfer their skills to people in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations.

Singer Nadeene Dixon performed a fusion of traditional indigenous and contemporary music. Speakers at the event included The Centre's CEO Lynne Dalton and communications manager Kristin Romanis; ICV's national volunteer manager Tracy Svensson and national marketing manager Nagmeh Hatami; chairperson Lenny Clarke of the indigenous organisation Kikkabush and ICV volunteer Joanna Lin who worked at the Titjikala Childcare Centre, Titjikala (120km south of Alice Springs on the edge of the Simpson Desert), Northern Territory. Joanna spent five months (February-May 2005) helping to build the capacity of local childcare staff to run their childcare centre.

Education Expo 2006
On Saturday–Sunday, 24–25 June, The Centre for Volunteering exhibited at the 2006 Education Expo Rosehill Racecourse Event Centre. The annual expo featured educational institutions, vocational organisations, new apprenticeships, learning resources, online learning and educational services from Australia and overseas. The expo was a fantastic networking opportunity and allowed us to promote our School Community Involvement Program (SCIP) to schools, teachers and schools. It was also a good opportunity to speak to parents about how they can become involved in volunteering. The weekend was a great success and we would like to thank the volunteers and staff who participated. Visit our Education Expo photo gallery

New research contract
The Centre for Volunteering's Research & Policy team has been awarded a research contract by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to investigate volunteering best practice in the environment sector and to make recommendations on how to increase its state-based volunteering programs.

Project Updates

Volunteering Makes a Difference (VMAD)
In early June, The Centre's community project manager Jacinthe Brosseau visited Youth Off the Streets (YOTS) to conduct several informal focus groups with the young people who will be participating in our Volunteering Makes a Difference pilot program. She was also able to talk to YOTS teachers and program coordinators about risk management strategies.

The VMAD team has hired a number of volunteers for the project to review the literature on volunteering and disadvantaged youth and existing programs as well as to help with The Centre's follow-up of the young people involved in the program.

Student Community Involvement Program (SCIP)
This month has been a very busy month for SCIP. We were invited to present the SCIP program to the Director of Student Welfare at the Department of Education and Training, and met with the student working party of the 2006 State SRC Conference (which has the theme Involved Students, Active Citizens) in preparation for the workshop to be presented at the conference in August 2006. We also met with the coordinator of the Red Cross-Youth Challenge program and the coordinator of Vibewire Youth Services to explore the possibility of developing meaningful partnerships with these organisations.

The team gave a SCIP presentation at St Joseph's College in Hunters Hill, for the Year 11 students who will shortly be undertaking community service/volunteering during Ministry Week, and ran a focus group with the school's Year 12 students who participated in SCIP in 2005. The presentation focussed on the benefits of volunteering and the rights and responsibilities of volunteers. It also addressed concerns some of the students had about community service/volunteering, for example, working with the elderly, the homeless and with people with disabilities. Some experiences might be confronting for the students, but our key message was that confronting situations can indeed be positive experiences.

The SCIP team has expanded this month to include our new volunteer SCIP liaison officer Nick Munk whose role is to help build a database of student volunteer-involving organisations. Nick has extensive marketing experience and will also develop a SCIP marketing plan for The Centre.

Staff

Farewell: Claudiene Duarte
In July, we will farewell Claudiene Duarte, Volunteer Referral Service coordinator. Claudiene has been working at The Centre for Volunteering for over two years and will be moving to the Sunshine Coast, Qld. We would like to thank Claudiene for her fantastic work coordinating our 50 Volunteer Referral Service volunteers. We wish her the best in her new endeavour.
   

Position vacant: Volunteer Coordinator
The Centre for Volunteering is currently interviewing for the position of Volunteer Coordinator and hopes to appoint someone to the role in the near future. The volunteer coordinator will coordinate an effective and efficient volunteer referral service; encourage diversity in volunteering; provide leadership to the voluntary sector by implementing best practice volunteer coordination; ensure volunteers and staff are wholly engaged in delivering service to members; make a positive contribution to the management team; and ensure VNSW continues to be valued as integral resource by other organisations.

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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