Feedback on the Draft National Sport Volunteer Strategy September, 2011 Volunteering Australia 2009
Acknowledgements Volunteering Australia wishes to acknowledge that this is a joint response between Volunteering Australia, Volunteering Tasmania and Volunteering Victoria Submitted By: Amanda Everton National Manager Education, Policy and Research Volunteering Australia Suite 2, Level 3, 11 Queens Road Melbourne 3004 Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 2 of 9
Table of Contents 1 Introduction... 4 2 Priority Area 1 Attracting Volunteers to Sport... 5 2.1 Encouraging new volunteers... 5 2.2 Making entry of new volunteers simple... 6 3 Priority Area 2 Supporting Volunteers... 7 4 Priority Area 3 Collecting and Sharing Information... 8 5 Priority Area 4 Recognising and Valuing Sport Volunteers... 8 6 Priority Area 5 Building Capacity of Sporting Organisations to Support Volunteers... 8 6.1 Resources for sporting organisations... 9 7 Additional s... 9 Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 3 of 9
1 Introduction Volunteering Australia (VA) welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the Draft National Sport Volunteer Strategy, alongside Volunteering Victoria (VV) and Volunteering Tasmania (VT) who have jointly contributed to this submission. The volunteering sector is committed to working with the sport and recreation sector for the benefit of the community and supports the development of the National Sport Volunteering Strategy. The following feedback from VV and VT is evident of the support from the volunteering infrastructure: Volunteering Victoria is supportive of a greater active participation of the sport sector in the volunteering community. We look forward to greater collaboration and the mutual benefit that can be gained from this. Volunteering Tasmania strongly supports the vision and priorities of the National Sport Volunteer Strategy (NSVS) and supports actions to attract, support, recognise and value volunteers in sport. Research conducted by VT in 2010 indicates that over 40% of volunteer-involving sport and recreation organisations in the state require more volunteers for growth and around one-quarter require more volunteers just to replace normal turnover In Volunteering Australia s 2010 National Survey of Volunteering Issues, we identified that volunteer-involving organisations are facing increasing challenges, particularly: Changing needs and expectations of volunteers and community members who benefit from their activities; Building the capacity of volunteers, the organisation s own ability to engage, support and value volunteers, and the capacity of communities the organisation serves; and Attracting and keeping the resources required to support volunteers, including meeting the increasing regulations required for organisations to manage risk and to be accountable to governments and the public. With these things in mind, we applaud the work undertaken to develop a National Sport Volunteer Strategy. It is important to remember that volunteering does not come without cost. It requires a well resourced and professionally run infrastructure to ensure sustainability and continuous development. Volunteer infrastructure consists of those organisations whose primary purpose is the provision of organisational support and development, resource development, coordination, representation and promotion to front-line community and statutory organisations that use volunteers in the delivery of services. In Australia this infrastructure includes national and state peak bodies, regional cluster networks and alliances, local Volunteer Resource Centres (VRC s) and other promotional and referral agencies. We believe that greater collaboration between the volunteering infrastructure organisations and the sport and recreation sector is vital in ensuring the success of the National Sport Volunteer Strategy. The format of the remainder of this submission incorporates the direct feedback received from both Volunteering Victoria and Volunteering Tasmania and their comments on relevant priority areas Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 4 of 9
identified within the NSVS, as well as comments against specific action items demonstrating the range of resources already available. 2 Priority Area 1 Attracting Volunteers to Sport Volunteers are essential to the ongoing sustainability of sport within Australia, and identifying strategies to engage new volunteers is critical. Volunteering Tasmania strongly supports the action to encourage new volunteers into sport and to make the entry of those new volunteers as simplistic as possible. VT suggests that the key role of personal connections and/or matching services in individuals finding volunteer roles at the state and local level are incorporated into this section. Without having those connections and matching services in place, the actions to encourage new volunteers may not translate into practical outcomes in the form of an increase in sport volunteers. Research conducted by VT in 2010 indicates that non-volunteers are most likely to find a volunteer role through the internet or a state peak body, highlighting the importance of online services and state peak bodies in linking potential volunteers with volunteer roles. An exciting development recently announced by Volunteering Australia, is that as a major initiative of IYV+10 Volunteering Australia in collaboration with SEEK will be launching the much anticipated new