Hi e-news member,

Welcome to the May edition of our newsletter. With National Volunteer Week just around the corner we would like to wish you all the best with your upcoming celebrations, we know there is certainly a lot happening throughout WA during the week.

1. National Volunteer Week
2. 2008 National Volunteer Week breakfast
3. Policy forum: Insurance issues - feedback
4. Volunteer management training a big success
5. 20^th birthday celebrations
6. Employee volunteering
7. Visiting Volunteers update
8. Enhancing Access update
9. Community presentations in WA
10. Vita activa on ABC radio
11. Burmese volunteering bus trip
12. Congratulations to The Cancer Council
13. Keeping volunteers: a guide to retention
14. 2020 Summit update
15. Welcome to new members
16. Farewell and welcome..
17. May's hot resource tip!

National Volunteer Week

May 12 - 18 is fast approaching. Thank you to everyone who let us know what plans they have for during the week. We have passed the information on to our media person and will get back to you if we need more details. There is a huge amount going on in WA and we’ve listed some of these events on our website to give you all an idea of how much there is happening. Take a look here.

If you want more information on National Volunteer Week then see the Volunteering Australia website, certificates and other downloads can be found here.

Volunteering WA would like to acknowledge and thank Lotterywest for once again generously supporting National Volunteer Week 2008. Through a Lotterywest grant auspiced by Volunteering WA, 23 Volunteering Resource Centres located across the state will have the opportunity to promote their services and highlight the positive contribution of volunteers in their community. The valued partnership of Lotterywest enables us all to build stronger communities through volunteering.

2008 National Volunteer Week Breakfast

This year’s NVW breakfast will be held on Monday 12 May at the Sheraton Hotel from 7.30am to 9am. Places filled up quickly and we thank you all for the great response. We’ve all been working hard to make sure this will be a great event. To those of you who are attending we look forward to seeing you and your volunteers on the day.

Policy forum: Insurance Issues - feedback

In response to community sector interest in the increasingly important issue of volunteers being protected whilst performing volunteer roles and community organisations being able to access affordable insurance coverage for volunteers, VWA and the Office for Seniors Interests and Volunteering (Department for Communities) hosted a policy forum to identify and address issues and concerns in Western Australia’s voluntary sector. Invited industry representatives addressed a large group on:

• Overview of current legislation
• Parameters of the insurance arrangements of WA government agencies (including compulsory motor vehicle insurance)
• Parameters of the insurance policies owned by local government authorities
• A case study
• Approaches to sector insurance in the national and international scene

Martin J Cowling facilitated this forum and assisted the group to identify a number of key issues for next steps:

• Peak Body needs to intensify insurance advocacy/lobbying
• Investigate possibility of Government funded insurance scheme for volunteers
• Set up help line/advisory centre for insurance advice
• Encourage more positive attitude from volunteer organisations to insurance issues
• Provide more regular training for organisations and standard information packs on insurance for volunteers

As the Peak Body for volunteering in WA, VWA has been given a clear mandate to respond to sector concerns and take the next steps. VWA is committed to a satisfactory and positive outcome on the issue of insurance in the volunteering sector including an investigation of various models of insurance cover for volunteers and volunteer involving organisations.

For their support and contribution, we wish to acknowledge:

City of Melville – Heather Whitebrook, Warren Thornton, Rhys Spencer
State Solicitor’s Office – John Young
State Government Insurance Commission, RiskCover – Don Williams
Local Government Insurance Services – Brian Eckhart
ACI Broking Ltd – Mike Newbigin
Department for Communities Office for Senior’s Interests and Volunteering – Rosita D’Adamo
Volunteering Sector representative – Nicola Schuman (Melville VRC)
Volunteers’ representative – Avril Mulcahy (Melville Cares)
Volunteering WA - Mara Basanovic
People First Total Solutions – Martin J Cowling

And a thank you to everyone who attended on the day.

Volunteer management training a big success

Approximately 50 managers and coordinators of volunteers from VWA member organisations recently attended two workshops dealing with topical and challenging issues: From obsession to profession and Creating a pro-volunteer culture. Facilitated by Martin J Cowling, CEO of People First Total Solutions and international trainer, the workshops were full of sharing, learning, innovation and humour and enhanced by Martin’s global perspective and insightful story-telling! Participants (with a combined total of over 300 years volunteer management experience!) addressed a range of contemporary issues and were able to explore strategies and devise plans of action for future outcomes.

Rumour has it that Martin scored a feedback rating of 9.5 out of 10!

20^th birthday celebrations

Thank you to everyone who took part in our birthday celebrations, whether it was the workshops, the insurance forum or the reception, it was lovely to see faces of the past, present and future together. Here’s to the next 20 years!

We were very honoured to be joined by Sheila Weigard (above), VWA’s first ever volunteer back in 1988

Employee volunteering

During the last six weeks, 120 employees have offered to volunteer their services to organisations through our employee volunteering program. They have, or will be involved in renovations/painting, planting, establishing vegetable gardens, wildlife protection, building a wall to protect an historical cemetery, general maintenance in and around gardens for the frail and elderly, and more. These projects have been designed to be completed by small groups within a day, which gives the volunteers a wonderful sense of achievement.

We are delighted with the results so far, and while currently being reactive to the interest from Corporations, employee volunteering is growing, and we anticipate we will be happily meeting supply and demand. The process is time consuming, and patience is essential when establishing dates, project choice, number of volunteers etc. If you have a project you would like to put forward, or if you would like to discuss a potential idea please let Anne know – anne@volunteeringwa.org.au.

