Hi enews-member,

Welcome to the December edition of our newsletter. This is our last newsletter for the year and what a great year it has been. The team at Volunteering WA would like to wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season and we look forward to working with you again in the new year.

1. International Volunteer Day
2. Homeless Connect success
3. Job Service Provider forum
4. Volunteering WA database update for members
5. UWA Student Guild Hub signing ceremony
6. WACOSS Conference abstracts sought
7. Petition for wage increase
8. Congratulations to...
9. New Subiaco Volunteer Hub
10. Corporate Corner
11. Welcome to new members...
12. December’s hot resource tip!

International Volunteer Day

International Volunteer Day takes place on Saturday 5 December and we look forward to seeing some of you at the Garden Party at Government House on Friday 4 December to celebrate. Thank you to following supporters of the Garden Party celebration event - Department for Communities, GCS, Ferngrove Wines and Government House Establishment.

The Joondalup Volunteer Centre will be hosting a lovely breakfast in Joondalup on Saturday for volunteers and community groups in the area.

International Volunteer Day is a great opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the work of volunteers. Volunteering WA would like to congratulate the 587,800 volunteers in WA and say thank you for everything you do - happy International Volunteer Day.

Homeless Connect success

We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who was involved in Homeless Connect Perth 2009. The event, which took place on Wednesday 25 November, was a great success and enjoyed by all who took part.

Special thanks go to the 150 volunteers who gave their time on the day, the volunteers who were involved in the lead up to the event and those who helped after. A big thank you also to the City of Perth for their partnership and support of the event, to all the event sponsors, to Marija Jelavic for all her hard work coordinating it all, to each of the 60 service providers who came along and to the staff and volunteers at Citiplace Community Centre.

Of course the biggest thanks of all goes to all the 500+ homeless guests for coming along and taking part in the day. We'll provide more information about the day once the evaluation team has had time to do their work.

Thanks to all for creating such a warm, positive and friendly vibe on the day.

Read more about how the day went and see the photos on our website.

Read the West Australian's article here.

Job Service Provider forum

Under the new Job Services Australia contract we are seeing an increase in the number of approaches being made regarding voluntary work activities by Job Service Providers (JSPs). On Thursday 28 January 2010 we will be holding a morning forum to discuss the impact of this on the volunteering sector. The aim of our forum will be to bring together representatives from Centrelink, JSPs and our member organisations to speak to each other, hear exactly what the JSPs have to offer, the process involved, and to look at the impact this type of short term 'volunteering' has on volunteer involving organisations.

More information will be sent out in January but please keep this date free in your diary if you are interested in coming along.

Volunteering WA database update for members

Updating the volunteer positions you have listed with us is about to get easier. The New Year will see the continued development of Volunteering WA's database - Viktor Online. One major change will enable Volunteer Coordinators at member agencies to log on directly to Viktor Online and amend, add and delete their own positions and details.

The system is simple to use and online manuals will be available to guide agencies through the initial process. Short training sessions will also be available.

UWA Student Guild Hub signing ceremony

The UWA Student Guild Council voted unanimously in May 2008 to establish a volunteering program to help students already volunteering and give opportunities for students looking to get involved both on campus and in the community. This great initiative by the student body was celebrated on October 14 with a signing ceremony to formalise the volunteering joint venture between the UWA Student Guild and Volunteering WA. Representatives from the University, VWA, students, councillors, local members of parliament and representatives from other universities witnessed this historical event.

The UWA Student Guild Volunteer Hub will provide students with volunteering opportunities to allow them to make a difference to the local community, to gain new experiences and develop their skills, to meet others, to follow their interests and support causes they care about, to increase their employability, and to enhance the student experience. The partnership is the first of its kind in Australia and we hope with the success of the Hub other universities around the country will follow and engage students in volunteering. A formal launch will take place in February 2010 during O-Week.

Photo shows UWA Student Guild president Dominic Rose with Volunteering WA treasurer Paul Lynch signing the documents at the ceremony

WACOSS Conference abstracts sought

The WACOSS biennial Conference provides for the largest gathering of social service practitioners and policy-makers of its kind, with around 300 participants from across Western Australia. Abstract submissions are encouraged from volunteers and workers in community, business and government sectors, academics and other experts. The Conference committee is interested in applications regarding social policy and social sector considerations.

Click here for more information, including the Conference Themes and Guidelines for Abstracts.

