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1. Request a police vetting check. Police vetting is a common way to check information held about a person on the police’s database, such as criminal convictions or a family violence report. The applicant must provide written consent for an organisation to request a police vetting check. The Police may also provide information relating to any violent or sexual behaviours of the person being vetted, which may not have resulted in a conviction, as well as information about any interactions with the Police. Note that a police vetting check is not a complete background check so you may need to use other vetting procedures. You should also be aware that under Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004, a person may be allowed to conceal their criminal record if they meet certain criteria. These criteria include requiring that the person has completed a rehabilitation period and that the person has not been given a custodial (i.e. prison) sentence. If a person is eligible under the scheme, their record is wiped “clean”. This means that they can say they do not have any convictions on their Ministry Of Justice or Police check. Find out more about Police vetting applications online.
2. Obtain a criminal record. A police vetting check is not a criminal check, so you may also want to request a criminal record. As a third party, you can seek the applicant’s permission to view their criminal record.
3. Check the applicant’s references. You may ask the applicant to provide contact details for referees (it is standard to ask for two referees). Referees should not be family members or partners of the applicant and should have known the applicant for a minimum period (e.g. two years). It may be helpful for you to establish a standardised process for carrying out reference checks and having a list of relevant questions for referees ready.
4. Check information publicly available about the applicant online. You may wish to do an Internet search on the applicant to see what information about the applicant is available online.
5. Undertake a group assessment. If necessary, it may be useful to carry out a group interview to develop an even deeper understanding of the applicant.

Designing a vetting procedureIt is important to design a vetting procedure that is appropriate for your organisation and your clients, and the type of work carried out by your volunteers. It may not be necessary for you to carry out all of the vetting procedures above. The more vulnerable your clients are, the more thorough your background check needs to be.Ensure your organisation has a systematic way of dealing with background checks of applicants. In this way, you will protect your service users and your staff, as well as the reputation of your organisation and brand.See: Vetting volunteers: why it's important and some tips for doing it.

The 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report: Building Equal and Inclusive Societies has recently been released by the United Nations Volunteers.The report highlights the vital role of partnerships to address the most pressing challenges now facing countries and regions. The report explores how volunteers collaborate with people in government, and how volunteers play a significant and diverse role in decision making, producing services, and developing innovative solutions. The report sheds light on the new grounds of volunteerism and provides insights on how volunteerism is linked to human rights.

Key findings

The findings of the report show that:

• volunteerism can promote a culture of collaborative decision-making. Through shaping and prioritising issues that are important to them and their communities, volunteers contribute to outcomes that are relevant and responsive to the needs of communities.
• volunteerism can alter unequal power relations between people and government.
• volunteerism offers diverse pathways to civic participation but remains unequal which means there are limited opportunities for some groups.
• volunteers are often in the unique position of brokering relationships between service providers and service users. Volunteers act as mediators between marginalised groups and people in government.

Informal volunteering

The report highlights the importance of informal volunteering with 14.3% participation globally; while 6.5% of working-age people worldwide engage in formal volunteering via an organisation or association. Informal volunteering occurs directly between individuals and communities without being mediated by an organisation.During the COVID-19 pandemic, informal, spontaneous, people-to-people volunteering has endured. Communities have continued to respond to the crisis in significant ways, despite limited mobility and resources. While the need for volunteers has increased, pandemic-related challenges have reduced volunteer engagement in many countries. Some volunteer groups have changed their approach as the crisis has evolved.

Shift in meaning of volunteering

The report also explores a shift in the definition of volunteering and how volunteering is a complex concept that means different things to different people. Cultural and community-based values influence how volunteering is practiced and the spread of new technology has diversified the ways in which volunteers contribute and gather. Informal, community-based, episodic and spontaneous volunteering are also increasingly recognised. These forms of volunteering challenge the popular view that volunteering only happens within an organisation. This new model of volunteering takes a broad view of volunteering. Previously, the characteristics of volunteering were precisely defined. However, in the new model, volunteering is defined according to five components, each representing a dimension of volunteer action. These are not mutually exclusive.

The components of volunteer action are:

• structure (formal and/or informal)
• site (online and/or offline)
• intensity (episodic and/ or regular)
• aspiration (self-building and/or community-building)
• category (service, mutual aid, participation, campaigning and leisure).

