With just over a week until the internationally celebrated Volunteer Managers Day, I want to pay a special tribute Western Australia's volunteer leaders - it's been another unusual year as organisations face the challenges of recruiting and retaining staff and volunteer workforces during a pandemic. Our volunteer coordinators and managers continue to do an incredible job in the face of such uncertainty. 

Premier Mark McGowan and Health Minister Roger Cook announced a new mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy to prepare Western Australia for when the borders open.

Since the vaccine policy covers over 75% of the WA workforce, it is likely this vaccination mandate will extend to our member and associated workforces, including the majority of their volunteers.

Volunteering WA has always advocated for the health and safety of our state’s almost 600,000 volunteers, and therefore encourage all volunteers to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others. Without healthy volunteers delivering vital services, our community cannot function and would suffer enormously.

We will continue to share the most up-to-date information to the volunteering sector on our dedicated COVID webpage.

I’m delighted to announce the next WA State Volunteering Conference will be held on 22 & 23 November 2021. We look forward to delivering a successful conference to inspire and motivate volunteer managers and leaders across the State’s volunteering and community sector. The conference team are hard at work and registration is open for two more weeks if you haven't yet booked in. 

Lastly, as we start to move into the final months of this year, I ask you to please take some time to consider the role of Volunteering WA as your peak body. We will be contacting our members and partners for feedback on how we can better shape and strengthen Volunteering WA and our sector, and your insight will be very important in informing our 2022-2025 Strategic Plan. 

Thank you again.

Happy Volunteering,

Tina Williams | CEO Volunteering WA

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Our News

INVOLVE - Volunteer Management Platform

Launching soon! INVOLVE, Volunteering WA's new volunteer management system is almost complete and will be launched at the State Volunteering Conference in November.

Sign up to be the first to know the details and features of the new national Volunteer Management Platform.  INVOLVE is made possible through the generous support of Woodside. 

International Volunteer Day Garden Party ~ Join us!

The annual garden party is proudly presented by Volunteering WA in the lead up to International Volunteer Day – recognised globally in December each year.

Join us for the annual volunteer garden party on Thursday 2 December in the beautiful garden of Government House.  Registrations now open, but please note this garden party sells quickly so please book in early. View the event details. 

Connecting corporate and community VIOs

It has been another busy month for the Corporate team, connecting corporate volunteers to our community members. Our September snapshot: 

• 19 corporate volunteering team days, with 190 corporate volunteers from BHP, Woodside, Horizon Power, Bankwest, RAC, Perron Group, and Rio Tinto.
• 10 community organisations supported in Perth including Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group, Bicycles for Humanity, Dismantle, Dress for Success, Edmund Rice Camps WA, Foodbank, Give Write, Graceville (Salvation Army), Grandparents Rearing Grandchildren WA, and Little Things for Tiny Tots.
• 5 community organisations supported in regional areas including Lisa’s Kangaroo Retreat, Nyarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Limited, PHMCC MX, PCYC, and St John’s Hedland.
• Matched skilled-volunteers with Auspire (Australia Day Council) for an ongoing project.

Do you have a project for our corporate volunteering teams? Get in touch corporate@volunteeringwa.org.au.

Consultancy service for VIOs

Speak with our team about engaging Volunteering WA for consultancy work to support your volunteer involving organisation - Learn more. 

"The scope was spot on and the deliverables were exactly what we wanted!" ~ Member testimonial.

Tickets closing soon | State Volunteering Conference

Join WA's volunteer sector for the bi-annual state conference on 22 & 23 November in Perth. A mix of plenary speeches and four breakout streams will allow attendees to participate in 14 different workshops across the 2-day conference.

 >> Book your tickets (VWA members save over $100 per ticket)

>> View the conference program

Topics include volunteer recruitment and communication, work health and safety, storywriting, engaging youth volunteers, mental health, managing advocacy agendas, corporate volunteering, emerging legal issues in volunteering, inclusivity for diverse volunteers, and so many more.

Tickets are on sale through until 11 November (or until sold out). 

Sector News

New mandatory vaccination policy for WA

See here our recent statement on vaccination and volunteers. 

• WA Government update
• Monitor the VWA vaccine page for clarification re volunteers. 

Policy submissions - Volunteering Australia

It's been a busy month for Volunteering WA and Volunteering Australia's policy teams, with the following submissions made (each of these can be viewed on the VWA website here). 

• Submission to the Independent Review of the 2021 Wooroloo Bushfire (October 2021)
• Submission on the National Mental Health Workforce Strategy 2021-2031 (September 2021)
• Submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (September 2021)
• Volunteers in Disability Support and COVID-19 Vaccinations: Position Statement (September 2021)
• Policy Submission: Indigenous Skills and Employment Program (September 2021)
• Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme on the NDIS National Workforce Plan 2021-2025 (September 2021)

How will volunteer involving organisations benefit from the new Volunteer Management Activity (VMA) program?

Contact Volunteering WA or your local Volunteer Resource Centre about support for:

• best practice recruitment and training of volunteers based on National Standards for Volunteer Involvement;
• retaining volunteers; 
• regulatory obligations and risk management; 
• developing an inclusive volunteer management plan to guide your organisation; and
• face to face support for organisations who wish to engage more diverse volunteers 

You can also help guide the new program development by sharing your experiences through feedback, surveys or being part of discussions on what your organisation would find useful to better support volunteer management into the future.

Contact melanie@volunteeringwa.org.au or your local Volunteer Resource Centre (Esperance, Albany, Volunteer South West (Bunbury), Peel, Centacare Geraldton and Broome Circle).

Training & Events

Visit our Training webpage for further detail and to register.

2021

• 5 Nov, International Volunteer Managers Day celebrated globally
• 10 Nov, Designing a Successful Virtual Volunteering Program (Online) 9:30am - 1:00pm

• 11 Nov, See Me, See You – Cultural Responsiveness Training (Online) 9.30am - 12:30pm

• 22 & 23 Nov, Volunteering WA State Conference 2021, 2-day conference

• 24 November, Act Belong Commit Act Belong Commit Action Planning for 2022
  Setting yourself up for a successful year WEBINAR, 10:00am - 11:30am 

• 1 Dec, See Me, See You – Cultural Responsiveness Training (Online) 9:30am – 12.30pm

• 2 Dec, International Volunteer Day Garden Party, 4:00pm - 6:30pm
• 5 Dec, International Volunteer Day celebrated globally

2022

• January, Nominations open - WA Volunteer of the Year Awards 
• 16 - 22 May, National Volunteer Week
• 19 May, WA Volunteer of the Year Awards

Member Spotlight | Awards WA

Katie Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Awards WA - read the full case study here
"As you can imagine, with such a small yet dynamic team, we are so grateful for the support and benefits we receive as a member of Volunteering WA. In the past, we have had documents reviewed to ensure compliance and governance, workplace planning review, as well as CRM Analysis. The value add as a member has been far above our annual fee!

“Volunteering WA and their amazing staff under the leadership of Tina Williams, provide services and support to ensure their members feel valued, heard and educated”.

Welcome New Members

A warm welcome to our new and renewing members:

Saturday Shout Out and Meet a Volunteer Stories

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