The Andrews Labor Government supports volunteers to do what they do best – serving their community.

That’s why we’re releasing the Victorian Volunteer Strategy 2022–2027 to give volunteers the support they need.

Whether it’s teaching someone to video call their loved ones, delivering food and medical supplies to those in need, or just lending a helping hand – volunteers are the backbone of our community and we say thank you.

Victoria has one of the highest rates of volunteering in Australia.¹ Our volunteers work across many different settings and conditions. They work on disaster relief; they assist in fundraising and they help Victorians access vital services.

We recognise that work done by volunteers often goes unnoticed, but with this strategy, we will ensure that volunteers are recognised and celebrated – just like they deserve.

The Andrews Labor Government knows that volunteering makes our communities happier, healthier and stronger. It’s why we want to rebuild and strengthen the volunteering sector.

We’ll work with communities to make it one that empowers, supports and recognises volunteers from all backgrounds. This includes people from multicultural communities, people with disability, First Nations peoples, and people of different ages, genders, sexualities and locations.

I had the privilege of taking part in many of the consultations with the volunteering sector across all of regional Victoria, local communities and the Volunteer Strategy Taskforce. The feedback gathered from all across Victoria has informed this strategy. I have heard from many about the benefits that come from giving back to your community. But volunteers also talked about the challenges they, their managers and organisations face.

That’s why I am pleased to present the Victorian Volunteer Strategy 2022–2027. This strategy sets our vision and priorities for volunteering in Victoria over the next five years. It provides an action plan to promote, build, support and celebrate all forms of volunteering. ­­

The Hon. Anthony Carbines MP
Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers

Footnote

[1] State of Volunteering 2020, State of volunteering in Victoria 2020. Retrieved from: https://stateofvolunteering.org.au/victoria/

The goals and actions presented here will help guide us in our collective effort to continue to build and strengthen volunteering in Victoria.

We want to support our volunteering community to be inclusive, strong and one that offers pathways to jobs and provides purpose and meaning to volunteers across our state.

Over the past two years, the Andrews Labor Government has focused on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic to protect the health and wellbeing of Victorians. We could not have done this without you. Volunteers have been vital to delivering essential services, both on the ground and virtually, during this time. For this sizeable contribution, we are indebted to you.

This strategy outlines the changes needed to maintain our strong and vibrant culture of volunteering. We have built on feedback from engagement surveys, the voice of workshop participants and the advice of the Volunteer Strategy Taskforce to guide us.

The strategy also offers a roadmap of practical improvements we can make to respond to recent challenges. This includes:

• ensuring volunteering is accessible and inclusive for all
• supporting more flexible and one-off volunteering options to suit people at different stages in their lives
• a continued focus on the volunteer experience – quality, safety and satisfaction
• sharing and promoting best practice and building on successful approaches
• joined-up and easy approaches to take part in volunteering, to reduce the burden on volunteers and community organisations
• discussion about how to measure, value and recognise the impact of volunteering, including informal and community volunteering.

Our government wants to support and strengthen the volunteer community so it can do what it does best. This is to lend a helping hand to those who need it. This volunteer strategy will guide future policy and investments to make good on this commitment.

Thank you to every person who contributed to developing this strategy. I look forward to continuing to work with communities and the volunteer community in its implementation.

Josh Bull MP
Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers

We acknowledge Aboriginal¹ people as the first peoples and Traditional Owners and custodians of the land and waterways on which we live.

We honour and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise all Aboriginal peoples and their strength and resilience despite the ongoing impacts of colonisation and dispossession. Aboriginal peoples represent the world’s oldest living culture. We celebrate and respect this continuing culture.

We recognise that we have a long way to go in understanding and addressing the intersections of ableism, racism and the ongoing effects of dispossession and colonisation. We are committed to working in partnership with Aboriginal communities to see what additional actions the Victorian Government needs to take to address inequality for Aboriginal people with disability.

We also acknowledge the significant role that Aboriginal families and communities play as carers for people with disability in Victoria.

Treaty and truth in Victoria

We acknowledge the impact of colonisation to this day and seek ways to rectify past wrongs, including through truth-telling and the development of treaty.

We are deeply committed to Aboriginal self-determination and to supporting Victoria’s treaty and truth-telling processes. We acknowledge that treaty will have wide-ranging impacts for the way we work with Aboriginal Victorians. We seek to create respectful and collaborative partnerships and develop policies and programs that respect Aboriginal self-determination and align with treaty aspirations.

We acknowledge that Victoria’s treaty process will provide a framework for the transfer of decision-making power and resources to support self-determining Aboriginal communities to take control of matters that affect their lives. We commit to working proactively to support this work in line with the aspirations of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.

Footnote

[1] We recognise the diversity of Aboriginal people living throughout Victoria. While the terms ‘Koorie’ or ‘Koori’ are commonly used by Aboriginal people to describe Aboriginal people in southeast Australia, we have used the term ‘Aboriginal’ to include all people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who are living in Victoria.

Volunteering is part of Victoria’s identity. Around 2.3 million (or 42.1 per cent) of Victorians over 15 years of age volunteer formally with organisations or informally in their communities.

In 2019 the value of volunteering to Victoria was around $58.1 billion, with an average of 224 hours donated per volunteer. This equates to more than 500 million volunteer hours.¹

The volunteer community is large and diverse. Many contributors play a variety of roles.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created great challenges for our volunteering community. But it has also led to a huge wave of compassion, with people connecting and providing support to those most affected in new and different ways.² This has presented previously unharnessed opportunities but means we need to think differently about how we recognise, value and support volunteering.

The vision for the strategy is for volunteering to build strong, resilient and inclusive communities and better the lives of all Victorians.

Volunteers are at the heart of the community, supporting people across Victoria. People volunteer for healthcare organisations, they sort donated goods at charity stores, they lend a hand at local footy clubs and simply run errands for their neighbours. Volunteering can:

• encourage economic participation
• relieve feelings of isolation and loneliness
• promote social inclusion, cohesion and community resilience.

We see volunteering as a vital part of delivering the Victorian Government’s priorities to build strong and resilient communities. We commit to continuing to support the volunteering community to grow and thrive.

