Message to all MPs 2012

Volunteers and Volunteering: Message to all elected and list Representatives 2012

Volunteering Auckland was established in 1990 in answer to a need for a central resource for the recruitment and referral of volunteers and for the education and training of Managers/Coordinators of Volunteers within the greater Auckland region.

Over the past 10 years Volunteering Auckland [VA] has referred in excess of 15,000 volunteers into the voluntary sector of greater Auckland. VA currently has 400+ non profit community organisations registered as members ranging from larger charitable trusts and incorporated societies [Cancer Society, Royal NZ Foundation for the Blind, SPCA, NZ Federation of Family Budgeting] through to smaller groups [Lonely Miaow Association, Manukau Pacific Islands Trust, iSign, Mothers Helpers].

VA supports Managers/Coordinators of Volunteers through a range of services including networking opportunities, one-on-one coaching and workshops in volunteer management and the referral of interested individuals and teams to a range of voluntary opportunities. We also have a library specializing in volunteer management.

VA promotes volunteering through a range of social media options [Facebook, Twitter, Youtube] as well as through our website [www.volunteeringauckland.org.nz].

VA supports a Team Volunteering programme whereby we coordinate and broker value-add community projects for teams of people from corporate business, churches, and academic institutes to undertake within the community.

Volunteering Auckland recommends that as an elected Representative you:

• ensure the integrity of ‘free choice’ volunteering
• encourage cross-party policies that actively support, promote and recognise volunteering as a legitimate expression of active citizenship rather than as a means by which policies can be achieved
• promote volunteering [Generosity of Time] and the benefits to be gained by the individual and the community to the general public
• recognise that time spent volunteering is a legitimate means of upskilling and gaining experience whilst looking for employment
• ensure that government contracts/funding criteria include infrastructure support for volunteer management programmes including administration and salary costs for Coordinators/Managers of Volunteers
• foster links between business and community for the increased value that both parties can gain through corporate volunteering initiatives

Rationale for the above recommendations are based on the following points:

Voluntary activity plays a major role in empowering individuals and community. It may be one of the few means by which people have a say in their lives and in what they get involved in. It is about “free choice”. Government needs to ensure the integrity of this component of volunteering stays secure.

Volunteering is a valid means by which people can upskill, or gain experience, in their pursuit of employment [this is not in dispute]. Time spent in volunteering can have a positive outcome in securing employment as shown by the number of people initially engaged as volunteers within VA and our member organisations who have since gone on to employed positions. {This may be because of the point made above, that is, people ‘freely’ choosing to get involved]. There is a vast array of opportunities through volunteering that can be just as legitimate in upskilling a person as in attending a training course for the unemployed. Government needs to encourage and acknowledge the value spending time within the voluntary sector in gaining skills and experience whilst volunteering – as does the business sector [see below].

Often the business sector fails to see the legitimacy of volunteering as experience for a particular position being applied for. This can also be true for those in the front line [case managers] at Work & Income NZ. This may be because of the lack of recognition from the general public of the benefits to be gained whilst volunteering and also the opportunities available. This can also be a barrier to some people ‘getting involved’ in particular young people, migrants, etc.

Government needs to assist in actively promoting volunteering [Generosity of Time] to ensure that the general public understands the benefits to be gained by volunteering for an individual, the business sector and the community.

Volunteers may come for free but they do not come for nothing. Operating an effective volunteer management programme, where all parties meet their goals, costs. Volunteers, in order to carry out their duties effectively, need training, supervision, resources and recognition. Organisations, in order to effectively engage volunteers in their services and to ensure the delivery of their mission, need to recruit, train, supervise, mobilize and recognise their volunteers. This has cost attached to it. Government needs to ensure that funding criteria allows for administrative and salary costs for volunteer management programmes.

Volunteering is a major component in building “social capital”, that is building social relationships, trust and ‘connectedness’ within a community. Research, both in Aotearoa/NZ and overseas show the ‘need to belong’ as a strong motivation for getting involved in volunteering. Government needs to ensure that barriers to access volunteering are broken down, and that continued financial support and acknowledgement of the infrastructure required for Volunteer Centres is given as they are the only organisations within their localities with volunteering as an end product.

The benefits that volunteering brings to the individual, the recipient of the volunteering and the community, form a legitimate part of volunteering and community involvement. This can be from reciprocity through skill sharing and enhancement to closer community ties. Volunteering enables people to ‘share’ in their community and is therefore a key issue for democracy. If we have a vision for an inclusive society based on equality of opportunity and a participatory democracy based on active citizenship then volunteering is crucial to our society in Aotearoa/NZ. This needs to be acknowledged actively by all levels of government.

The support given to volunteering by government while welcome raises questions that we need to be aware of. We need to be aware of where the role of government starts and stops. The challenge is to differentiate between whether government is supporting volunteering because it is an expression of active citizenship or because it will help government achieve their policy objectives.

Conclusion:

Volunteering effects and is effected by many policy areas. We believe that government can actively promote and support volunteering within Aotearoa/NZ by ensuring it takes the act of volunteering into consideration when developing policy and funding programmes within our communities.

We believe that volunteering can have a major impact on how we live, participate, earn income, and integrate as citizens of Aotearoa/NZ.

We believe that volunteering can be part of the “solution” to many of the issues that our society is facing today.

We believe that volunteering is an important part of Aotearoa/NZ’s past, present and future.