Working with Community Organisations
The Centre works with external organisations to deliver projects that will provide advice, support, and resources to help enable volunteering by members of identified groups. These projects will build the capacity of volunteer managers and volunteer involving organisations (VIOs) to better engage diverse volunteers and will enhance volunteer management.
Volunteer Management Activity
The Centre for Volunteering is delivering the Volunteer Management Activity (VMA) on behalf of the Australian Government’s Department of Social Services (DSS). The objective of the VMA is to increase opportunities for people to participate in the social and economic life of their community through volunteering. Excellent Volunteer Management is key to the volunteering experience.
The focus of the VMA is:
- The delivery of online services in volunteer management to build the capacity of volunteer-involving organisations;
- Breaking down barriers to volunteering faced by identified groups; and
- An increase in service coverage across regional, rural, and remote areas.
This year, a report was produced outlining the reach and impact of the VMA across Australia. It provides insight into how the VMA program has partnered with and supported Volunteer Involving Organisations (VIOs) and volunteers. View the report here.
Community Connections – Volunteering Information Hub Establishment Grants
The Centre for Volunteering is providing grants to community organisations to establish a Volunteering Information Hub in their region. The Hub will host events and provide information to support the social and economic participation of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the community, and will aim to strengthen volunteering through capability and capacity building.
Grants of between $10,000 and $20,000 (GST excl) have been awarded to the community organisations with experience and connections in their local volunteering community. The Volunteering Information Hub is funded to increase opportunities for participation in volunteering by providing information and support to individual volunteers, volunteer managers, and VIOs.
The following organisations have received grants to develop a Volunteering Information Hub in 2026 in their Local Government Areas:
| Afghan Women Support Association, Cumberland LGA | AWSA will establish a Volunteering Information Hub for CALD women, offering leadership training, wellbeing workshops, and information sessions to strengthen community connection and volunteer participation. |
| Armidale Regional Council, Armidale LGA | The Armidale Volunteer Referral Service will connect new volunteers with VIOs through morning teas, online resources, community events and award ceremonies, fostering inclusion and empowerment. |
| Canowindra Creative Centre Inc., Cabonne LGA | The Hub will provide access to information regarding volunteering opportunities, information for VIOs, information on providers of opportunities in the region and an Expo is planned for June 2026. |
| Community College Northern Inland, Moree Plains LGA | CCNI will establish a Moree Volunteering Hub at their campus to connect, train and celebrate volunteers through an Expo, information hub and volunteer workshops. |
| Gresford Community Group, Dungog LGA | Gresford Community Group will establish a youth-focused volunteer hub and travelling roadshow, connecting Dungog Shire communities through school programs, expos, and events promoting local volunteering, training, and community engagement. |
| Volunteer in Dubbo Region, Dubbo LGA | Volunteer in Dubbo Region will provide information and host two volunteer expos in the Dubbo LGA connecting schools, corporate businesses, and the wider community to volunteer based organisations. |
| Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance, Eurobodalla LGA | SHASA will strengthen volunteering across the Eurobodalla Shire through VIO-partnered community expos in three major towns, coordinator support, targeted workshops, and volunteer-organisation (VIO) capacity building. |
| Volunteer Connect Lithgow Region Inc., Lithgow LGA | The Hub will connect volunteers with local groups and events, fostering inclusion, empowerment, and community connections through coordinated engagement, training, mentoring, support, and VIO capacity building. |
| Kids Giving Back, VIRTUAL | Kids Giving Back will empower teachers and inspire youth through the Youth Changemakers Engagement Toolkit, showing that it is easy to volunteer, build wellbeing, skills, and community connection via the YCM App. |
Breaking Down Barriers to Volunteering
A major element of The Centre’s implementation of the VMA in NSW is commissioning community experts to deliver projects through the Project Partnerships Program annually. Projects must align with the focus of the Volunteer Management Activity to deliver advice, support, and resources to help enable volunteering by members of identified groups:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Newly Arrived Migrants*
- People with Disability**
- Vulnerable Women
- Young People aged 12-18
- People who are unemployed
Learn more:
Breaking Down Barriers to Volunteering.
Read our reports highlighting outcomes, stories, and learnings from the first and second rounds of the Project Partnerships Program. These inspiring examples demonstrate how integrating inclusive practices into volunteer programs can empower volunteers to make meaningful contributions to their communities and the organisations they support.
Further partnerships within the Volunteer Management Activity 2021-2026
The Centre has also partnered with an extensive number of organisations in the design and delivery of online best-practice volunteer management tools, training, resources and support. Partnerships include:
Resources:
Resource sharing:
Reconciliation Action Plan:
*Newly Arrived Migrants within their first 5 years of settlement.
**The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) defines disability as:
- total or partial loss of the person’s bodily or mental functions
- total or partial loss of a part of the body
- the presence in the body of organisms causing disease or illness
- the malfunction, malformation, or disfigurement of a part of the person’s body
- a disorder or malfunction that results in the person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction
- a disorder, illness or disease that affects a person’s thought processes, perception of reality, emotions, or judgment, or that results in disturbed behaviour and includes disability that:
- presently exists or previously existed but no longer exists or may exist in the future
- is imputed to a person (meaning it is thought or implied that the person has disability but does not)
Contact
If you have any further questions regarding this opportunity, please email the VMA team:
Email [email protected]
This project is funded by the Department of Social Services through the Volunteer Management Activity.