The Strategy will be reviewed and refreshed in 2024 in the context of preparations and planning for the Commonwealth Games and the critical role volunteers will play in its success.

Delivering a volunteering community that supports and benefits people, their communities and organisations

Our goal is to achieve a volunteering community that helps people and organisations to benefit from the broadest possible range of opportunities and experiences.

Large-scale changes have affected the volunteering landscape over recent years. Our shared goals need to maximise meaningful participation. They must also recognise that the volunteer environment now requires greater creativity and flexibility in the way people volunteer – including support for more short-term and episodic volunteering opportunities.

Opportunities to volunteer may not mean face-to-face activity in every case. The supports for volunteers need to be sensitive and attuned to changes in people’s views of their personal health and wellbeing while volunteering.

This strategy recognises the importance of volunteering. Its aim is to reinvigorate and sustain volunteerism in Victoria and to:

• support a connected and inclusive society
• build stronger, more resilient communities
• provide opportunities for people to enrich their lives, and the lives of others, through giving their time and expertise.

Footnotes

[1] State of Volunteering 2020, State of volunteering in Victoria 2020. Retrieved from: https://stateofvolunteering.org.au/victoria/

[2] Trautwein S, Liberatore F, Lindenmeier J, von Schnurbein G 2020, ‘Satisfaction with informal volunteering during the COVID-19 crisis: an empirical study considering a Swiss online volunteering platform’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 49(6): 1142–1151

A vision for volunteering in Victoria

‘Volunteering transforms our communities, supports and strengthens individuals and organisations and is a foundation for everything Victorians do.’

Volunteering in Victoria provides empowering, flexible, accessible, inclusive, connecting, valued and collaborative experiences.

Goals and priority outcomes

Goal one: Making volunteering inclusive and accessible

Priority outcomes

• Volunteers and volunteering opportunities represent the breadth of the Victorian community.
• Socioeconomic and structural factors and discrimination relating to culture, ethnicity, religion, Aboriginality, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation that present barriers to taking part are reduced to support opportunities for a broader range of community members.
• Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) employ inclusive engagement strategies to broaden and diversify the range of people recruited and maintained as volunteers in their organisations.
• Partnerships between VIOs and organisations with specialist expertise in diverse communities to provide pathways to volunteering and to increase the capacity of VIOs.

Goal two: Making volunteering flexible and easier

Priority outcomes

• Community groups use a range of strategies to effectively connect with volunteers.
• Victorians can volunteer in flexible, short-term, informal and virtual ways that make it easy to give back to their community.
• Recruitment, screening and induction processes match the role and are streamlined where possible.

Goal three: Supporting volunteers to be resilient, supported and empowered

Priority outcomes

• Volunteers have safe, effective and rewarding experiences. Their rights and responsibilities are understood and protected.
• Volunteers have the right resources, tools and supports.

Goal four: Creating volunteering connections and pathways

Priority outcomes

• Victorians can develop skills and experience and explore new interests through volunteering.
• Volunteering facilitates connections and networks. It offers pathways to education and work and from work to retirement.
• Victorians can add value to their local communities and beyond through a lifetime journey of volunteering.

Goal five: Ensuring volunteering is recognised and celebrated

Priority outcomes

• Strong community awareness encourages participation and respect for those who volunteer.
• The value and impact of volunteering, in all its forms, is celebrated.

Critical enablers

• people
• learning and development
• place-based, local approaches
• leadership and governance
• specialist services
• resources
• technology
• collaborations and partnerships
• evidence and data.

Volunteering is part of Victoria’s identity. Around 2.3 million (or 42.1 per cent) of Victorians over 15 years of age volunteer formally with organisations or informally in their communities.

In 2019 the value of volunteering to Victoria was around $58.1 billion, with an average of 224 hours donated per volunteer. This equates to more than 500 million volunteer hours.¹

What is volunteering?

There are many definitions of volunteering used nationally and internationally. In 2015, Volunteering Australia defined volunteering as ‘time willingly given for the common good and without financial gain’.³

In this strategy we use the term ‘volunteering’ in its most inclusive form, and will seek to recognise, support and encourage all approaches to the giving of time and expertise.

This is inclusive of ‘community-giving’ a description often assigned to volunteering by multicultural communities, as well as Aboriginal communities. Community-giving is often fluid and responsive to needs. Volunteering may be considered to be more structured, targeted and regular.

Likewise, volunteering can be divided into two categories:

• formal volunteering that takes place within organisations (including institutions and agencies)
• informal volunteering (takes place outside an organisational setting).

These distinctions are useful in a strategy like this one, which aims to enhance volunteering in organisational and non-organisational settings. Informal volunteering, particularly early in life, leads to volunteering (formally and informally) later in life.⁴ It is important, however, to ensure the categories don’t inadvertently mask the breadth, scope and value of the contribution and importance of all volunteering.

The definition of volunteering used in this strategy describes activities that are undertaken for the benefit of others. This could be once off, episodic or spontaneous, or structured. Examples include:

• supporting children, young people, and parents – for example reading, homework tutoring or helping with driving practice
• helping people with household activities like gardening or grocery shopping
• participating in emergency management, response and community recovery from disasters
• a range of environmental activities such as citizen science (e.g. counting birds), environmental clean-up and wildlife land care⁵
• contributing time and expertise every so often to community activities and events
• fundraising or advocating for a cause
• participating regularly in a structured way to support delivery of services.

Who are Victorian volunteers?

Traditionally, people volunteered because they wanted to help others and to feel a sense of belonging. One of the key drivers of volunteering is altruism. But today’s volunteers are often more interested in having new experiences or exploring new pathways in life. These are often motivated by passions and interests rather than shared needs.

Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) are those that provide opportunities for volunteering as part of their operation. In 2020 the top five groups of volunteers represented in VIOs were:

• over 65s (78.9 per cent)
• people with disability (31.5 per cent)
• migrants or culturally diverse people (30.2 per cent)
• under 18s (13.6 per cent)
• people from Aboriginal backgrounds (9.1 per cent).¹

Victorian volunteers contribute their time and energy to support service delivery in a range of government portfolios and settings including:

• sports and recreation
• children, families and communities
• education and training
• welfare/community
• health care
• emergency management
• environmental management
• arts and culture.