Social contract in volunteerism

The report explores the idea of the social contract in the volunteerism domain. Social contracts are dynamic: the relationships between people and government, and the power dynamics between them, continue to shift in response to new challenges such as aging, gender inequalities and climate change.The report says that volunteerism can play a fundamental role in building and strengthening people-government relationships and help build more equal and inclusive societies.The social contract in the volunteerism domain is based on three priorities:

• ensure human rights for all by extending social contracts to marginalised sectors of the society
• be inclusive and recognise multiple inequalities that act as barriers to the engagement of certain groups
• protect the planet, ecological processes, and people’s relationship with nature.

Volunteer engagement and inclusion

Volunteering is an essential component in the co-production of services. Volunteers and people in government can leverage the partnerships for mutually beneficial outcomes.The report suggests engaging volunteers from marginalised communities (e.g. rural women, peasant farmers, indigenous groups) in decision-making can contribute to long-term and sustainable solutions and ensure ownership in development. Volunteer participation, either directly or through representatives from the volunteer-involving organisations, enables inclusion and voice in society. Volunteers can generate new ideas to solve community challenges. The innovations facilitated by volunteers can lead to social transformations by changing social norms, attitudes and values, and lead to more sustainable outcomes.Finally, the report provides several case studies from five regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Arab States, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Policy recommendations

Based on this evidence, the report recommends policies to support action and collaboration between decision-makers and volunteers, volunteer-involving organisations, and their wider communities.These include the need to:

• address barriers faced by marginalised groups in volunteering
• leverage partnerships through volunteering
• address gender-related volunteering inequalities
• leverage volunteers’ expertise, knowledge and experiences
• promote social innovation
• recognise informal volunteers’ work and contributions
• invest in volunteer data collection and, research and measurement.

The Community Sector Engagement Group met with the Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, via Zoom on 3 November 2021.Volunteering New Zealand is a representative on this sector engagement group, which meets regularly with our Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector.Based on our conversations with sector stakeholders, we shared sector-wide challenges facing operationalising vaccination mandates and other rules in a continually changing landscape. We also noted the opportunity for the language and framing used to be more inclusive of our sector, particularly for volunteers!Other discussion points from the meeting that we can share with you include:

• The Minister has asked the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) to investigate and produce options regarding the Government’s role in supporting, promoting, and recognising the value of volunteering.
• DIA recently undertook a review of the current state of community funding. Key findings included that the system lacks cohesion and is difficult to navigate, and all communities are not being supported equitably. The next step is to consider how Crown and Lottery funding could evolve to respond to these findings.
• Minister Radhakrishnan raised the fact that the Government is aware of the impacts of COVID-19 on social cohesion. The Minister is leading some work across government looking at opportunities to strengthen social cohesion.
• She noted that the COVID-19 Hauora Wellbeing Survey led by Hui E! Community Aotearoa and Volunteering NZ would be available online from early December 2021 (now released, see below).
• The issue of consultation fatigue was discussed, with government agencies looking for input from the sector across a broad range of issues. The concept of a bi-annual engagement platform was tabled. DIA undertook to investigate this.
• The Minister and sector representatives confirmed the usefulness of this engagement group and agreed to meet quarterly. The group also discussed the importance of ensuring that the group represents the diversity of the community and voluntary sector.

Hauora Wellbeing Survey released

The Hauora Wellbeing Survey research was released on Monday, 29th of November. The survey showed the sector is experiencing increased demand for its services from stressed communities. But the demand has not been met with increased funding from government and the philanthropic sector, and the challenges are starting to wear down workers and volunteers. It was a follow-up of a 2020 survey which showed similar trends, and included focus groups with organisations caring for Māori, Pasifika, migrant and refugee-background, and disabled communities. Read more here:

• Read the press release, November 29, 2021
• Read the summary report (PDF, 690kb)
• Read the full report (PDF, 2MB)

By Matthew Goldsworthy: Incoming Youth Board member, Volunteering New Zealand

Young people across the world are demanding change. From School Strike for Climate to the Black Lives Matter movement, youth have clear aspirations for our future, and feel intensely the burden of the challenges we collectively face. It is perhaps not a surprise then that youth activism and participation in social issues is on the rise. However, young people’s views and participation in activities that promote change are often seen in isolation on a news segment or at an awards ceremony, with no real pathway to systems-level change. There are also systemic barriers in place - such as risk of social conflict and self-doubt - that make it difficult for young people to contribute to these conversations if there aren’t channels in place for safe communication of their ideas. It is up to us to bring young people into all conversations about our future, because this is their future.

