2025 Conference Overview

Protect, Preserve, Progress Volunteering in NSW

The Centre for Volunteering was pleased to welcome 345 delegates across all sites for the 2025 Volunteering NSW State Conference.

We thank everyone involved for making this year’s conference such an informative and positively received event.

Stay tuned for information on the 2026 Volunteering NSW State Conference. Please email conference@volunteering.com.au to be added to our database for upcoming information on next year’s Conference.

Some highlights:

Guests were welcomed to the conference on Gadigal Land by Yvonne Weldon. She said, “When we work together and include First Nations Peoples, we are richer. We achieve so much more when we are united.”

The Hon. Jodie Harrison MP, Minister Responsible for Volunteering in NSW addressed guests: “This conference is an opportunity for you, the leaders and changemakers, to listen, to learn, and to connect.”

Wendy Harmer—one of Australia’s best-known humourists—delivered the keynote address at the conference. Wendy brought her trademark wit and wisdom to the stage, sharing some great personal insights on volunteering. She said, “Most people’s working lives are about compromise: volunteering is not. You don’t do what you don’t want to do. So everyone finds their niche.”

Clint Bertenshaw from The Centre for Volunteering lead a panel discussion on the importance of valuing volunteers. Christina Gillo from St Vincent de Paul Society said, “Volunteers are the backbone of society. We would not be where we are without our volunteers… Valuing volunteers means understanding their contribution and impact.”

Delegates were invited to select from a variety of sessions including:

“I absolutely loved my first conference, and the guest speakers and sessions were not only informative, but they were also very entertaining. It is impressive how The Centre for Volunteering draws the most generous, kind, and bright members into this incredibly special community. I feel blessed to have met so many of them.” 

            – Conference delegate

A very interesting Panel Discussion on Volunteering in an Emergency – with NSW Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner, Peter McKechnie; Daniel Murray from Empathic Consulting; Sarah Muston from Northern Rivers Community Gateway; and Marian Casey, St John Ambulance Australia (NSW). According to Sarah Muston, “We are trying to get spontaneous volunteers involved in a way that they are safe and the community is safe.”

We’ve heard a lot about changes in volunteering and how we might protect and preserve it moving forward. To explore how volunteering might work in the future, Paul Muller from Link Education presented a panel with a range of volunteer managers from across the sector: Stephanie Georgy, Camden Council; Carole Schlessinger, Kids Giving Back; Salwa Salwa, Study NSW Australia and Rebecca Ju, 2023 Young Volunteer of the Year.

Daniel Murray from Empathetic Consulting gave a presentation on Leadership Innovation. “Leadership is a verb, not a noun. We should be empowering our volunteers to do that work they need.”

Photos copyright: Salty Dingo Media