These settings continue to depend on volunteers.⁴

Data collected in 2019 showed that within the set of Victorian volunteers surveyed:

• 5 per cent of volunteers volunteered both formally and informally
• 9 per cent of volunteers were in formal settings with VIOs (not-for-profit, government and private organisations)
• 6 per cent of volunteers donated their time only in informal settings.¹

Reliable data on the numbers who volunteer in informal settings is limited. But we know that Victorians give many volunteer hours through a range of less structured channels that provide support to their communities.

The volunteering community in Victoria

The volunteering community is large and diverse. Many contributors play a variety of roles.

This strategy focuses on strengthening partnerships and collaborations within the volunteering community. This will ensure we achieve shared goals and outcomes. The strategy sets out key areas of effort and action to develop strong, collaborative and sustainable partnerships across the volunteering community (Figure 1).

Footnotes

[1] State of Volunteering 2020, State of volunteering in Victoria 2020. Retrieved from: https://stateofvolunteering.org.au/victoria/

[3] Volunteering Australia 2015, Volunteering Australia’s definition of volunteering. Retrieved from: https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/FAQs-Launch-of…

[4] Volunteering Australia 2021, Key volunteering statistics. Retrieved from: https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/resources/key-facts/

[5] Victorian Government 2018, Victorians volunteering for nature: environmental volunteering plan. Retrieved from: https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0035/394883/V…

A culture of volunteering is a recognised indicator of a healthy and connected community.

In its broadest sense a society where people help one another, by their very nature, is more resilient and robust and can rapidly mobilise and respond in an emergency or crisis.⁶

Isolation can lead to mental health issues. Resilient and robust communities provide natural protection and prevention from this. Communities with a culture of volunteering stand a better chance of noticing and intervening in risk.

In formal settings, volunteers are on the frontline, delivering services for communities in a wide variety of ways – from providing directions in a hospital or running group activities in disability or aged care services, land and coastal care activities, to working in soup kitchens or animal shelters.

In the case of informal volunteering, it may be when neighbours or a local community come together to offer practical or material assistance to a person, family or group that is experiencing a particular hardship.

Through the State of volunteering in Victoria 2020 report, we have measured the high value of volunteering’s economic impact. In 2019 it was estimated that it would cost $19.4 billion to replace the labour that volunteers contribute to Victoria.¹ The report also highlights the need for more research into informal volunteering. This often goes unnoticed, even by volunteers themselves.

As well as economic gains, volunteering offers environmental, social, cultural, health and wellbeing benefits to us all:

• Volunteers get a sense of achievement and purpose from helping, giving back and making a difference to other people and/or to their local community.
• Organisations can access a wider pool of skills and experience, including to important resources and support they would not have otherwise.
• Volunteering strengthens and builds on resilience in communities. It creates a sense of belonging, develops skills, builds social connections and improves wellbeing. It creates pathways to jobs and forges robust communities.
• Volunteers engaging in environmental and emergency management and preparedness activities building knowledge and understanding about the natural environment and ecosystems. In turn, communities benefit from the support provided to ecosystems, air quality, waterways, flora and fauna, leisure and recreation assets and spaces.

Challenges

Our volunteering community has met great challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that it has also led to a huge wave of compassion,² with people connecting and providing support to those most affected in new and different ways.

This has presented previously unharnessed opportunities but means we need to think differently about how we recognise, value and support volunteering.

Through consultations we have heard of a range of challenges experienced by the volunteering community including:

• a lack of flexibility and accessibility to volunteering
• barriers to finding information about volunteering opportunities that match with potential volunteers’ interests and experience
• administrative burdens for VIOs to efficiently manage volunteer workforces
• uncertainty over Commonwealth funding and implications for VSO service delivery
• limited volunteering options that cater to different motivations and interests
• low recognition of informal volunteering
• the different perspectives of the meaning of volunteering.

COVID-19 has compounded many of these existing challenges. By early 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in a 50.2 per cent decline in Victoria’s reported volunteering participation rate compared with 2019. It fell from 2.3 million volunteers (42.1 per cent of the adult population) to 1.1 million volunteers (21 per cent) and has continued to decline since.¹

Many organisations lost their volunteers over that period due to extended lockdowns and a hesitance to re-engage. The ongoing nature of the pandemic including high numbers of people contracting COVID-19 has exacerbated health concerns.

The decline in formal volunteering has had significant impacts on service delivery in government portfolios and a range of settings such as:

• sport and recreation
• children, families and communities
• health care
• aged care
• disability
• family and community services
• emergency management
• environmental management
• arts and culture.

All these settings rely on volunteers.

Restoring and expanding volunteering numbers will be critical to ensuring a successful Commonwealth Games in 2026, with a strong community foundation. Over 15,000 volunteers played a crucial role in the delivery of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

The legacy of COVID-19 on the volunteer community could present an ongoing barrier to future participation in volunteering. Many people’s feelings about safe and healthy environments for volunteering have changed. Noting these concerns and offering suitable supports will be key to welcoming back and attracting new volunteers as we learn to live with COVID-19. This will involve providing COVIDSafe settings for volunteers, as well as access to low- or non-contact volunteering roles.

Global research reflects the Victorian experience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have connected with and assisted one another in new and different ways. Relying on online communication, volunteering platforms and service delivery methods, have been particularly helpful for high-risk groups.

Emerging opportunities

Volunteering creates and supports thriving local centres. The pandemic has highlighted the value and importance of this. It will play a central role in our state’s social and economic recovery.

Over-65s made up 78.9 per cent of our volunteers in 2019.¹ As noted by the Commissioner for Senior Victorians, the proportion of Victorians aged over 60 is predicted to increase from one-fifth of the population in 2016 to one-quarter in 2056.⁷ This presents an enormous opportunity for volunteering and has enormous potential to increase social and economic capital.

This group is also particularly concerned about the health impacts of COVID-19, especially those who care for children. Making sure these concerns are addressed will be critical to engaging with this group. It is also essential that VIOs recognise the diversity of senior Victorians’ interests, identities, cultures, capacities and aspirations.