GoVolunteer service. Originally launched as a collaboration between Boston Consulting Group BCG, SEEK and VA as an initiative of the International Year of Volunteers in 2001, GoVolunteer remains the only truly national volunteer matching service that provides a simple single point of reference for volunteers wishing to find suitable opportunities. In ten years much has changed and GoVolunteer will now have even greater capacity to take advantage of new technologies and adapt to the changing ways people want to volunteer. Enhanced functionality will include features such as interaction with social media, small screen friendly interface, geo tagging of opportunities near you and interest based searches. Volunteers can set up job mail style opportunity alerts and revamped organisation profiles will allow more information to reflect an organisation's cause and branding. A key feature of the new GoVolunteer system is its capacity to share information with the myriad of local and state based systems that have evolved since GoVolunteer was first introduced. Volunteering Australia looks forward to discussing with the Australian Sports Commission the enhanced GoVolunteer site and the opportunities it will present to sporting organisations in their recruitment campaigns. 2.1 Encouraging new volunteers Volunteering Tasmania suggests including an action under this item around the educational role that state peak bodies can play in attracting and managing new volunteers. Develop simple fact sheets/faqs for sporting organisations to use in recruitment efforts Volunteering infrastructure organisations have a range of materials developed to support organisations in Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 5 of 9
that address existing and future barriers to volunteering using existing resources where available volunteer recruitment. While often generic in nature, these resources are all based on good practice in volunteer engagement, and range from comprehensive training guides to information sheets. Feedback from Volunteering Victoria includes drawing attention to their fact sheet on recruiting volunteers, available from their website: (www.volunteeringvictoria.com.au) Develop partnerships between sporting organisations and community based groups to attract volunteers from diverse backgrounds. As per the above comments, a number of resources exist that specifically address issues relating to effectively engaging with individuals and communities from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. An example of this, as provided by Volunteering Victoria is the resource Strength & Diversity in Supporting Communities Engaging CALD communities in volunteering in Victoria (Published July 2011 funded by the Victorian Government Department of Planning and Community Development and developed by AMES) FINAL Information booklet.pdf 2.2 Making entry of new volunteers simple Volunteering Tasmania suggests including an action under this item around the educational role that state peak bodies can play in updating state sporting organisations on changes in regulatory and legislative protections for volunteers. An example here is state implementation of the model Occupational Health and Safety legislation Review and refine current induction packages into a generic sport induction package (available on-line) that can be used for new volunteers and for volunteers reentering the workforce. As per action item develop simple fact sheets... we again draw your attention to the number of existing resources available which could easily be refined to be meet the needs of the sport sector. Conduct seminars on governance processes based on best practice guidelines derived from Australian Institute of Company Directors open to all national, state and local sporting organisation board and committee members across the country. Feedback from Volunteering Victoria highlights that there are a range of governance resources for not for profit organisations available. The Victorian Office of the Community Sector is currently trying to create a central list of resources, and some of these may be more appropriate for sporting organisations than the material from the Australian institute of Company Directors. Volunteering Victoria also have a podcast about governance available from their website Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 6 of 9
(www.volunteeringvictoria.com.au) Additionally, Volunteering Australia understands that as part of continuous improvement, Service Skills Australia have identified within their 2011 Environmental Scan for the Sport, Fitness, Outdoor and Community Recreation sector, a priority to: develop the capacity and capability of the industry s boards to ensure better decision making and governance of the organisations that they represent. This should occur across paid and unpaid directors with a priority placed on the skill and capacity of boards in grassroots organisations. This includes clearly identifying leadership capability standards from grassroots business to board level. This can be accommodated through the national training standards (training package) and addressed in higher education via the proposed discipline standards currently being developed by the higher education sector. Volunteering Australia recommends the NSVS has closer alignment with the Sport and Recreation national training package. 