Volunteering - evolution, devolution or revolution?
10th National Conference on Volunteering
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 This 10th National Conference on Volunteering is about change. Change which evolves slowly over time; change which devolves the responsibility for service delivery from governments to the not-for-profit sector; and change which is both dramatic and revolutionary.
Volunteering can be a powerful vehicle of societal change. Volunteers, through their work on committees and boards are responsible for the management of over 320,000 not-for-profit organisations in Australia . It has been variously estimated that the not-for-profit organisations are valued at between five and seven per cent of the gross domestic product. Yet the full extent of the social, economic and cultural contribution of volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations is little understood and still requires extensive research.
The structures of volunteering are also changing. Whereas once to volunteer was perceived as simply a call for action, now there are interviews, forms to fill out, references and checks to be made. There are now greater expectations, demands and compliance obligations, that not-for-profit organisations will successfully manage their financial responsibilities, taxation demands and insurance, as well as the recruitment, retention and training of volunteers.
Volunteers are becoming more assertive. They expect to have adequate insurance cover, to receive the necessary training and perhaps to be compensated for out of pocket expenses. Volunteers want to know what they are to do, why, when and for how long. Managers of volunteers are also calling for change A national agenda on volunteering: beyond the international year of volunteers (VA 2001), a blueprint for future policy, identified the major issues facing the sector and called for them to be addressed by business, government and volunteer-involving organisations.
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Plenary Sessions
Speech to open the 2004 National Conference on Volunteering
Senator The Hon. Kay Paterson,
Minister for Family and Community Services
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women
Invisible Histories: Reclaiming Volunteering and Voluntary Action in Australian History
Melanie Oppenheimer,
School of Humanities, University of Western Sydney
VOLUNTEER PROTECTION VOLUNTEER PROTECTION
PROVISIONS PROVISIONS - Implications Implications and Issues
Myles McGregor Myles McGregor-Lowndes Lowndes
Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies
How the Australian Government Values and Supports
Volunteers in the ever-changing volunteer sector
Glenys Beauchamp, Executive Director,
Community Development & Support Cluster,
Department of Family and Community Services
Volunteers in Emergency Management - A Clearer Focus
David Templeman
Director General
Emergency Management Australia
The Volunteering Marketplace
George Thomson
Volunteer Development Scotland
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