In 2021, the Commonwealth Government introduced a more targeted Volunteer Management Activity (VMA) program that will be administered by state/territory volunteering peak bodies.⁸ In consultation with the volunteering community, Volunteering Victoria has developed a new operating model, that will come into effect on 1 July 2022.

The new model will provide funding to a new partnership arrangement in each of Victoria’s eight emergency management regions, with funding primarily focused on breaking down barriers to volunteering faced by three identified priority groups: people with disabilities, First Nations peoples and newly arrived migrants.

In Victoria, many local Volunteer Support Organisations were previously funded to provide information about volunteering to the general public and match volunteers to suitable positions in VIOs. The new model will reshape the volunteering ecosystem.

Footnotes

[1] State of Volunteering 2020, State of volunteering in Victoria 2020. Retrieved from: https://stateofvolunteering.org.au/victoria/

[2] Trautwein S, Liberatore F, Lindenmeier J, von Schnurbein G 2020, ‘Satisfaction with informal volunteering during the COVID-19 crisis: an empirical study considering a Swiss online volunteering platform’, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 49(6): 1142–1151

[6] Warburton J, McLaughlin D 2005, ‘“Lots of little kindnesses”: Valuing the role of older Australians as informal volunteers in the community’, Ageing and Society, 25(5): 715–730

[7] Commissioner for Senior Victorians 2020, Ageing well in a changing world. State of Victoria, Melbourne

[8] Department of Social Services 2021, Volunteer management activity summary. Retrieved from: https://www.dss.gov.au/communities-and-vulnerable-people-programs-servi…

Over the past year, we invited a broad range of Victorians to tell us about their volunteering experiences.

This included their perspectives on how to strengthen and support volunteering. Our consultation included volunteers themselves, volunteer leaders and coordinators, CEOs and committee members.

More than 10 per cent of the people we heard from speak a language other than English at home. About 1 per cent identified as Aboriginal, 6 per cent identified as LQBTIQ+, and more than 7 per cent identified as a person with disability.⁹

We heard that volunteering offers positive health and wellbeing outcomes for people, communities and the environment. We heard that it helps deliver vital services. But many people noted the challenges presented by the changing volunteering landscape and called for improvements.

You made it clear you want a system that offers volunteering experiences that are meaningful, empowering, supported and inclusive.

Through these consultations, seven main themes arose that describe your hopes for volunteering into the future:

1. Inclusive, intersectional and responsive – volunteering opportunities represent and respond to the diversity within our communities and are inclusive of all Victorians including:
   • Aboriginal people
   • people from multicultural communities
   • people with disability
   • people of all ages, genders, sexualities and localities.
2. Empowering – the motivations, barriers and needs of volunteers are understood and supported.
3. Flexible – volunteering opportunities and options to meet the changing needs and motivations of volunteers, such as short-term, episodic, and virtual volunteering.
4. Accessible – Victorians of all backgrounds, skills and motivations can access a range of volunteering opportunities, resources and training that suits them.
5. Connecting – volunteering can connect Victorians to their community and create pathways to education, training and work.
6. Recognised and valued – volunteers, both formal and informal, are celebrated and recognised for their contributions.
7. Collaborative – existing and new partnerships within the volunteering ecosystem are strengthened to create more opportunities for all.

Case study

Footnote

[9] Engage.VIC Survey 2021, Community life and volunteering survey. Retrieved from: https://engage.vic.gov.au/

Delivering a volunteering community that supports and benefits Victoria – its people, communities and organisations

This strategy was developed to emphasise the importance of volunteering. Its aim is to reinvigorate and sustain volunteerism in Victoria and to:

• support a connected and inclusive society
• build stronger, more resilient communities
• provide opportunities for people to become more involved in community, through giving their time and expertise.

Removing barriers to inclusion and ensuring access needs to be at the heart of our approach to ensure as many people as possible benefit from volunteering.

Statewide consistency and measures to strengthen and support volunteering are so important so that every volunteer shares similar organisational conditions. The best way to achieve this is through ‘place-based’ approaches that bring together partners from across sectors to support community-led and -designed initiatives towards the community’s desired local outcomes.

A place-based approach recognises that people and places are interrelated. The places where people live, learn, work, play and volunteer have an important role in shaping their health and wellbeing. At their core, place-based approaches are local solutions for a local community, leveraging local strengths.

Formal volunteering needs to be more flexible to respond to the changes people have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. People want more options for how they can take part, including shorter-term and one-off opportunities.

Volunteers need to feel empowered and respected. Within an organisation, volunteers are no different from other employees in this respect. They deserve support and the structures to ensure their experiences are positive. When experiences aren’t positive, there must be effective processes to deal with it.

For many volunteers, taking part is a springboard to a job or retirement. It may be a bridge to their local community. For those engaging in formal volunteering, our goals recognise that well-designed and well-run volunteering can build lifelong skills and create long-term friendships.

All volunteering has intrinsic social and economic value for the community. In formal settings, volunteering has immense benefits for organisations seeking support and volunteers looking to learn and grow.

The contribution that informal volunteering makes must be recognised and valued. Although contributions may often seem small in themselves, together they are critical to maintaining connection and healthy communities.⁶

Connecting and activating communities is an important primary prevention measure for disadvantage, isolation, mental health and at-risk children and families. A culture of informal volunteering is the hallmark of a resilient community. People who have significant others in their lives who volunteer are more likely to volunteer themselves.¹⁰

A successful Victorian volunteering community is one that:

• encourages formal and informal volunteering
• values smaller acts of kindness and support alongside more structured activity.

Large-scale changes have affected the volunteering landscape over recent years. Our shared goals need to therefore be set to maximise meaningful participation. They must also recognise that the volunteer environment now requires greater creativity and flexibility in the way people volunteer.

Opportunities to volunteer may not mean face-to-face activity in every case. The supports for volunteers need to be more sensitive and attuned to changes in people’s views of their personal health and wellbeing while volunteering.