Valuing lived experience

I’ve often heard people say that youth don’t have enough experience when justifying why they aren’t directly involved in decision-making processes. While that might be the case in the traditional sense of the word in which wisdom directly corresponds to age and career portfolio, more work needs to be done to expand our understanding of ‘experience’. In fact, my vote is to throw out the term ‘experience’ altogether and replace it with ‘lived experience’. Lived experience is all about valuing perspectives not just because of status, but rather by diversity of thinking and unique positionality. This isn’t to discount ‘traditional’ experience and wisdom, but rather view it through a different lens that invites participation from members of society that may not hold a position of traditional power or status. This is especially important when considering youth, most of whom haven’t had the time or opportunity to pursue careers that might deem them valuable in more important discussions and situations, but who have exceptionally close connections to communities and social issues.

Young minds breed curiosity and innovation

Young people have an innate ability to advocate for a better world, free from the indoctrination of structure and hierarchies that are thrust upon us more and more as we grow older. This is where creativity thrives; a young mind is a space that breeds curiosity and innovation. Rather than thinking within the box, young people teach us how to imagine a better future beyond the boundaries we often subconsciously impose on ourselves and others. From a business perspective, today’s youth are hyper-aware of brand messaging, cultural climates and current trends, mainly due to the rapidly digestible information found on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Organisations of all forms need to understand today’s social climate - which is predominantly based in the digital world - if they are to stay relevant. Youth are perfectly positioned to advise on this due to their digital nativity, brand loyalty, consumer habits and close proximity to the fast-paced world of changing social attitudes and expectations.

By community, for community, initiatives

Here in Aotearoa, we are seeing young people more actively invited into positions where their unique lived experiences are not only valued, but prioritised. In 2019, Foundation North launched a rangatahi-led fund called the Pacific Youth Future Makers Fund, supporting projects that benefit Pacific communities in South Auckland and empower young people. More recently, ‘Hear Me See Me’ was launched - a campaign designed with and for young people to share challenges they've faced growing up in Aotearoa New Zealand and what did, or could have, helped them. These are true ‘by community, for community’ initiatives that should be modelled across other sectors as an authentic way to empower young people to make decisions and create change that impacts their own communities. By providing rangatahi with a platform to create change with resources that are often inaccessible, such as access to professional networks and funding, we are reducing inequities within often hierarchical, top-heavy systems and promoting community-led impact. This is the future of social change.

Listen with an open mind

If you’re a leader, an executive, a board member - anyone who has any form of responsibility - I encourage you to invite young people into your conversations. Whether it’s in governance or in operations, ask their opinions and listen with an open mind. Embrace the curiosity and creativity that comes from working with youth. That’s what we’re doing here at Volunteering New Zealand through our Youth Working Group and youth board positions, and we hope that this will inspire others to invite youth to participate in their important mahi. Young people are already making waves and telling us what future they want - it’s up to us to listen.I am incredibly honoured to join the Volunteering New Zealand whānau as a youth board member, and feel the responsibility that this position carries. I look forward to working with communities across the motu to advocate for rangatahi participation in all aspects of mahi aroha; from local marae, sports centres and arts events to the boardroom.Ngā mihi nui,Matthew

By Ryan Hooper-Smith: Outgoing Youth Board member, Volunteering New Zealand

Kia ora koutou. For those who don’t know me, I’ve held a co-opted board position for the past two years and have been leading work this year to boost Volunteering New Zealand’s youth representation across the organisation. It’s been an honour to serve on the board, and I would like to firstly thank those who I worked with during that time, and those who support greater youth voice in the sector.During these two years, I’ve learnt a lot about why we need more young people in our organisations. While the knowledge, ideas and experience of those who have been around for a while is incredibly important, we are going through a transition period. As we shift from the more formalised volunteering towards casual volunteering, combined with the prominence of social media, we are seeing the idea of ‘volunteering’ change. In order to adapt, it is paramount that we have young people represented in our organisations at all levels.

