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Volunteering Tasmania is pleased to submit the Budget Priority Statement for the 2019–2020 Tasmanian Government budget process. This submission is made on behalf of the volunteering sector in this state. It has been informed through formal consultations with volunteer managers to understand the issues and challenges of the volunteer sector, and builds on feedback received regularly through Volunteer Tasmania’s bi-monthly network meetings with volunteer managers.

Whether it be fighting bushfires, cleaning up after floods, delivering meals to the elderly, or helping in our schools, volunteers can be seen just about everywhere you look. Many organisations rely heavily on volunteers to execute services or programs for the Tasmanian community that contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Tasmanians are exceptionally generous with their commitment and contribution to volunteering. The State of Volunteering Report 2014 shows that 4 in 5 Tasmanians volunteer their time. The report estimates that collectively Tasmanians contribute $4.9 billion in cultural and economic value to the state per annum. This is more than 7.1 million hours of volunteer time each year.

However, similar to trends in human resource management, volunteering has evolved and is becoming more sophisticated. Contemporary trends indicate that individuals are time-poor and are more likely to engage in episodic, micro, virtual or corporate volunteering. This is changing the way in which volunteer-involving organisations need to engage with potential and existing volunteers. The volunteering sector acknowledges that more work needs to done to professionalise its approach to volunteer management. They recognise that if they are aligned to best practice in volunteer management they will be better positioned to respond efficiently and effectively to the needs of both volunteers and organisations. The Australian National Standards for Volunteering set out a series of guidelines and principles for volunteer involving organisations to best support their volunteers.

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We therefore would welcome the State Government’s investment in establishing the Volunteer Management Development Program: Using the National Standards for Volunteering as a foundation, Volunteering Tasmania will train 24-30 Tasmanian volunteer-involving organisations to build best-practice volunteer management frameworks to better recruit, manage and retain their volunteers. This will include strong peer-mentoring to strengthen organisational practice. This training framework will be adapted and evaluated to continue to support Tasmanian volunteer-involving organisations into the future. Volunteering Tasmania recommends that the Tasmanian Government invests $200,000 over the 2019-20 financial year for Volunteering Tasmania to establish the Volunteer Management Development Program.

Such an investment would lead to long-term financial and social benefits to the state’s economy. This program will continue to build an inclusive Tasmania where everyone has the opportunity to participate and thrive. The government priorities addressed through this initiative are; building a stronger economy through pathways to employment, supporting essential services through the volunteer workforce, volunteer emergency services that keep Tasmanians safe, maintaining the Tasmanian way of life through strong participation in sport, services, arts and culture, as well as building community connection and social networks; all through the power of volunteering.

Dr Lisa Schimanski Chief Executive Officer 75 Federal St North Hobart TAS 7000 (03) 6231 5550 0408 564 841 lisas@volunteeringtas.org.au

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Volunteering Tasmania (VT) is the peak body for volunteering in Tasmania. We are currently celebrating our 25th year.

Our vision at VT is to be leaders in volunteering in Tasmania and our purpose is to help all Tasmanians experience the

benefits of volunteering. This is underpinned by the values of volunteerism, commitment to people, professionalism,

leadership and community.

VT delivers on its strategy in four focus areas:

1. Volunteer engagement

2. Advocacy and policy

3. Volunteer sector development

4. Profile and reputation

VT promotes positive, productive and rewarding volunteer experiences. We provide an online volunteer recruitment

database and have a dedicated team of volunteers that provide face-to-face and telephone volunteer referral

services. We also attend community events state-wide to support and encourage the public to take part in

volunteering. As part of celebrating volunteers, VT hosts the annual Tasmanian Volunteer Awards.

VT advocates and champions volunteering to a range of stakeholders, engaging them to influence positive outcomes

for volunteers in Tasmania. We are regularly involved in research and in the development of resources for both

volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations.

VT works closely with Tasmanian volunteer-involving organisations to help build their capacity to recruit and retain

volunteers and provide professional volunteer management programs. We provide training through Volunteer

Management Network meetings, dedicated aged and disability service provider forums, and an annual Volunteering

Symposium. VT also provides dedicated training programs for volunteering professionals.