The Strategy will be reviewed and refreshed in 2024 in the context of preparations and planning for the Commonwealth Games and the critical role volunteers will play in success.

Footnotes

[6] Warburton J, McLaughlin D 2005, ‘“Lots of little kindnesses”: Valuing the role of older Australians as informal volunteers in the community’, Ageing and Society, 25(5): 715–730

[10] Ramaekers MJM, Verbakel E, Kraaykamp G 2021, ‘Informal volunteering and socialization effects: examining modelling and encouragement by parents and partner’, Voluntas. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00315-z

Goal one: Making volunteering inclusive and accessible

• VIOs to use a range of inclusive engagement practices and measures to attract, recruit and support a diverse range of people in volunteering opportunities, including:
  • volunteering opportunities advertised through a broad range of networks, in accessible formats and a number of languages
  • face-to-face and digital engagement methods use to engage potential volunteers
  • providing application, screening and induction processes in inclusive, accessible and culturally safe and appropriate formats.
• VIOs to form partnerships with VSOs and organisations with expertise in engaging with diverse communities to build organisational capability, and pathways to volunteering.
• The Victorian Government, in partnership with local governments, to investigate approaches on how to embed support for inclusive volunteering into place-based, local government area and state government strategies.
• Volunteering Victoria, VSOs and VIOs to showcase how actively engaging in partnerships can assist organisations to attract and support volunteering for a broad range of people.
  This includes addressing any barriers to access and participation for Aboriginal Victorians, people from multicultural communities, people with disability and people of all ages, genders, sexualities and localities, and ensuring that volunteering opportunities are culturally safe.
• Volunteering Victoria ensures that the regular State of Volunteering report includes data on a broad set of demographic factors.

Goal two: Making volunteering flexible and easier

• Volunteering Victoria, working with VSOs, to build skills and capability in VIOs through training, resources and best practice examples, to re-engage volunteers in COVIDSafe formats and redesign volunteer roles. This will enable a range of opportunities such as formal structured, semi-structured, episodic and informal opportunities.
• VIOs and volunteering community to use available online and community resources to deliver training and support to their volunteers. For example, VSOs, peak bodies, VPSC and Justice Connect.
• The Victorian Government promote the value of using a range of methods including available online platforms to improve access and support for volunteers and streamline the management and leadership of volunteers.
• VIOs to provide access to a variety of volunteering opportunities and service delivery methods. These include face-to-face and online opportunities, as well as other formats based on the needs of volunteers and support available from local organisations including VSOs.

Goal three: Supporting volunteers to be resilient, supported and empowered

• VIOs to make volunteering a strategic priority for their organisations.
• VIOs to apply organisational policies and practices to their volunteer workforce equal to that of their other staff, including:
  • recruitment and onboarding processes
  • health and wellbeing measures
  • professional development, training and other supports
  • grievances and complaints processes
  • adherence to practice standards and guidelines such as the new Child Safe Standards.
    This includes ensuring resources and supports are offered in a range of accessible and culturally safe and responsive formats.
• Managers and leaders of volunteers to be aware of and encourage volunteers to use online platforms to access free support and training. These include psychological first aid training and other relevant supports.
• Volunteering Victoria to promote uptake of the national standards and practice guidelines among VIOs through workshops and other engagement with the volunteering community.
• VIOs to use organisations with expertise in governance including Justice Connect and Victorian Public Sector Commission that provide resources and training to strengthen volunteering leadership.
• The Victorian Government to work with Aboriginal organisations and/or communities to identify and support self-determined actions aimed at recognising and strengthening volunteering within Aboriginal communities.

Goal four: Creating volunteering connections and pathways

• The Victorian Government to encourage innovative approaches to strengthen pathways for a broad range of Victorians including disadvantaged Victorians such as young people leaving care.
• VIOs and VSOs to establish partnerships with the private sector, government and non-government organisations to develop volunteering programs in corporate settings and defined pathways to jobs, education and retirement for volunteers.
• VIOs to investigate ways to strengthen connections with a broad range of community members by creating partnerships with other organisations. These include youth-focused organisations, seniors’ groups, Aboriginal-controlled organisations, and other organisations that provide social connections.
• The Victorian Government to promote and motivate young people to engage in volunteering. Examples are through schools, tertiary institutions, youth-oriented services and social media.

Goal five: Ensuring volunteering is recognised and celebrated

• The Victorian Government to review and reimagine the current volunteering awards. This forms part of developing a comprehensive and coordinated engagement and communication strategy at the statewide and local levels.
• The Victorian Government to raise the profile of informal volunteers and their contributions through promoting and encouraging the celebration of informal volunteering using dynamic engagement platforms such as social media.
• The Victorian Government to investigate approaches for understanding more about informal and community volunteering. This will help capture it in volunteering statistics, grants and awards.
• The Victorian Government, in partnership with Volunteering Victoria, to develop approaches to measuring the cost and impact of volunteering. This will include for the volunteer themselves, the person or organisation they are supporting, the local area and the community more broadly.

The success of volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) relies not just on volunteers being motivated to volunteer in the first place, but also being motivated to sustain their volunteering efforts over time.

To deliver inclusive volunteering and broaden and diversify the volunteering community, engagement must also be inclusive. For some groups, such as young people, digital tools such as social media are critical, for others face-to face engagement is essential. Regardless, engagement must be authentic and genuine to deliver higher and sustained engagement levels.¹¹

Of fundamental importance to achieving inclusive and accessible volunteering is to work towards greater cultural understanding and a shared definition of what it means to volunteer.

Volunteering fosters social connection and inclusion. It helps to strengthen the fabric of our society. For members of newly arrived communities, for example, volunteering can offer opportunities to experience Australian workplace culture. This will increase their social and community connections.

This is closely associated with achieving Goal five: Ensuring volunteering is recognised and celebrated and requires informal and formal volunteering to be integrated. We need to incorporate the concept of community-giving. This is more closely aligned with First Nations peoples and multicultural communities’ perceptions of volunteering.

In formal settings, organisations and managers may need to adapt to ensure they create inclusive environments to support the needs of all volunteers. Creating and adapting roles that consider the strengths, interests and expertise of volunteers will help ensure volunteering is welcoming to everyone. (This also referred to as a ‘person-centred’ approach.) This is no matter their age, background, skill levels or abilities. This will require a broad range of resources and training to be available for managers of volunteers.