Ambition is better than indecision

To wrap up my final few weeks on the board, I was asked to leave some insights to help the new team in their continued journey. In a nutshell, it was this: ambition is better than indecision.While it might sound like an obvious and almost unnecessary statement, it holds true. Throughout my time on the board, we were faced with some extremely tough decisions and some amazing opportunities to help shed more light on the sector, while also boosting Volunteering New Zealand’s influence. In many situations, we decided to take an ambitious approach rather than over-analysing the decision. While some choices do need greater consideration, organisations and their boards need to be ambitious to stay relevant.Indecision leads to a space where you stall. Ambition, on the other hand, leads to new ideas and innovation which pushes your organisation and board forward. Don't force yourself down a rabbit hole of needing to test things out constantly, or to wait to see if someone else does it. The biggest ‘ambition’ example from the board that I can take away was the AGM recommendation to permanently create a youth position on the board. It’s so very important to have youth input and insight into the decision making process, and it’s a perfect example of just doing it rather than putting it off for some reason. I urge other organisations to join us in leading with young people at the helm. The insights of young people are unmatched, and will only help you in your strategy and your future focus. If you don’t already have a young person on your board, then now is the time. Ngā mihi nui, Ryan

Through the International Volunteer Day campaign on 5 December 2021, people can be inspired to Volunteer now for our common future. Let’s encourage everyone, including decision-makers and citizens, to get involved in solving problems for people and the planet. Volunteers engage communities and help build a better and safer future for us all.While volunteer numbers initially fell at the start of the global pandemic, younger volunteers stepped up to fill the gap. In New Zealand over the last year, many people helped others in generous, collaborative and innovative ways. We need to ensure that volunteers’ mahi aroha is met with good management, training and wellbeing support when their organisations are under increased pressure. Encouraging, recognising and promoting volunteerism is an important part of creating a more equal and inclusive future for communities and worldwide. For the generations of tomorrow, we must take responsibility for the changes needed to build a better future now.#IVDAY21 – Start promoting today.Download:IM Day Social Media post V01IM Day Social Media post V02IM Day Facebook headerIM Day Social post rectangularIM Day Twitter headerIM Day copy promo - 50/100/150 wordsIV Day Certificate – Canva TemplateIV Day Certificate – Word Document template_V01IV Day Certificate – Word Document template_V02

In recognition of International Volunteer Management Day on 5 November, Karmin Mudaly, National Volunteer Manager, Blind Low Vision NZ, reflects on the future of volunteering and how volunteer-involving organisations can embrace change.COVID-19 and the pandemic era has catapulted volunteering into the public eye, with the value volunteers provide shown publicly during times of crisis. Organisations have now started to see volunteer functionality as a critical part of their business operation.This increased visibility has also proved the value of accurate data reporting and tracking of the volunteer function within businesses, which immediately demonstrates the value-add. I have also noticed a shift in some corporate organisations that are now encouraging employees to engage in volunteer activities by implementing or increasing volunteer leave days.At Blind Low Vision NZ, volunteers are integrated throughout our organisation, from providing physical and virtual volunteer support, to working with AI technology. We have also considered what the future of volunteering would look like to future-proof our volunteer function. Key indicators included the importance of accurate fit-for-purpose data reporting and collation, proactively engaging with our diverse communities, collaboration, and effective communication. We are committed to having a lasting, meaningful volunteer function within our organisation.I believe that the future of volunteering lies within an organisation/group’s ability to successfully incorporate the following:

• Organisational values
• Key priorities
• Collaboration
• Local community engagement
• Accurate data collection and reporting
• Onboarding and training

At our organisation, we are building upon 131 years of volunteering foundation, by offering a range of innovative types of volunteer opportunities. We clearly identified the role our volunteers play within our organisation and the invaluable contribution they provide.We engage with diverse communities and have identified the importance of multi-lingual abilities within our volunteer group. We have a proactive approach to engaging and managing our volunteers with a positive, easy, onboarding process, coupled with an opportunity-specific training plan. Our organisation intends to enable the volunteer function to access the necessary business tools to make our future planning a success.Blind Low Vision NZ has placed itself at the forefront of future-proofing its volunteer function, by forward-thinking and embracing innovative ideas.Our approach includes:

• creating a pipeline for volunteer engagement
• multi-departmental collaboration
• co-designed volunteer opportunities
• proactive engagement with migrant and ethnic communities and other organisations
• developing key relationships within the youth sector.