VT raises public awareness and promotes volunteer recognition through the celebration and promotion of key events.

These include National Volunteer Week, National Student Volunteer Week, International Volunteer Day and

International Volunteer Managers Day. Our focus is to build our profile and reach to reinforce the importance of

volunteers to our community

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Volunteering Tasmania proposes that the Tasmanian Government invest in establishing a Volunteer Management Development Program. This program would be a pilot initiative to strengthen the capability and capacity of volunteer managers by aligning their volunteer management strategies to the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement. This recommendation is made in consultation with volunteer-involving organisations in Tasmania (See Appendix I).

That the Tasmanian Government invest $200,000 to establish a pilot Volunteer Management Development Program to support volunteer managers to work in collaboration with other organisations who involve volunteers, to strengthen capability and capacity in Tasmania’s volunteer sector.

When an organisation enters into an employment relationship with an individual, they must legally protect an employee by complying with obligations and entitlements of the Fair Work Act, Awards and Enterprise Bargaining Agreements, and the National Employment Standards. All organisations must have systems and processes in place to comply with these requirements. Volunteers are a workforce that sit alongside paid employees but do not have the same protections under law. Many organisations do not have structures established to support the contribution of their volunteers. The National Standards for Volunteer Involvement (2015) were established by Volunteering Australia—the national peak body for volunteering—in consultation with state bodies and key stakeholders. The Standards identify eight key elements that help organisations provide good practice and benchmarks to assist organisations attract, manage and retain volunteers. The Standards also help to ensure the rights of volunteers are protected and that they are supported to carry out their roles and responsibilities.

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The eight components of the National Standards are:

1. Leadership and management 2. Commitment to volunteer involvement 3. Volunteer roles 4. Recruitment and selection 5. Support and development 6. Workplace safety and wellbeing 7. Volunteer recognition 8. Quality management and continuous improvement

The ability to embed these standards into their culture and practice is an ongoing challenge for many organisations.

The Volunteer Management Development Program will provide training and establish or refine organisational volunteer management practices. It will also enable development of a community of practice with peer-to-peer mentoring. Through the Program, organisations and individuals will develop greater skills and knowledge in volunteer management. It will also embed the importance of volunteer management through organisations from the executive through to the front-line, and strengthen partnerships with other organisations who can provide information, assistance, and support.

To build capability and capacity in Tasmanian volunteer-involving organisations and the personnel who are responsible for the coordination and management of volunteers.

To support volunteer managers to: understand current and emerging models of volunteering shape how their organisation understands and works with its volunteers support their volunteers in ethical, safe and meaningful practice.

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The Program will assist volunteer-involving organisations to ensure that volunteer managers are able to:

maximise the benefits of volunteerism for both the organisation and individual

effectively develop and manage volunteer involvement strategies and practices

protect the rights of volunteers so that they can carry out their roles and responsibilities in a safe environment.

Organisations will participate in this program across three regions of the state. South, North and North-West Tasmania.

The program will involve organisations from a diverse range of sectors: o community sector o sport o emergency services o arts and culture o environment o employment o education o recreational and service clubs

Each region will have 16-20 participants, 2 each from 8-10 organisations. One participant will be the volunteer coordinator and the other a member of the organisation’s senior executive. It’s important for two members of each organisation to participate in this program to ensure that there is buy-in from the organisation’s leadership team and to create a greater impact over a shorter period of time.

A Volunteering Tasmania facilitator will lead a series of workshops over a 6-month period, working through the National Standards for Volunteering and assisting each organisation to build or refine their own volunteer management framework.

Volunteering Tasmania will establish a community of practice in each region for participants to work together to continue to improve their volunteer management practices.

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The estimated cost: $200,000. This figure is comprised of the design, implementation and delivery of the program, including engaging a Project Manager/Facilitator, development of the training program and materials, venues, travel and accommodation, continued support of the organisations beyond the 6-month training period, adaptation and evaluation of the training framework.

Establishing the Volunteer Management Development Program will ensure that the Tasmanian volunteering sector has sustainable volunteer management that is aligned to national best practice ethics and values.

