‍

Winners of the NZ Volunteering Awards 2026 announced

‍

A charity that provides baking for people going through a tough time has taken out the two award categories in the NZ Volunteering Awards, presented by Rosterfy.

“Volunteers play a vital role in shaping strong, resilient communities, and behind every great volunteer initiative is a volunteer leader or 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 New Zealand Conference in Rotorua on Friday, 16 October are:

Volunteer Programme of the Year:

• Good Bitches Baking: Baking it Bette
• IHC New Zealand: Volunteer Friendship Programme (runner-up).

 This award recognises a programme of more than 200 volunteers that delivers meaningful, innovative and impactful volunteer engagement.

Leader in Volunteer Engagement:

• Sara Mitchell, Good Bitches Baking
• Cathy Knowsley, Orange Sky Aotearoa (runner-up)

‍

This award acknowledges an innovative volunteer leader whose work over the past year has delivered tangible results for their team and their community.

“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."

‍

About the winners and runner-ups

Volunteer Programme of the Year Award

WINNER - Good Bitches Baking: Baking It Better

Across 32 chapters from the Bay of Islands to Invercargill, Good Bitches Baking volunteers bake at home for people going through a tough time. In the last 12 months they delivered 38,593 boxes of treats to more than 630 organisations, including hospices, refuges, mental health and grief support services. That represents more than $3.6 million in social value, supported by an HQ team of just three full-time equivalents. A simple online induction, flexible rostering and a no-questions-asked Cup of Sugar fund make the programme open to everyone, and 44% of volunteers have been on the roster for more than two years.

The nomination states: “GBB provides a unique volunteering model and the size of our volunteer base compared to the very small HQ team makes us stand out, as does the measurable impact we have. Our volunteers choose how often and when they are available each month to bake and/or deliver treats, and our clever rostering system matches this against our recipient organisations’ needs. There are no rules about what can be baked, other than it should include kindness as a key ingredient, which means that people can participate no matter what their budget, cultural background, skillset, time or energy allows.”

RUNNER-UP -IHC New Zealand: Volunteer Friendship Programme

IHC's Volunteer Friendship Programme matches volunteers with people with intellectual disabilities based on shared interests. Over the past year, 437 volunteers contributed nearly 22,000 hours through one-on-one, online, group and skill-based friendships. What sets it apart is reciprocity: people with intellectual disabilities co-design resources and are increasingly stepping into roles as volunteers, administrators, facilitators and ambassadors themselves. As IHC puts it, the programme is changing perceptions of who can volunteer, who can lead and who belongs.

Leader in Volunteer Engagement

WINNER - Sara Mitchell, Good Bitches Baking

As Volunteer Manager for a remote HQ team, Sara is the first point of contact for3,581 active volunteers across 32 chapters. She co-designed and led a new online induction with chapter leads that lifted completion rates and cut help-desk queries, and built reporting that lets chapter leads track recruitment, resignations and deliveries. Sara recruits non-bakers as drivers and committee members and meets volunteers outside standard hours. At this year's chapter leads' hui she received the GBB Special Ingredient Award for delivering exceptional volunteer experiences.

The nomination states, “Sara combines strategic systems thinking with deep personal care. She has rebuilt the volunteer experience so it scales with kindness, measurably reduced workload for volunteers and chapter leaders, and made GBB markedly more accessible and resilient. Her work turns loaves and cupcakes into reliable, dignified support for people having tough times and she does it with quiet, relentless compassion.”

RUNNER-UP - Cathy Knowsley, Orange Sky Aotearoa

Cathy has been part of Orange Sky's Te Whanganui-a-Tara service since it began in2019, and as Service Leader has helped grow its volunteer community to 679people, including 309 new tūao/ volunteers in the past year. In that time the team delivered 327 shifts, 1,801 washes, 359 showers and 3,324 hours of conversation with people doing it tough. When the van was off the road for three weeks, Cathy and fellow van leaders Stewart McFarlane and David Lomborn kept around nine shifts a week running through local laundromats. She also helped develop safety and de-escalation training for volunteers.

‍

See all the finalists