The Voice of Volunteering, Issue no 2, March 2008

Networking Breakfast: IAVE Asia Pacific Conference Review
Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 8.30am–10.30am

In December 2007, Kristin Romanis, Communications Manager at The Centre for Volunteering, attended the 2007 IAVE Asia Pacific Volunteer Conference, Japan. The conference was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about volunteering and to network with many people involved in volunteering in the Asia-Pacific region, the US and Europe. Kristin will present a review of the conference at the March Networking Breakfast. Find out how you can attend

People too busy to do charity work: survey
ABC

The Red Cross says busier lifestyles are behind a fall in the numbers of people volunteering to help disadvantaged people in their community. More than 1,200 people took part in the online survey that aimed to gauge public perception about the elderly, people living with a mental illness and the homeless. The survey revealed that volunteer figures were down compared to a decade ago. Read more

Not-for-profit organisations need to re-assess how they engage volunteers
The Centre for Volunteering

Lynne Dalton, CEO, The Centre for Volunteering, agrees with the outcomes of the above mentioned Red Cross research, stating that not-for-profit organisations need to reassess how they recruit and enage volunteers to ensure a continued supply of volunteers. As people's lives are getting busier, they have less time to volunteer and are looking for new ways to contribute to their community. There is a growing need for not-for-profit organisations to restructure their volunteer roles into short-term, project based or one-off type roles rather than long-term volunteer roles. If you would like help in assessing your organisation's use of volunteers call the School of Volunteer Management on 02 9261 3600.

Incorporated Associations Act Reforms: Call for public submissions by the Minister for Fair Trading, Volunteering and Youth

Linda Burney, Minister for Fair Trading, Volunteering and Youth, has called for submissions from the public on proposed reforms to the Incorporated Associations Act. The Act has relevance for two of the Minister's portfolios – Fair Trading and Volunteering. Read more

Corporates can show their hearts through volunteering

Minister for Volunteering, Linda Burney, met with staff and management of Microsoft Australia to launch their national employee engagement program on Thursday, 14 February. Ms Burney said she hoped corporate volunteering would grow to become one of the most important avenues of volunteer recruitment for charities and community organisations. "The partnership between business, the not-for-profit sector and government must be encouraged because of the benefits to be gained by all three," Ms Burney said. Read more

Address to the CSR Practitioners Forum

Senator Ursula Stephens, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, addressed the CSR Practitioners Forum at the  University of Sydney on Tuesday, 3 March. She discussed social inclusion and corporate responsibility, what can business do, corporate volunteering, giving of skills and training, diverse employment strategies, getting the best outcomes, and learning from international experience. Download

The Economic Value of Volunteering in Queensland
Qld Department of Communities and The University of Melbourne

A report measuring the economic contributions of Queensland's volunteers
is now available. This report has, for the first time, quantified the value of both formal (through an organisation or group) and informal (outside of an organisation) volunteering contributions to Queensland's society. Read the report

Senator Ursula Stephens' address to the Fundraising Institute of Australia's Asia-Pacific Forum

The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Senator Ursula Stephens, discussed the Rudd government's social inclusion agenda and the role that we believe the non-profit sector can play. Download

Academic outrages community leaders
Neos Kosmos

The recent study by Dr. Ernest Healy of Monash University regarding volunteerism and social cohesion has stirred controversy and rebuttals from many ethnic communities and multicultural advocates. Read more

Grants no laughing matter
Volunteering Australia

Volunteering Australia will again act as Grants Manager for the Comic Relief Australia Grants Program in 2008. Applications are now being taken for grants from not-for-profit organisations that involve volunteers in their work. Volunteering Australia will receive, process and assess all applications, and liaise with grant applicants in respect of the allocation of these grants. Read more

Third National Survey of Volunteering Issues

Volunteering Australia invites all volunteers and not-for-profit organisations that involve volunteers to participate in the 2008 National Survey of Volunteering Issues. The survey takes around 10–15 minutes to complete and is open until 16 March. The National Survey of Volunteering Issues helps Volunteering Australia understand what issues are emerging in the sector and what factors help and hinder effective volunteering. Volunteering Australia uses this information to formulate policy positions to put to government, and also to target where our research and consultation efforts should be directed. The 2008 National Survey of Volunteering Issues report will be released during National Volunteer Week (12–18 May 2008). Complete the survey

Future of Volunteering Project seeking contributions

The Future of Volunteering Project wants to understand why people volunteer, to help with government policy making, and to help organisations attract and keep the people they need. The project aims to collect thousands of stories of real experiences from people who volunteer, people who manage and use volunteers and people who fund volunteering organisations. All stories are treated as anonymous. Complete the online survey and tell your volunteer story

Networking Breakfast: IAVE Asia Pacific Conference review
Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 8.30am–10.30am
Level 2, 228 Pitt Street, Sydney

On 6 December 2007, Kristin Romanis, Communications Manager at The Centre for Volunteering, travelled to Nagoya, Japan, to attend the 2007 IAVE Asia Pacific Volunteer Conference, held from 7–10 December. The conference was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about volunteering and to network with many people involved in volunteering in the Asia-Pacific region, the US and Europe.