In ensuring volunteering is inclusive and accessible to all Victorians, some barriers may need to be overcome. For example, the volunteering community has reported more people with disability looking for volunteer opportunities than there are suitable roles. Often, this is because organisations do not feel prepared to recruit and provide the required support to volunteers with disability.¹²

Volunteers in regional Victoria face different challenges from metropolitan volunteers. These include ageing and declining populations and higher costs linked to distance and limited transport options. This can present significant challenges to VIOs, particularly in recruiting and managing volunteers. Often these organisations play a vital role in delivering essential services to their communities. Continuity and sustainability are therefore of great importance.

The basis of this strategy is that all Victorians deserve the opportunity to reap the benefits of volunteering. These benefits are both for themselves and for their community. This is regardless of their background, abilities, culture, language, gender, age, sexuality or location.

Supporting everyone to volunteer in ways that consider their needs and goals requires the leaders of volunteers developing the right skills to do so effectively. By striving for greater understanding and responsiveness, VIOs can break down barriers to volunteering across a range of demographics and cohorts.

Focusing on place-based supports, such as through Volunteer support organisations (VSOs), will help smaller VIOs create inclusive volunteering opportunities that respond to the needs of their local area. This support will tie in with online services in training, volunteer matching and access for IT-literate volunteers.

Priority outcomes

• Volunteers and volunteering opportunities represent the breadth of the Victorian community.
• Socioeconomic and structural factors and discrimination relating to culture, ethnicity, religion, Aboriginality, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation that present barriers to taking part are reduced to support opportunities for a broader range of community members.
• Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) employ inclusive engagement strategies to broaden and diversify the range of people recruited and maintained as volunteers in their organisations.
• Partnerships between VIOs and organisations with specialist expertise in diverse communities to provide pathways to volunteering and to increase the capacity of VIOs.

Priority actions

• VIOs to use a range of inclusive engagement practices and measures to attract, recruit and support a diverse range of people in volunteering opportunities, including:
  • volunteering opportunities advertised through a broad range of networks in accessible formats and a number of languages,
  • face to face and digital methods used to engage potential volunteers,
  • providing application, screening and induction processes in inclusive, accessible and culturally safe and appropriate formats.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• VIOs to form partnerships with VSOs and organisations with expertise in engaging with diverse communities to build organisational capability, and pathways to volunteering.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• The Victorian Government, in partnership with local governments, to investigate how to embed support for inclusive volunteering in place-based, local government area and state government strategies.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 5.

• Volunteering Victoria, VSOs and VIOs to showcase how actively engaging in partnerships can assist organisations to attract and support volunteering for a broad range of people. This includes addressing any barriers to access and participation for Aboriginal Victorians, people from multicultural communities, people with disability and people of all ages, genders, sexualities, and localities, and ensuring that volunteering opportunities are culturally safe.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 5.

• Volunteering Victoria ensures that the regular State of Volunteering report includes data on a broad set of demographic factors.

This action will be delivered in years 1 and 2.

The face of volunteering in Victoria is changing. Many looking to volunteer are driven by the chance to make a high impact over a short period.¹³

Volunteering that is purposeful and rewarding is central to this strategy.

Our consultation with the volunteering community has highlighted the demand for variety in volunteering opportunities that align with people’s skills, interests and availability. Many view volunteering as an increasingly difficult commitment. Volunteering can be made more attractive by carefully considering the needs and strengths of volunteers, as well as place-based approaches that focus on local area needs and strengths.

To adapt to this environment, Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) will need help to build the skills of their volunteer managers to reimagine how volunteers contribute to their organisations and redesign volunteer roles and recruitment processes to appeal to people with different skill sets, available time and motivations.

The experience of COVID-19 is likely to continue to present an ongoing barrier to volunteering because people’s perceptions of safety have changed. The following will be key to welcoming back and attracting new volunteers as the community learns to live with COVID-19:

• COVIDSafe settings for volunteers
• access to low- or non-contact volunteering opportunities
• noting the concerns of people looking to return to volunteering and providing support.

Technology has seen people connect with one another and adapt to new ways to volunteer – for example, as service delivery moved to online formats. This has transformed how many see and engage with technology. This presents a significant opportunity to reach more volunteers and deliver volunteering opportunities in new ways.

Technology will play a key role in streamlining the recruitment and management of volunteers. Volunteer recruitment has long been a challenge for VIOs. Technology can also transform the volunteering experience by:

• unlocking remote volunteering opportunities
• offering new ways for volunteer managers to coordinate and interact with volunteers.

The ability of VIOs to provide simpler access to flexible volunteering opportunities – including short-term, episodic and virtual – will have a major impact on how they re-engage, recruit and retain volunteers.

Priority outcomes

• Community groups use a range of strategies to effectively connect with volunteers.
• Victorians can volunteer in flexible, short-term, informal and virtual ways that make it easy to give back to their community.
• Recruitment, screening and induction processes match the role and are streamlined where possible.

Priority actions

• Volunteering Victoria, working with Volunteer support organisations (VSOs) to build skills and capability in VIOs through training, resources and best practice examples, to re-engage volunteers in COVIDSafe formats and redesign volunteer roles. This will enable a range of opportunities such as formal structured, semi-structured, episodic, and informal opportunities.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• VIOs and volunteering community to use available online and community resources to deliver training and support to their volunteers. For example, VSOs, peak bodies, Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) and Justice Connect.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• The Victorian Government promote the value of using a range of methods including available online platforms to improve access and support for volunteers and streamline the management and leadership of volunteers.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 5.

• VIOs to provide access to a variety of volunteering opportunities and service delivery methods. These include face-to-face and online opportunities, as well as other formats based on the needs of volunteers and support available from local organisations including VSOs.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

Case study

The chance to make a high impact drives many volunteers. But they often have limited time available to contribute.¹

These volunteers need to feel encouraged by their organisation, with the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge they bring. This will help make their experience and contributions feel purposeful and rewarding.