The future of volunteering lies in engaging with all aspects of our communities’ demographics and by utilising the vast array of identifiable skills that our volunteers bring with them.

Join with your peers this International Volunteer Managers Day, 5 November to Shape the Future, Tāraitia te āpōpō. Strong leadership guided the volunteer sector response to Covid-19 and will help us recover. Together we can envision our future of volunteering, te wā heke me te mahi tūao.Volunteer trends were changing prior to the global pandemic, and have dramatically shifted since, especially seen in access to funding, changing demographics of volunteer recruits and regional differences.Volunteer managers responded with strategic leadership and created partnerships and collaborations to continue to thrive. Now volunteer-involving managers and organisations need to build their resilience and connections to ensure volunteering is recognised as delivering vital services, as well as protecting the wellbeing of our society. Volunteering New Zealand is advocating for a National Volunteering Strategy, as a bold, coordinated voice from the sector that acknowledges that we work across boundaries supporting our communities. As we reimagine volunteering, we need to dream big and include everyone’s voices to help inform the future of volunteering in Aotearoa.

#IVMDAY21 – Start promoting today.Download:

• IVMDay Social post V01
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Join us to Shape the Future | Tāraitia te āpōpō! in a series of interactive sessions facilitated by Volunteering New Zealand and Volunteering Auckland.In a series of three videos, leaders with a passion for volunteering from across the globe share their views on the future of volunteering in this post COVID world. There are three key sessions with videos created by Volunteering Auckland to help us kick start a conversation. We are also adding a fourth session on youth and volunteering.Join us to hear these insights, then contribute to a discussion about the future for volunteering in New Zealand. Facilitated by Volunteering New Zealand and Volunteering Auckland.Together we will envisage and define our future of volunteering, Te wā heke me te mahi tūao.Let’s talk about volunteering

Volunteering New Zealand and Volunteering Auckland invite you to participate in a webinar series, Let’s Talk about Volunteering. In a series of videos created by Volunteering Auckland, leaders with a passion for volunteering from across the globe share their views on the future of volunteering in this post COVID world.

Join the kōrero to hear these insights, then contribute to a discussion about the future for volunteering in New Zealand. These free webinars will be held during October-November.

• Webinar 1: The Future of Volunteering, Thursday 21 October! If you missed it, watch the video below.
• Webinar 2: The Future of Volunteering - Leaders of Volunteer Engagement, Friday 5 November
• Webinar 3: The Future of Volunteering - Volunteer Centres, Friday 26 November
• Webinar 4: The Future of Volunteering - Youth and volunteering Friday 10 December

Get ready to join the korero

The State of Volunteering 2020 published in mid-2020 surfaced four key themes centred around diversity and inclusion, recognition and engagement, funding, administration, and compliance, strategy and management.A lot has changed since the start of 2020, and we have collated relevant COVID research on our website. There are some other great findings and data that is worth reviewing:

• What is happening internationally with Voluntary Leadership Organisations.
• Older adults and volunteering in a Covid-19 environment.
• The latest research on younger people and volunteering.
• Look at some of our other webinars.
• Read this awesome recent research published by the Ministry of Pacific Peoples on Pacific Peoples unpaid work and volunteering.

Volunteering in an Ageing Population: research report Oct 2021People aged 65 or older are active volunteers, devoting triple the time on unpaid activities than people aged 12-24 years, says Volunteering New Zealand.Time spent volunteering provides a triple win, for the community, organisations and to the individual.Older people make a significant contribution to our communities through volunteering activities. However, older volunteers and older adults were amongst groups that were significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.Some older volunteers stopped volunteering, and some were prevented from volunteering because they have more life commitments (such as looking after grandchildren). Although older volunteers can return to volunteering in lower alert levels, there is uncertainty about what this will look like in a post-Covid environment.Research by Volunteering New Zealand also showed that the effect of the Covid pandemic on volunteering includes:

• Regional differences have become bolder, and the demographics of some local communities are changing, including our volunteer demographics.
• Some community organisations have experienced an increase demand for their services, and funding is tracking as one of the biggest issues across the sector.
• Many organisations and volunteers embraced new technologies and online ways of volunteering.