Presentations Kristin attended include:

• Volunteering and Citizen Participation at the 2005 World Expo, Nagoya
• Emergency Volunteering
• Senior Citizens Volunteering: Baby Boomer Generation
• RSVP International
• Corporate Volunteering and CSR
• International Models of Civic Engagement
• Youth Volunteering – Voluntainment.

Kristin presented the Country Report for Australia, detailing current volunteering activity, trends and issues in Australia.

Kristin will present a review of the conference at the March Networking Breakfast.

RSVP today
All volunteer managers are very welcome to these breakfasts. Numbers are limited and booking is essential. Please order your breakfast ($5) in advance. Tea and coffee are free. Email Odessa O'Brien or phone 02 9261 3600.

Call for Abstracts: 12th National Conference on Volunteering
Deadline extended to 10 March 2008

Volunteering Australia invites proposals for papers (30 minutes including 10 minutes discussion), workshops (90 minutes) and posters from all interested parties for the 12th National Conference on Volunteering. Final decisions regarding acceptance of proposals will take into consideration a number of factors such as: total number of papers submitted, relevance to the conference theme, quality of paper conveyed by the abstract, compatibility with other papers submitted, whether paper has been presented previously, and the need to achieve a balanced and varied program. Find out more

The Science and Practice of Sport Volunteerism
Tuesday, 8 April 2008, Sydney, Australia

The recruiting, retaining and recognising of volunteers is vital to the survival of sport associations and not-for-profit organisations. This one-day seminar draws together a comprehensive approach to volunteer management practices through contemporary research and a sound understanding of human resource management. The seminar has been designed by a team of researchers and practitioners with a long history of volunteer management involvement in sport. Innovative outcomes from a recent Australian Research Council grant conducted in collaboration with a national sporting organisation will be workshopped at the seminar. The seminar will feature Dr Simon Darcy and Professor Tracy Taylor from UTS and Lynne Dalton, CEO, The Centre for Volunteering. Find out more

Advertising for volunteers

As of mid-February all of The Centre for Volunteering's Hot Volunteer Jobs are now listed on the SEEK Volunteer website. Before this jobs were listed on both The Centre's website and the SEEK Volunteer website. The decision was made to fully utilise the SEEK Volunteer website so that volunteers can search The Centre's entire database of jobs in one place. Volunteer roles are updated daily.

In addition to this your volunteer jobs are still listed on The Centre's Volunteer Referral Service (VRS) database and the Go Volunteer website. Advertise your role through the VRS - submit your volunteer job descriptions online.

Don't forget that Members of The Centre for Volunteering have free access to Fido Skilled Volunteer Search. Fido advertises skilled volunteer roles in the Sydney Morning Herald's Help Desk column on Mondays and Saturdays as well as on the Fido website and via the email alert sent to over 1,100 skilled volunteers every Monday.

If you have an upcoming event that you need volunteers advertise your event to The Centre's pool of event volunteers who would like to work at various major events across Sydney and NSW. Contact the VRS on 02 9261 3600 for more information.

Research and Policy Report

The Centre has undertaken a research project looking at how high level skills held by volunteers from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds can be accessed. So far The Centre's team of volunteer researchers have exhausted the literature and not found any comparative study on this particular aspect of CALD volunteers. This project team has designed a research survey to determine if there are any existing strategies in use by organisations in NSW using highly skilled volunteers that have English as a second language and are not yet totally proficient in using English in the workplace. They have conducted three face to face surveys, including appropriate staff from DADHC and the Community Relations Commission to ensure the survey is well designed. The team has developed an online survey and are contacting 50 of The Centre's members, 12 Volunteer Referral Centres and 12 Migrant Resource Centres to get commitment for participation in this research project. For more information email Tony Frew or phone him on 02 9261 3600.

SCIP/Youth Report

On Tuesday, 5 February, The Centre's new Youth Volunteer Program Manager, Maia Giordano, conducted a volunteering workshop at Waverly Action for Youth Services (WAYS) in Bondi for students that take part in the Partnership Outreach Education Model (POEM) Project. Following on from the workshop Maia is working with WAYS Youth Services to find suitable volunteer placement for the students.

On Friday, 15 February, The Centre's SCIP team ran the first Community Education Day for 2008 for the Year 10 girls at Roseville College. The Day formed part of Roseville College's Community Service Program. The SCIP would like to extend a sincere thank you to the following organisations that attended the day and gave such inspiring and fun talks: Amnesty International, Animal Liberation, Red Cross – Youth Challenge, St Vincent de Pauls and Vision Australia.

On Wednesday, 20 February Maia gave a talk at the Illawarra Red Cross Youth Volunteer Forum. The day was attended by high school students from across the Illawarra and South Coast region. The Forum was a chance to introduce students to the concept of volunteering and how it is relevant to them.

The Centre continues to receive direct enquiries from young people (or their parents) looking for volunteer work, the youngest being from a seven year-old! Please email The Centre or phone 9261 3600 if your organisation is able to engage young people in volunteering.

New baby

The Centre's Jacinthe Brosseau and her husband Mark have welcomed their first child, Rèmi Brosseau-Hogan, on Tuesday, 12 February at 9pm. Remi weighed 8.2 pounds and was 53cm long at birth. He is growing quickly and has just celebrated his 3-week birthday. Congratulations to Jacinthe and Mark.

© The Centre for Volunteering 2007 | 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 | W: www.volunteering.com.au
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