SUPPORTED BY Cheryl Harris Manager Volunteering Sunshine Coast Inc FURTHERING THE CONVERSATION IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT

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SUPPORTED BY Today  Welcome – outline for the day  Volunteering – Sunshine Coast  Trends  Challenges  Effective practices  The critical five  Social and Economic Benefits

SUPPORTED BY Mega-trends 1  Digital Age –Tools –Culture  Time – Episodic – Events – Mixed experiences  Legislation and risk

SUPPORTED BY Mega-trends 2  Corporate  Leadership  Informal  Universities –Student volunteering / engagement –Service Learning  Transitions  Experience

SUPPORTED BY What are the trends affecting volunteering and volunteer management in your organisation? Issue Sector Younger volunteersSport Legislation All

SUPPORTED BY Challenges  Resourcing –Volunteer program –The organisation as a whole  Recognition of the role of vols in the org  Opportunities for Professional Development  Too few volunteers  Too many volunteers

SUPPORTED BY What are the challenges affecting you? Issue Sector Resourcing – of vol programAll More rules and regulationsArts

SUPPORTED BY  “… [it’s] the quality of the volunteer experience that is the critical factor in successfully engaging volunteers and therefore strategies that enrich the volunteer experience (particularly recognition, training and professional development opportunities, and effectively matching volunteers’ skills and interests to volunteering activity) all enhance volunteer retention.” 2012 Volunteering Report – Contemporary practices and research in volunteering: A literature review. Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services.

SUPPORTED BY Your best practices Discuss your best practices (those which have worked for you) – in recruitment of or retention of volunteers Eg. 1.Held a volunteer conference for all our volunteers 2.Recruitment via radio free ad 3.University partnership provides all our professional volunteers plus advice

SUPPORTED BY Retaining Volunteers 1  Explicit, developmental, and appreciative management –Opportunity for autonomy, self-expression and space for personal development. –Support, recognition and good personal relations. –Not overburdened and not undervalued. –Flexibility. –Clarity around role and accept its responsibilities. –Voice in designing roles, decision making and idea generation.  Enhancing the Volunteer Experience –Quality, match, shared. –Flow - energised focus, full involvement, and success. –Challenge within competence. –Opportunities for learning.

SUPPORTED BY Retaining Volunteers 1  Congruence between individual and organisational objectives –Match of expectations – values and tasks. –Reciprocity between volunteer and organisation. –Able to do job. –Match of skills / passion to role. –Negotiated Project.  Social support e.g. Friendship –Ties that surround volunteers. –Social environment – developmental. –Regular and variety of communication mechanisms.

SUPPORTED BY The Critical Five  What are the five critical changes for ensuring a bright volunteer management future? This might include:  Subsidised training  Promotion of volunteering  Policy changes

SUPPORTED BY Futuring Volunteer Management Forum 2013  Brought together 84 VMs from SEQ in May  Four specific themes were explored; Each VM provided five suggestions for each theme. Of the 420 written responses collected, similar topics were then categorised & counted. The results provide us with a snap-shot of volunteer management in SEQ. 1. Trends affecting volunteering within their organisation 2. Challenges affecting volunteering within their organisation 3. Best practices for recruitment & retention 4. Critical changes required for a bright future

SUPPORTED BY Key Findings Structural Trends  Remarkably, VMs reported that all five trends were influencing their daily practice... These trends, however, produce problems. VMs mentioned students are “volunteering for the wrong reasons – only to gain experience”, whilst legislation is “binding volunteers in red tape”. Similarly, VMs “lack experience & tools to update” websites, plus “newer technology scares older people”.

SUPPORTED BY Key Findings SEQ-Specific Trends  Interestingly, VMs also reported local trends just as consistently & frequently... On mismatching VMs revealed increasing needs to “utilise the skills volunteers have & place them in appropriate programs, so they don't get bored”. On expectations, “volunteers now seek meaningful tasks plus increased responsibility” &“mundane everyday tasks are no longer considered an experience”.

SUPPORTED BY Key Findings Challenges  Surprisingly, the challenges affecting VMs & their organisations were more ‘traditional’ than ‘new’... All challenges involved common shortages. On resourcing VMs reported “No pre- designed systems or templates are provided - we make it up ourselves”. On training, “VMs need more training to manage personalities & volunteers.” On funding, “nothing available for volunteer development/recognition”.

SUPPORTED BY Key Findings Best Practices for Recruitment & Retention  Best Practices identified by VMs included both ‘traditional’ & ‘new’ approaches... Volunteer recognition & inclusion are the most effective ‘traditional’ retention strategies. However, the ‘new’ approach of online resources & websites is gaining popularity for recruitment, as mentioned “so for placing an add on a free website [like SEEK], I have 10 interviews planned for next week”.

SUPPORTED BY Key Findings Critical Changes for a bright volunteering future  Changes included the improvement of both ‘traditional’ & ‘new’ areas...with a call to us for increased support VMs suggested promotion could sell ‘new’ forms of engagement by “re-defining what volunteering is, advertising this to the community & breaking down the traditional idea”. Increased VM networking & Volunteering Queensland Inc support highlight desires for collaboration, we need “more VM meetings to share best practice” & “more workshops by Volunteering Queensland Inc to share ideas – like today [at the Futuring forum]”.

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