Benefits of volunteering for older people

Looking more broadly at the extensive array of research on older adults and volunteering, there are significant wellbeing benefits that accrue to older adults through volunteering.The most common reasons older adults give for engagement in voluntary work are being helpful to others, “paying back” to society, and feeling a sense of obligation to the future generations.Volunteering can keep older adults active and socially engaged and may help them with some of the challenges (and opportunities) of retirement. Research also shows that volunteering also has positive personal wellbeing outcomes for older adults who volunteer, including improved mental and physical health.Older volunteers report that volunteering provides:

• an opportunity to actively participate in society;
• expanded social networks and connection;
• and personal growth/ empowerment through learning new skills and knowledge.

Older adult volunteers consistently report an improvement in their quality of life resulting from feeling appreciated, having a sense of purpose, and giving something back to society.In the light of Covid-19 and its impact on older volunteers, Volunteering New Zealand recommends that:

• Some existing roles and activities be reworked to align with the new volunteering environment. This will ensure that older volunteers feel safe to return to the volunteering front line.
• Volunteer-involving organisations ensure they are inclusive, appreciative of older volunteers (amongst all volunteers), and impactful. For example, offer flexible roles matched to the skills, abilities and motivations of older volunteers.

More research about Older Volunteers

This report by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples - Pacific Economy Research Report on Unpaid Work and Volunteering in Aotearoa - captures Pacific peoples’ insights on volunteering and unpaid productive work. Guided by Pacific research principles and methodologies, data was collected through focus groups, talanoa – discussion – and a survey. It was launched in July 2021.

Recognising and celebrating Pacific unpaid work and volunteering

Research findings have revealed 97 percent of Pacific peoples spend around 66,035 hours per week on unpaid work and volunteering, equating to an average of 33 hours per week per person.Of this, 44 percent of Pacific peoples contributed a total of $2.4m of their own money to help others over four months, equating to an average of $161 per week per person.Covid-19 also impacted on unpaid work and volunteering for our pacific communities. Over half of the survey participants reported providing increased social support during lockdown, while nearly 40 percent of participants reported increased caregiving for the elderly, providing administrative support, and serving as a cultural leader.Another key finding is that the current government economic measurements of Pacific contributions to the New Zealand economy are underestimated due to cultural differences in defining and measuring unpaid work and volunteering.

Community Luva - research launch

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Chief Executive Michelle Kitney was gifted copy of Pacific Economy Research Report on Unpaid Work and Volunteering in Aotearoa on behalf of Volunteering New Zealand.[/caption]Volunteering New Zealand Chief Executive Michelle Kitney and Pacific Peoples Board Representative Cathy Aiavao attended the official Launch and Auckland Community Luva for the Pacific Economy Research Report on Unpaid Work and Volunteering in Aotearoa, at Manukau in August 2021.Key findings were presented at the launch and the research was gifted back to the participant communities.The research was presented by Hon. Afioga Aupito Toeolesulusulu Tofae Su’a William Sio, Minister for Pacific Peoples. Volunteering New Zealand was gifted the research as a friend of the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.Michelle KitneyChief ExecutiveVolunteering New Zealand

By Ron RoweA community (a nation) is the sum of its parts. Every part of every sector contributes in small or large measure to advance or regress the whole. We all benefit from a society where people help each other. People feel better if they help with a cause they believe in; and communities are strengthened.Currently, our nation is being wracked by an ‘Unspoken Epidemic’ of anxiety, uncertainty, and despair permeating many lives, created, or caused by the insecurity of the COVID pandemic. This insecurity is being exacerbated by the ongoing and real problems within the wider health sector with all its ramifications – lack of doctors, nurses, ICU beds… mental health. These are compounded by issues such as housing, poverty, child abuse, anti-social activities, economic uncertainty, immigration, and climate/environment.The decades-old societal band-aid is not having the desired effect. This same tired old band-aid, whose stickiness has well worn off, is still being reused in an attempt to fix the ever-enlarging gaping wounds across all parts and sectors of our nation. Many people are anxious and unable to see a positive future.

