What were the critical issues in volunteering this year?

The annual survey 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.

If you are a volunteer, manager of volunteers or leader in a not-for-profit organisation, start thinking now about what the key issues are for you and your organisation - the greater the volume and diversity of responses we receive, and the more detail they give, the more useful and informative the survey data will be, so we urge you to complete the survey when it comes out and pass it on to your networks.

What the 2006 survey revealed (and some simple solutions...)

Recruitment is still a central issue for most organisations.
Look at the work you have for volunteers and think about which groups within the community these roles are most likely appeal to - in terms of hours, types of tasks, skills needed, and likely motivations. Then identify groups or sectors of the population likely to fit the bill - and market your volunteer program to these groups. You can also look at their needs, and adjust the roles you are offering to make them more attractive to your target volunteers.

Volunteering Australia is currently publishing a series of Subject Guides to recruitment: the general Recruitment Subject Guide will be available later this month, a guide to involving people with a disability in volunteering has just come out, and similar guides are on the way for event volunteering, volunteers from culturally diverse backgrounds, baby boomers and young people.

Most volunteers would value recognition in the form of training and skills development.
Learning new skills is a key reason many people volunteer, and being given new opportunities is one of the reasons they stay on. Enabling volunteers to develop their skills also adds to what they can contribute. This doesn't have to be an expensive process involving formalised in-house training for organisations: there are a number options and pathways now for formal and informal training and for having on-the-job learning formally recognised. For more formal training, use the Trainer's Database to find a trainer in your area, and you could also encourage volunteers to do the Active Volunteering Certificates.

Being able to have flexible hours is important to a majority of volunteers.
Meeting this need might just require a little flexibility and lateral thinking on the part of organisations - if this is an issue for your volunteers, look at the different ways volunteer hours could be structured to still deliver your services or meet your clients' needs.  LINK Community Transport in Coburg, a nab National Volunteer Award winner this year, realised it could meet both its clients' needs and its volunteer drivers' needs by moving from full-day shifts to 4-hour shifts.

Volunteering Australia has responded to these findings by maintaining a strong emphasis on training and by developing more information resources on recruitment and on best practice in volunteer management.

What the 2007 survey will focus on

In the forthcoming annual survey, a number of questions and themes have been retained to enable comparisons over time and to track volunteering trends, but the survey has also been refined to make responding easier. Some new questions have been added - particularly around the role that volunteers feel they have in influencing the activities of the organisation (see Opinion) and on the impact of government policy on volunteering.

The 2nd annual National Survey of Volunteering Issues will come online in late November - there'll be a reminder in the next issue - and will remain open till March 2007. The results will be published during National Volunteer Week in May.