3 Priority Area 2 Supporting Volunteers Volunteering Tasmania strongly supports the actions to support sport volunteers. VT suggests that the challenges and actions in this section reflect that it is also important to provide training and resourcing to volunteer managers/co-ordinators as well as directly to volunteers. Research conducted by VT in 2010 indicates that volunteer managers/co-ordinators play a critical role in volunteers having a positive experience whilst undertaking their voluntary activities. Conduct a mapping exercise to determine the range of training and resources currently in existence, and who provides them. In the process, identify any gaps. Develop an online beginning volunteer management program to compliment sport specific training. Volunteering Victoria is currently mapping volunteer program manager training available in Victoria. There are a number of existing introductory volunteer management training programs available which could be developed into an online module. Further, Volunteering Australia recommends that the development of any online module be undertaken in consultation with the volunteer infrastructure network. Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 7 of 9
regarding the Indicators of Success Increased understanding of the VET system by sporting organisations and how it can help in training volunteers Importantly, this system can also assist in not just training volunteers, but also the training of managers/coordinators of volunteers. Volunteering Tasmania recommends including volunteer coordinators at the end of this success indicator. 4 Priority Area 3 Collecting and Sharing Information Volunteering Tasmania believes that actions to collect and share research information on sport volunteering would greatly assist in the dissemination and use of this valuable information. VT suggests that state peak bodies can also contribute valuable research outcomes on this topic and are likely to have direct links with local research academics. Additionally, Volunteering Australia has established a Volunteer Research Agenda Advisory Group of eminent researchers and practitioners in the field of volunteering. This group will be pivotal in developing a five year national research agenda on volunteering. Promote awareness of relevant legislation and regulation and provide assistance to sporting organisations in their application. Include and promote throughout the sport sector greater representation and involvement at the VA National Volunteering Conference Volunteering Victoria, like its colleagues at a state and federal level, works to ensure the volunteering community are aware of any legislative or regulatory changes with implications for volunteering. The sport sector, like all our stakeholders and members, is always welcome to benefit from this work. Volunteering Tasmania suggests that this action should also be taken at conferences convened by state foundation members and recommends including and state conferences at the end of this action. 5 Priority Area 4 Recognising and Valuing Sport Volunteers Volunteering Tasmania strongly supports the actions to reward and recognise volunteers, and to improve the recognition of the value of volunteers in sport both through national and state/local mechanisms. VT suggests that part (a) reward and recognition also consider the challenge that sport volunteers might wish to be rewarded for their efforts through other mechanisms, for example reimbursement of out of pocket expenses. 6 Priority Area 5 Building Capacity of Sporting Organisations to Support Volunteers Volunteering Tasmania strongly supports the actions to build the capacity of sporting organisations to support volunteers. Research conducted by VT in 2010 indicates that the top two management challenges for volunteer-involving sport and recreation organisations is recruiting suitable volunteers Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 8 of 9
and retaining volunteers, suggesting a need to increase the organisational capacity and resourcing of organisations to recruit, retain and support volunteers. 6.1 Resources for sporting organisations Volunteering Tasmania recommends the inclusion of a third indicator of success: The skills and knowledge of volunteer managers/co-ordinators is enhanced. Using existing resources where appropriate, develop resources to help sporting organisations in all aspects of volunteer management and communication and make them readily available to the sporting community. As previously highlighted, the volunteering infrastructure organisations have collectively developed a suite of resources to support all areas of volunteer management. 7 Additional s Further general comments Volunteering Tasmania include: Volunteering Tasmania supports the spirit of the NSVS in establishing actions to address recruitment and retention issues facing volunteering in sport. Each sector involves its own challenges, specific actions and particular target groups to achieve successful volunteering outcomes. The Australian Sports Commission is leading the way by providing a comprehensive strategy that addresses specific challenges for volunteering in this sector and tailored actions, as well as which parties need to implement the actions. The scope to implement such a strategy should be unhindered by potential problems such as inadequate funding for the parties responsible for implementation. In developing and implementing such a strategy, it is important to ensure that adequate sources of funding are secured. Volunteering Australia 2009 Page 9 of 9