A bright beacon

Yet it’s not all doom and gloom. Thankfully we do have a very bright beacon without which our communities would just not function well at all! We have hundreds, thousands of organisations with a million or more caring people selflessly giving their time, and resources to contribute to their community. Our nation of volunteers.Almost all community organisations rely on volunteers and without their work, much vital work for the community would not happen. Volunteers are first responders in emergencies, working to conserve natural environments, and supporting vulnerable people in the community.The very large and effective volunteer sector can provide leadership to their communities. We read and hear of many people taking the initiative and forging new and innovative ways in which to help their communities through the uncertainty.It could be said that volunteering continues to resurface the stickiness of the community band-aid.Volunteering does not happen by itself; people in community organisations must spend time and energy managing volunteers. This includes recruitment, training, and recognising their work. Volunteering New Zealand works with volunteer managers so they can do their jobs better.

Calling for a national volunteer strategy

Volunteering NZ is calling on people in government to recognise and promote volunteering by supporting a national volunteer strategy. It will guide the development of volunteering and provide a roadmap for the future. The community and voluntary sector, business and local government can all have input into the strategy and be responsible for the resulting actions.With a community being the sum of its parts, by collaborating, organisations can do more, go further and become greater in their efforts through the sum of each.Together, we can create a society that values volunteers as well as reaps the benefits of volunteering for wellbeing and social justice.About Ron Rowe: Ron has over 50 years of active leadership in several community-based and volunteer organisations both in NZ and Internationally. Ron, a former Capability Development advisor, now retired, he has been a Lions club member since 1966. Actively supported by wife Ngaire, in 1976 -1981 established the first NZ/South Pacific (MD202) secretariat for Lions Clubs. Ron has recently brought together their voluntary activities in the book The Ever-Present Challenge – Empowering Volunteers and those who lead.

SEEK Volunteer's vision is to connect more people to volunteering opportunities that enrich their communities, lives and careers. In the last 12 months, SEEK Volunteer continued to grow its impact across New Zealand. Given the challenges presented by COVID-19, it was pleasing to see both interest and connections of people to volunteer opportunities continue to grow. SEEK Volunteer measures these by visits to the site and the number of people who submit an expression of interest form. The following insights relate to 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021.

Who is interested in volunteering and what are they interested in?

SEEK Volunteer connected 12,107 people to volunteer opportunities, this is up 9% when compared to the previous year.

The top 5 causes that people expressed interested in were -

1. Community Service
2. Health
3. Young People
4. Environment and Conservation
5. Education and Training

Interest in ‘Health’ related volunteer opportunities grew the most, with an increase in expressions of interest up by 26% compared to the previous year. 34% of expressions of interest were from people under the age of 24 years old, 33% from those aged between 25-34 years old and 14% from those aged between 34-44 years old. This highlights the strength that SEEK Volunteer has in attracting younger volunteers. Females continued the trend of accounting for a large majority (76%) of all EOI’s.

What was on offer to those who wanted to volunteer?

SEEK Volunteer had 204 new organisations register to use the platform to recruit volunteers, this is an increase of 16%. The top 3 regions these organisations were from included Auckland (72), Wellington (47) and Canterbury (26). Over the course of the year, 1,971 unique volunteer opportunities were advertised. The volume of opportunities at any single point in time stayed quite consistent sitting just below 1,000. The top 5 categories looking for volunteers were -

1. Community Service
2. Young People
3. Health
4. Environment and Conservation
5. Disability Services

Volunteer opportunities supporting ‘Young People’ was the biggest growing category with a 126% increase in volume. There was an increase in remote and online volunteer opportunities, with 4% of all opportunities available to be undertaken remotely.

What’s next for SEEK Volunteer?

SEEK Volunteer experienced a 26% increase in visits this year. To capitalise on this growing interest, SEEK Volunteer is working hard to increase the volume and breadth of volunteer opportunities available to prospective volunteers. If you are interested in learning more about how SEEK Volunteer can help you recruit volunteers, please contact the team at: support@seekvolunteer.co.nz

Kōrerotia, speak up! through our online survey.

Let us know what has changed for your organisation since the pandemic began. How are things looking? How can we help?

This is a chance to remind our sector’s supporters and funders that the hau, or vitality, of our community organisations becomes the life force of our communities.