The online abstract submission must be completed by Friday 18 December 2009. (Source, WACOSS newsletter)

Petition for wage increase

Community Employers WA represents not-for-profit employers in the non-government sector of Western Australia and they have launched an online petition on behalf of staff to improve salaries and wages. The Petition, which will be presented to the Western Australian Government, calls for “the Government of Western Australia to increase its funding by 30% to non government, not for profit community services organisations in Western Australia, to increase the capacity of these organisations to pay fair and just wages to their staff and continue to deliver essential community services”.

The petition can be accessed through the Community Employers WA website - www.cewa.org.au.

Congratulations to...

Congratulations go to the Peel and Rockingham Volunteer Resource Centre (VRC) who recently won the Australia Post Community of the Year Award at the 2009 Regional Achievement and Community Awards.

This photo shows Vicki Pollard (left) and Sue Lloyd (right). Vicki has been with the VRC for 5 years and attended the awards event which was held at the Perth Convention Centre. Sue has been a volunteer referral officer with the VRC for 9 years and has been an integral part of the place. Marj Wilson, Peel and Rockingham VRC Manager, said "it was indeed a thrill for us to win and more importantly great promotion for VRC’s across the state".

On the same note congratulations go to Vicki Pollard who has just been announced as the new Peel and Rockingham VRC Manager. Vicki will take over the role from Marj early in the new year. On behalf of all at VWA we pass on our best wishes to Marj in your new endeavours and thank you for all the work you have done over the years, it has truly been a pleasure working with you.

We'd also like to say a big well done to WA Flying Disc who won the award for Volunteer Support at the Sport and Rec Industry Awards 09, held at Burswood recently. Other finalists in the category were Hockey WA and the WA Football Commission.

Congratulations also go to category winners in the 2009 WA Environment Awards including City of Stirling, Conservation Volunteers Australia and Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

New Subiaco Volunteer Hub

City of Subiaco have opened a new Volunteer Hub in the Subiaco Library. Officially launched on November 24 the Hub will open two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's great to see another Volunteer Hub start up in WA and we encourage potential volunteers and community groups in the Subi area to get in touch with them. We send our best wishes to Hub Coordinator Natasha Annan and the team of 9 volunteer referral officers who are all in place raring to go. The Hub's details are below.

Subiaco Volunteer Hub
Subiaco Library
237 Rokeby Road (corner Bagot and Rokeby roads)
Phone: 9237 9222
Email: volunteer@subiaco.wa.gov.au
Hours: Tuesday 10am – 2pm and Thursday 2pm – 6pm

Corporate Corner

Corporate volunteering at Homeless Connect

Corporations in WA made a great contribution to the success of Homeless Connect Perth 2009. Business and organisations from the legal, financial, medical and energy fields sent staff who had volunteered to spend the day at Citiplace Community Centre, helping in activities including meet-and-greet, serving at stalls in the donations tent, and helping with formal evaluation of the day. All the corporate staff had attended training for Homeless Connect.

On other days they are busy earning, but on this Wednesday they were learning. Melusha Robson, of Volunteering WA , says it was encouraging to see that corporate people had shown flexibility in adapting to whatever role was required. “Whatever job they have normally, perhaps well-paid and high-status, they proved they could collect crockery from tables, answer questions from guests choosing from among the donated clothes, and share a meal with homeless people. “This was a great chance for corporate people to connect with the community in the broadest sense. Many told me they enjoyed the day and would volunteer again.”

Report finds increase in charitable giving

The global economic crisis hasn't majorly impacted on the community investment and charitable giving of 42 leading Australian companies including ANZ, Australia Post, Foster’s Group, Mitchell Communications Group and Westfarmers according to the London Benchmarking Group's recent report findings.

The report reveals an 86% increase in company contributions to the community during the 2008/9 financial year however much of this is due to the natural disasters suffered in Australia during this period, including Queensland floods and Victorian bushfires.

The report also found:

• 37,356 employees of the 42 organisations volunteered during company time
• 32.4% of employees were supported by their company to undertake some form of community activity, up from 9%
• Companies have become more strategic in community contributions, moving away form cash donations, down from 62% to 52%
• A greater emphasis was placed on supporting community organisations with in – kind support, up from 20% to 33%

See the LBG website for the full report.:

Welcome to new members...

• Surf Life Saving WA
• Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts Australia (DADAA(WA) Inc)
• 7 Wing Australian Air Force Cadets
• West Australian Assistance Dogs Inc
• Sambanistas Inc

We look forward to working with you.

December’s hot resource tip!

Now operating in WA, goodcompany are specialists in matching skilled professional volunteers with community group needs. Community groups and skilled volunteers in WA can register now on the goodcompany website.