Visiting Volunteers update

The regular winter exodus to the warmer Northern regions of WA has already begun and the Visiting Volunteers team has been kept busy with arranging volunteer placements. Shires and towns where placements have already been organised – some having commenced - include Carnarvon, Denham, Dongara, Northampton and Wyndham. Numerous others are currently being finalised and several potential volunteers have requested project information and are in the enjoyable planning phase of their trip.

Enhancing Access update

The Enhancing Access team is working hard to spread awareness about the great contribution that people with barriers to volunteering can make in organisations. Like any volunteer position it is important to find the right person for the job and offer support when needed. The EA team is available to assist with the orientation and sign up process, and even accompany your new volunteer on their first volunteering experience. As always, Disability Awareness training is available to employees and volunteers. Contact VWA today if you would like to open your doors to a committed group of volunteers!

Community presentations in WA

VWA staff are out and about presenting to Training Centres, TAFE, private and public corporations. If we are in your area we take active/urgent/event positions with us and promote them as a priority. Just another way we hope we can assist you with volunteer recruitment.

Vita Activa on ABC radio

Vita Activa was so successful last year that the ABC are running another series on Radio National's Life Matters from Monday 28 April for an 8 week season. The shows are also available to podcast so you can download them and listen at your leisure - http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2008/2223358.htm

The first topic is "voluntourism". The other topics include:

• the role of governments in supporting volunteering
• volunteering and the internet & gen y
• migrant volunteers
• volunteer management
• animals & volunteering
• social enterprises
• volunteering for the Beijing Olympics

These topics aren't set in stone and could change depending on current events but give you some idea of what's planned. It is also planned to have a panel discussion on Friday 16 May as part of Life Matters’ Friday talkback sessions (which takes up the whole Life Matters program and includes listener participation) and this will coincide with National Volunteer Week. Thanks to Volunteering Australia for the information.

Burmese volunteering bus trip

On Tuesday 22 April Volunteering WA’s Enhancing Access to Volunteering for CaLD Communities Project took a group of 20 Karen women, children and youth from Burma on a bus trip where they visited a number of volunteer organisations. Most of the group have recently arrived in the past few years and now call Perth their home.

The aim of the bus trip was to introduce the group to volunteering in Perth. Four volunteer organisations were visited:

• SES Belmont branch;
• Volunteer Taskforce;
• St Johns Ambulance First Aid Post in Belmont; and
• Riverview Church Car Mechanics Program.

The group had the opportunity to see first hand the types of roles volunteers undertook within each organisation. The day was an outstanding success with both organisations and the tour participants benefiting greatly from the experience.

Congratulations to The Cancer Council

VWA would like to pass on congratulations to The Cancer Council who this year celebrate 50 years serving the community in the support of Western Australians living with cancer. From the date of doors opening till now volunteers have been the connector interwoven into the fabric of their organisation.

Congratulations on your 50 years.

Keeping volunteers: A guide to retention

Steve McCurley and Rick Lynch have once again provided a thoughtful, easy-to-read, and totally practical book on a subject of critical interest to every volunteer program manager. Keeping Volunteers focuses on demonstrated methods for enhancing volunteer retention and commitment. Effective volunteer programs of the future will worry more about maintaining the involvement of the volunteers they already have rather than waging continuous and expensive recruitment campaigns. Are you keeping volunteers engaged for the long haul?

Chapters cover the basic rules of retention, how to make volunteers feel special and part of a team, handling volunteer burnout, moving people from short-term to long-term service, and more – even how to release a volunteer from service!

Electronic and print versions available for purchase through www.ozvpm.com

2020 Summit update

While no specific representative from the national or state volunteering sector was invited to attend the summit a combined national and state paper on volunteering was submitted and volunteering was brought up in a number of focus areas, including an idea for tertiary students to work off their HECS debts through volunteering. Whilst the idea is worthy of consideration and state and national bodies were pleased that volunteering was brought to the table for discussion, the HECS idea needs further investigation.

Welcome to new members:

• Anglican Parish of Canning

We look forward to working with you…

As reported last month the UWA Student Guild joined VWA and we are pleased to advise that we are already working together. A presentation on volunteering is being given on 12 May to UWA students who reside at Currie Hall. We are very pleased to be working more closely with tertiary institutions this year and aim to assist them with their volunteering needs. We know that the "Y-generation" is a significant and growing volunteer group and have a willingness and commitment to "give something back and make a difference".

Look out for the table of student volunteers at this year's National Volunteer Week breakfast!

Farewell and welcome..

Kris Robertson has resigned from the VWA Board of Directors due to work and family commitments. Kris has been a board member with us since 2005 and has been a voice for regional Western Australia. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Kris for her contribution and wish her well in her future endeavours.

And a big welcome to Maurene Palmer who has joined the VWA team as Executive Support Officer. Maurene come to VWA from the government sector and provides executive support for the Board and senior management team. Along with the admin team Maurene also provides support and structure for the smooth and efficient operation of the VWA office. Some of you may recognise her name from your breakfast invites!

May's hot resource tip!

The Bank of IDEAS believes that communities need to build from ‘the inside out’, and for their residents to invest themselves, ideas, assets, capabilities and resources in the process. Amongst its many excellent resources is 45 ways to recognise volunteers – just a few more ideas for us as we head into National Volunteer Week!