Winners of the NZ Volunteering Awards 2025
A charity that cares for people experiencing homelessness or hardship, and two volunteer leaders working for the environment and community are winners of the inaugural NZ Volunteering Awards, presented by Rosterfy, global leaders in volunteer engagement technology.
“Volunteers play a vital role in shaping strong, resilient communities, and behind every great volunteer initiative is a well-designed, inclusive, and inspiring engagement programme. These awards acknowledge the people and programmes that are leading the way,” says Michelle Kitney, Chief Executive of Volunteering New Zealand.
The winners, presented at the Volunteering Changemakers Hui on Friday, 10 October are:
Volunteer Programme of the Year:
· Orange Sky
· Bellyful NZ (runner-up).
Emerging Leader in Volunteer Engagement: joint winners:
· Nicky Shave, Te Honongaa Iwi - Restoring Rosedale Park, Auckland
· Gary Mitchell, PredatorFree Grenada Village, Wellington
“These awards go beyond celebrating the act of volunteering. They focus on how volunteers are supported, recognised, and developed – key components that reflect the quality and sustainability of volunteer involvement in Aotearoa,” Michelle says.
"It's an honour to celebrate these outstanding leaders and programmes who are raising the bar in volunteer engagement in New Zealand," said Shannan Gove, Co-Founder of Rosterfy. "Today’s volunteer management needs to be inclusive, data-driven, and adaptable to volunteers’ needs, and these winners embody exactly that."
Thanks to the generosity of Rosterfy, the Volunteer Programme winner received $1000,while the Emerging Leaders received $500 each for professional development.
About the winners
Orange Sky
Every week across Aotearoa, hundreds of Orange Sky volunteers gather around a set of washing machines, sometimes a shower, and always six orange chairs. Together they provide not only free access to laundry and shower services, but also create safe spaces for kōrero (conversation), connection, and care for people experiencing homelessness or hardship. In the 2023-24 year, volunteers created:3,000 loads of laundry, 2,645 showers, and 3,364 hours of conversation, delivered by 567 volunteers. Orange Sky’s volunteer programme showcases the best of Aotearoa volunteerism: purposeful, practical, and deeply impactful.
Bellyful NZ
Filling Bellies, Filling Minds was developed to strengthen the impact of Bellyful’s core service: delivering free meals to families with babies and young children who are without a support network.
Last year our 700+ volunteers delivered more than 34,000 meals to nearly 7,000 families facing challenges like newborn exhaustion, illness, isolation, bereavement or baby loss. It’s more than a meal, it’s connection, care and the knowledge that someone cares. Bellyful’s impact depends on volunteers and its volunteer management programme – Filling Bellies, Filling Minds – is how we sustain, support and celebrate them.
Nicky Shave, Te Hononga a Iwi - Restoring Rosedale Park
Starting with no ecological knowledge or experience, Nicky has created an innovative, groundbreaking project delivering amazing outcomes for the community and the planet. Outcomes include: working with 9 schools and3 ECE's including providing opportunities for less abled students; over 50Youth leader positions; and active engagement from 3 retirement villages. The ability of every person who comes on site to make a difference is recognised and valued. Nicky is a full-time volunteer and regularly gives over 50 hours a week to this project.
Gary Mitchell, Predator Free Grenada Village and more.
Gary Mitchell is an exceptional emerging leader in volunteer engagement whose hands-on leadership, structured systems, and people-first approach have transformed the environmental and community volunteering landscape across Wellington, Aotearoa, and even overseas. Gary has engaged and empowered over 400 active volunteers. These individuals work across predator control, marine protection, stream restoration, urban beautification, community clean-ups, and neighbourhood safety all underpinned by Gary’s leadership, strategy, and heart. Gary has personally contributed over 20,000 volunteer hours and he has united communities around shared environmental purpose and action.