24-30 organisations across the state will have practices and strategies within their organisations to better attract and support a productive and engaged volunteer workforce.

a volunteer management training framework based on the National Volunteering Standards, that can be used to support volunteer-involving organisations into the future.

Volunteering Tasmania acknowledges and commends the State Government for its commitment to volunteers through its investment in the Safeguarding Volunteering – Securing Tasmania's Future project, to future-proof the volunteering sector in our state. This project builds on the Safeguarding project, it moves us from mapping and projecting future volunteering needs and developing plans at a community level to working within organisations to strengthen their practices and frameworks.

The Volunteer Management Development Program aligns seamlessly with VT’s strategic focus of volunteer sector development; through the development of the training framework and peer mentoring to strengthen volunteer management practices. This in addition supports the strategic focus area of volunteer engagement; the more professionalised our volunteer management the greater our ability to attract and retain volunteers, providing them with a meaningful and productive volunteering opportunity.

Volunteer Involving Organisation, 2018 Consultation

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The Government priorities addressed through this program are to continue to build an inclusive Tasmania where everyone has the opportunity to participate and to thrive.

Volunteering supports:

a stronger economy and assists people along their pathway to employment

essential services such as community services, health and education by providing an additional workforce

keeping Tasmanians safe through the volunteer emergency services

our Tasmanian way of life through participation in sport, services, arts and culture

community connection and social networks for people vulnerable to loneliness and isolation

Tasmania’s most important infrastructure—our people.

The State of Volunteering Report 2014 indicates that the socio-economic and cultural value of volunteering to Tasmania in 2014 was conservatively estimated to be $4.9 billion. By investing in this model, the Tasmanian Government will enable organisations that use volunteers to be better positioned to achieve their strategic goals and aims to deliver critical services and programs to the Tasmanian community.

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Member organisations were engaged using an action facilitation process that centred around three basic questions:

1. What’s working well? 2. What’s not working well? 3. How do we bridge the gap?

The forums conducted by Volunteering Tasmania with our volunteer-involving organisations were critical in ensuring that the challenges and concerns of volunteerism in Tasmania were a true, representative voice of the sector.

Volunteering Tasmania heard very clearly that more work needs to be done to build the capability and capacity of volunteer managers in Tasmania. There are three key themes that Volunteering Tasmania heard from the consultation forums:

Volunteer Management Volunteer managers champion volunteer involvement to the organisation's leadership and management team. Volunteer managers want to understand how to increase participation and strengthen the internal culture towards volunteering through the implementation of an effective management system to help attract, retain and develop volunteers within their organisations. Workforce Planning The common thread in successful volunteer programs appears to be an organisation that has an appreciation and the required time to undertake workforce planning. Understanding future workforce needs to implement activities that ensure an organisation is being proactive rather than reactive. Organisational Development The whole-of-organisation commitment to volunteer involvement is essential to build an inclusive culture surrounding volunteer involvement. Volunteer managers indicated that they would value the opportunity to work strategically on ensuring that an organisation’s risk management processes are applied to the organisation’s volunteer involvement, and that policies and procedures are implemented to support volunteer involvement effectively.

Volunteer Involving Organisation, 2018 Consultation

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Participants of the forum highlighted the importance of volunteers to their organisations. While volunteers can provide the time, skills, and expertise to help organisations meet their objectives, volunteer managers provide leadership and direction to the thousands of volunteers in Tasmania to make sure that the rights and responsibilities of volunteers are protected within regulatory frameworks such as work, health and safety, and human resource considerations. Despite their best efforts, many organisations are finding it particularly challenging to attract, recruit and retain volunteers and to meet best practice for volunteer involvement. Furthermore, most organisations said that they do not have the financial capacity to undertake this development work independently, and would benefit immensely from engaging and collaborating with similar organisations.

Hydro Tasmania

Migrant Resource Centre

RMIT University

Scouts Tasmania

South East Community Care

St John Ambulance

Tennis Tasmania

Volunteers

Australian Institute of Emergency Management & Returned

Servicemen’s League

Hospice Care Association

Lions (Tasmania)

Mersey Community Care Association Inc.

Outreach Op Shop Ulverstone

Riding for the Disabled

St John Ambulance

Wyndarra Centre

Volunteer Involving Organisation, 2018 Consultation