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised how volunteers build hope and resilience as agents of change. It has shown how volunteering improves lives and strengthens communities. We see resilience of individuals and communities as an ongoing process of adapting to change. This leads to constant change in directions that are important to the people and communities involved. We aim to strengthen resilience and enable people and communities to respond to emergencies and achieve their development goals.

Supporting and strengthening volunteering is key to achieving the strategy’s vision, including through peak bodies, Volunteer support organisations (VSOs) and other organisations that are important sources of training and support for VIOs. Organisations with particular expertise in specialist areas such as inclusion and governance are also critical.

Partnerships between organisations within the volunteering community will provide greater support for VIOs and the wider volunteering community. This will improve governance processes and help make the management of volunteers more professional across the state and will ensure volunteers are aware of and equipped to adhere to and follow relevant and/or mandated standards and practice guidelines in the delivery of services, such as the new Child Safe Standards.

An opportunity also exists to build the skills of VIOs in digital literacy, diversity and inclusion. This will provide a more engaging and empowering experience for volunteers.

Priority outcomes

• Volunteers have safe, effective and rewarding experiences. Their rights and responsibilities are understood and protected.
• Volunteers have the right resources, tools and supports.

Throughout our consultations, we heard that Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) often struggle to afford to train managers of volunteers and to implement strong governance practices. In working towards achieving resilient, supported and empowered volunteers, it is vital that our volunteers can access a range of support services including:

• effective induction, professional development and training
• measures to support their health and wellbeing while volunteering
• professional grievances and complaints processes.

Priority actions

• VIOs to make volunteering a strategic priority for their organisations.
  This action will be delivered in years 1 and 2.
• VIOs to apply organisational policies and practices to their volunteer workforce equal to that of their other staff including:
  • recruitment and onboarding processes
  • health and wellbeing measures
  • professional development, training and other supports
  • grievances and complaints processes
  • adherence to practice standards and guidelines such as the new Child Safe Standards.
    This includes ensuring resources and supports are offered in a range of accessible and culturally safe and responsive formats.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 5.

• Managers of volunteers to be aware of and encourage volunteers to use online platforms to access free support and training. These includes psychological first aid training and other relevant supports.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• Volunteering Victoria to promote uptake of the national standards and practice guidelines among VIOs through workshops and other engagement with the volunteering community.

This action will be delivered in years 1 and 2.

• VIOs to use organisations with expertise in governance including Justice Connect and Victorian Public Sector Commission that provide resources and training to strengthen volunteering leadership.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• The Victorian Government to work with Aboriginal organisations and/or communities to identify and support self-determined actions aimed at recognising and strengthening volunteering within Aboriginal communities.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

Case study

Footnote

[1] State of Volunteering 2020, State of volunteering in Victoria 2020. Retrieved from: https://stateofvolunteering.org.au/victoria/

The benefits of volunteering are far-reaching. They add immense value to Victorian communities and to volunteers themselves.

The act of volunteering helps a person gain a greater sense of personal achievement, development and self-worth. This leads to increased levels of self-reported health and wellbeing. It also reduces symptoms of depression or feelings of social isolation.¹⁴ These benefits transcend culture, age and gender. They can be realised by the volunteer themselves, by those they are helping, or both.

For many people, volunteering can lead to paid work. Through our discussions with volunteers and the volunteering community, we heard there is an opportunity to define pathways more clearly for volunteers. These pathways could be into further education, training and work. Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) have also said they need more support for the leaders of their volunteers. They want to offer skill development, mentoring and networking opportunities.

Many people use volunteering as a way to feel a greater connection to their community. They use it to build social networks and friendships. Often the act of volunteering itself brings purpose and meaning to people’s lives. Personal connections and relationship building are a key driver of volunteering in Victoria.¹⁴

For young people, regular access to opportunities like volunteering can lead to better outcomes for them and their communities. We are invested in seeing young people succeed. We commit to promoting and engaging young people in lifelong volunteering. For young people leaving care settings, these opportunities can be particularly important.

Supporting volunteers is at the foundation of the strategy’s vision. We cannot underestimate the personal benefits of volunteering. These benefits are both through providing pathways to training and jobs and to develop stronger social connections.

Priority outcomes

• Victorians can develop skills and experience and explore new interests through volunteering.
• Volunteering facilitates connections and networks. It offers pathways to education and work and from work to retirement.
• Victorians can add value to their local communities and beyond through a lifetime journey of volunteering.

Priority actions

• The Victorian Government to encourage innovative approaches to strengthen pathways for a broad range of Victorians including disadvantaged Victorians such as young people leaving care.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 5.

• VIOs and volunteer support organisations (VSOs) to establish partnerships with the private sector, government and non-government organisations to develop volunteering programs in corporate settings and defined pathways to jobs, education and retirement for volunteers.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• VIOs to investigate ways to strengthen connections with a broad range of community members by creating partnerships with other organisations. These include culturally and linguistically diverse community groups, youth-focused organisations, seniors’ groups, Aboriginal-controlled organisations, and other organisations that provide social connections.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• The Victorian Government to promote and motivate young people to engage in volunteering. Examples are through schools, tertiary institutions, youth-oriented services and social media.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 5.

Case study

Footnote

[14] Healthdirect 2021, Benefits of volunteering. Retrieved from: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/benefits-of-volunteering

We must recognise and celebrate all volunteering – what volunteers, volunteer leaders and volunteer programs contribute.

This requires that the Victorian community broaden its understanding of volunteering. The community must see and value all forms of volunteering as making an important contribution. This ranges from the smallest gesture exchanged between friends and neighbours, through to the essential role played by emergency management volunteers. Our shared definition of volunteering must consider community-giving and other forms of fluid and flexible volunteering that many First Nations peoples and multicultural communities are highly engaged in.

Although rarely sought by volunteers themselves, recognition is a critical part of a vibrant and strong culture of volunteering. Volunteering is a lot more than donated time. On average, volunteers incur out-of-pocket expenses of $1,497 per year, or $6.69 per volunteer hour.¹

Together with Volunteering Victoria, we will highlight and celebrate the amazing efforts of Victoria’s hard-working volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations.

