[Date]
[Address eg MP for….]
Dear …..,
Supporting volunteers in the next government
Volunteering Victoria has consulted widely with volunteer stakeholders over the last twelve
months. A number of key issues have been identified.
The pressure of change
There is concern about the capacity of volunteer-involving organisations to remain
sustainable in the face of changes in:
1. Community attitudes to volunteering and changing needs of volunteers for more
flexible volunteering opportunities.
2. Increasing regulation. The volunteering community supports the policy aim of
increasing organisational accountability to community stakeholders and volunteers.
But the practical effect of changes to equal opportunity law, associations law and
proposed safe work laws is that already under-resourced volunteer-involving
organisations are struggling to keep up.
3. Government policy. Recurrent funding and most grant funding for volunteering is
provided by the federal government. The increased pressure from, for instance,
demand for voluntary work from job services programs challenge the capacity of
volunteer-involving organisations. The emphasis on specific social outcomes under
the proposed National Volunteering Strategy will increase this pressure.
The state government policy focus on the volunteering activity of individuals also
challenges volunteer-involving organisations, who are necessary to create and
manage volunteering roles but who receive little targeted support.
The pressure on volunteer-involving organisations to increase their capacity
The above changes mean that volunteer-involving organisations must increase their capacity
to innovate in order to meet the needs of community by continuing to attract volunteers.
Of real concern is the demographic data that shows a clear trend away from volunteering in
traditional areas, now called ‘Community/welfare’. This is down from 26% of volunteering
activity in 2000 to 16% in 2006.
The concurrent increase in sports and recreation volunteering is welcome (from 21% in 2000
to 25% in 2006). But these trends indicate that direct support community programs
accessed by vulnerable community members, such as meals on wheels, community visitors
and Home and Community Care will increasingly struggle to recruit volunteers among busy
community members.
The future
Given all of this, volunteering needs to not only continue to meet current need but look at
how to address the needs of target groups such as youth, marginalised communities, Koori
and new arrival communities. But there is no clear capacity to do this.
Volunteering has demonstrated remarkable flexibility and innovation over the last 100
years. But traditional community volunteering is at risk.
People want to volunteer in different ways and this challenge is embraced by the
volunteering community. But if we lose direct support for volunteer programs our
communities will suffer.
We support the findings of Volunteering Victoria and support implementation of their
recommendations by the next state government.
Recommendation one
Government recognises that to meet the challenge of sustaining traditional areas of
volunteering and to increase response to new target groups, volunteer-involving
organisations need more practical, targeted support. The aim is to promote a culture of
adaptability and innovation.
Recommendation two
Move from a predominant focus on individual volunteers to a focus on volunteering’s broad
social function. The aim should be to promote sustainable volunteer programs by
supporting volunteer-involving organisations who run them. Sustainable volunteering
needs to be planned for and this requires a focus beyond individual volunteers’ activities.
Recommendation three
Make support for volunteering a required element in social service planning. Sectors such
as local government and much of the not-for-profit sector rely on volunteering. Many
service systems have significant sector plans that don’t, or barely, address the role of
volunteering.
In summary, volunteering is asking for the kind of support we have been giving to Victoria
for 150 years. Given the forces of change we need to respond to, the time for support is
now. For inquiries contact [insert your preferred contact details]
Yours sincerely
[Your name/signature]