If you work with Māori, Pasifika, Ethnic or disabled communities, contact Hui E! to be part of a focus group.

Last year the Time to shine, time to take stock survey sought to uncover the effects of COVID-19 on the tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector.

The world did not stand still – and neither did you! For those who contributed to last year’s survey, kōrerotia, it’s time to speak up again. Complete this year’s follow-up hauora/wellbeing survey.

Volunteering New Zealand and Hui E! Community Aotearoa and want to know how your organisation is.

• What has changed or remained the same since last year?
• What are you doing the same or differently?
• How are your funding, staffing and volunteer numbers looking?
• How have you carried forward the best that came out of the first lockdown?

Click here to complete the survey, which will be open until August 13, 2021.

For National Volunteer Week 2021, Tania Jones, Chair of Volunteering New Zealand, shared her thoughts on the future of volunteering.

“I want to first recognise and acknowledge all volunteers around Aotearoa. No matter how you contribute, connect and give your time, we see you. We recognise and acknowledge your mahi, your service. Your gifts of time, of aroha, of effort. We thank you, while we celebrate National Volunteer Week 2021 - Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu.”Tania says the future of volunteering continues to change. Changes are obvious especially in the recruitment of volunteers, access to funding, and differences among regions since the pandemic.“Change presents different challenges across the sector, but also highlights unique opportunities for reshaping and improving the practice of volunteering.”To suit the changing landscape of volunteering, especially since the pandemic, Tania suggested the sector needed to reimagine the frame of volunteering.“The future of volunteering in New Zealand needs to be one where the contribution of volunteers is no longer invisible, no longer discussed as a nice to have but actually where volunteering is recognised as delivering vital services, as well as protecting the wellbeing of our society."“The future of volunteering will need to be underpinned by a sector-led National Volunteering Strategy embraced by all central government parties, which influences policy development and service delivery decisions in all portfolios.”Tania says in Aotearoa we are fortunate that more than half of our population is involved in volunteering and social related actions to support organisations.She says volunteering has different names and guises because there is a difference between each of us, depending on our backgrounds, whanau, age, gender and where we belong.“People are at the heart of this. People connecting to others. People are at the heart of all volunteering and mahi aroha, whatever form it takes. We are united by our shared histories of aroha, manaakitanga, small acts of kindness and connection through and within our communities.”Tania concludes:‘He aha te mea nui o tenei ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata’(What is the most important thing in this world? It’s people, it’s people, it’s people.)Click the play button to watch the full speech from Tania[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRc1njT4T_U[/embed]

Wendy Rapana, who has been our nominated and elected Māori Board representative since 2016, recently stepped down from our board. This is a vital role to better enable us Volunteering New Zealand to work towards better partnerships with iwi/Hapu.

In the time that Wendy has been a part of the board of Volunteering New Zealand we have made significant changes in our strategic framing and focus. Our new strategic plan and purpose seek to better reflect the aspiration and potential of volunteering and mahi aroha in all its forms, and has aligned us to better work alongside a Māori world view. Centering our purpose around being the kaitiaki of mahi aroha, and firmly rooting our organisation's "how we do things" within values of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga. This is a direct result of Wendy's influence and leadership at board level.Wendy has also contributed a huge amount from her own experience and expertise, from her knowledge of Te Ao Māori and vocational education assessment in. She has driven some key connections for Volunteering New Zealand in the sector and helped to facilitate the partnership with Careerforce for the Level 4 Certificate in Frontline Management for Volunteer Managers. Wendy played a key role in the refresh of the Volunteering New Zealand vision, purpose and strategy and was a keen advocate of our Te Tiriti journey.Māori volunteer the most in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly within two vital areas of sports and community/place based services. It is vital to have voices at our board level that advocate for and champion strategies and actions that ensure Māori within the volunteer sector are best represented and that the impact of Māori who volunteer is seen. At our last board election, members elected two additional representatives who identify as tangata whenua: Debbie Gee and Lindy Lely Kawharu. However, the position that Wendy filled was a specific and targetted role for Māori Board representation. We are now actively recruiting for our next our Māori Board representative. You can learn more about this here.Thank Wendy for your commitment to Mahi Aroha and Volunteering New Zealand over the last 4 years. Kia kahaTania JonesBoard ChairVolunteering New Zealand