The impact of volunteering across Victoria is extensive. But the lack of data collection and analysis results in most outcomes going ‘under the radar’. For example, although anecdotally we know that many multicultural communities have high rates of volunteering, the data often suggests lower rates in other parts of the community. Making sure our data collection and analysis is more thorough and inclusive is essential.

Informal volunteering must be captured as part of the volunteering picture. This is particularly so given the strong correlation between the health and resilience of the community and rates of volunteering.

Priority outcomes

• Strong community awareness of volunteering encourages participation and respect for those who volunteer.
• The value and impact of volunteering, in all its forms, is celebrated across communities.

Priority actions

• The Victorian Government to review and reimagine the current volunteering awards. This is part of developing a comprehensive and coordinated engagement and communication strategy at the statewide and local levels.

This action will be delivered in years 1 and 2.

• The Victorian Government to raise the profile of informal volunteers and their contributions. The government will do this through promoting and encouraging the celebration of informal volunteering using collaborative and dynamic engagement platforms such as social media.

This action will be delivered in years 1 to 4.

• The Victorian Government to investigate approaches for understanding more about informal and community volunteering. This will allow it to be captured in volunteering statistics, grants and awards.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 4.

• The Victorian Government, in partnership with Volunteering Victoria, to develop approaches to measuring the cost and impact of volunteering. This will include for the volunteer themselves, the person or organisation they are supporting, the local area and the community more broadly.

This action will be delivered in years 3 to 5.

Case study

Footnote

[1] State of Volunteering 2020, State of volunteering in Victoria 2020. Retrieved from: https://stateofvolunteering.org.au/victoria/

Strengthening our volunteering community is something we have to do in partnership with volunteers, stakeholders, local communities and with critical resources like technology.

We have outlined the important relationships and resources we need to support the strategy’s rollout.

We will continue to consider these as we work to achieve our goals and vision. Some enablers are already in place. Others will need to be developed further to support the volunteering community to:

• meet the challenges it has faced over recent years
• evolve into a forward-looking volunteering community that maximises inclusion and meaningful participation for Victorians.

The priority actions across each strategic goal identifies ways these critical enablers can be enhanced.

People

Members of the volunteering community and people from the broader community are essential to the success of the strategy. Support and recognition of volunteering from the broader community is the starting point for growing and establishing a culture of inclusive volunteering.

Volunteers encourage and support volunteering and one another, as do those who lead and support volunteers in formal settings.

Leadership and governance

Sound governance ensures organisations and programs are effective and sustainable and risks are managed appropriately. Strong and capable leadership will play a critical enabler role that spans each of the strategy’s five strategic goals.

Collaborations and partnerships

Organisations create partnerships and coordinate with one another, share resources, support and information. This will maximise the impact and sustainability of volunteering. Strong partnerships both within and beyond the volunteer community will be essential as we set out to achieve our shared goals.

Technology

Organisations are supported to keep applying new technology and approaches to meet modern volunteer expectations. This will be critical in recruiting volunteers and in ensuring they have the right credentials. It will also support flexible and alternative approaches to volunteering.

Place-based, local approaches

Smaller VIOs are supported to deliver place-based programs that address community needs. These programs will also contribute to their long-term resilience and connectedness. VSOs will play a lead role in delivering support for place-based approaches to volunteering.

Learning and development

Volunteer management leaders and managers of volunteers can access quality professional development pathways. This enabler will be critical in ensuring our volunteers feel supported and empowered.

Resources

Volunteering programs are enabled and thrive with appropriate and sustainable resources and organisational support. Targeted funding will also be crucial to ensuring value is created by and for the volunteering community in a way that strengthens outcomes from volunteering in Victoria.

Specialist services

VIOs rely on specialist services including legal advice, finance advice and business and strategic planning. Skilled volunteers from the community or private sector may also provide these supports. These services help build strong and resilient volunteer organisations and strengthen the volunteering community more broadly.

Evidence and data

A strong evidence base and data analysis supports an advanced understanding of volunteering across communities, organisations and government. It will be important to understand participation in both formal and informal volunteering, and among diverse communities.

Volunteering

This strategy uses Volunteering Australia’s definition of volunteering: ‘time willingly given for the common good and without financial gain’.1 This definition encompasses the broad spectrum of volunteering activities including formal volunteering, informal volunteering, community volunteering and corporate volunteering. It also includes activism and employee volunteering through an organisation.

Formal volunteering

Formal volunteering activities are those undertaken through public, private, non-government and community organisations.

In formal roles, volunteers may have a position description for their work, and might work a set number of hours per week on a roster. Others may also work on longer cycles (such as monthly) and may not have position descriptions but may have a list of duties instead.

Informal volunteering

Informal volunteering takes place outside of an organisation and may include providing support for another person who does not live in the same house, such as a relative or friend.

Many people who undertake informal volunteering do not self-identify as volunteers.

Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs)

Volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) are organisations that provide opportunities for volunteering as part of their operation. They take many forms, ranging from local councils and state government departments to grassroots collectives, community groups and local sports clubs. Some larger entities deliver disability, health and aged care services.

They may be small, unincorporated groups or large national organisations and charities. For-profit entities also contribute in some parts of the sector. State and federal governments, along with philanthropy and business, play a role in funding and supporting volunteer programs and services. Similarly, many different groups and organisations provide volunteering support and capacity building.

Volunteer support organisations (VSOs)

Volunteer support organisations (VSOs) provide information about volunteering to the general public and suggest volunteer positions that suit the needs of those interested in volunteering. They have a local area focus and provide support and capacity building regarding volunteer engagement, management and leadership to small and medium-sized volunteer-involving organisations.

This is similar to but distinct from volunteer resource centres. Together. they are sometimes referred to as volunteer support services, but this term is not used in this strategy.

Place-based approaches

Place-based approaches bring together partners from across sectors to support community-led and -designed initiatives towards the community’s desired local outcomes. A place-based approach recognises that people and places are interrelated. The places where people live, learn, work, play and volunteer have an important role in shaping their health and wellbeing. At their core, place-based approaches are local solutions for a local community, leveraging local strengths.