Nonprofits have a duty of care to ensure a safe environment for employees, volunteers & clients

Volunteering is of great benefit to volunteers, nonprofits & the community at large

During National Student Volunteer Week, QUT and Volunteering Queensland held a special project development day as part of the Changemaker Program. The Changemaker Program is a unique collaboration which supports 10 students over 12 months to take an innovative idea with a social justice impact and make it happen. At this event Volunteering Queensland launched two thoughtful new publications.

It's important that you choose a volunteer role that matches your values, aspirations & meets your requirements

Enhance volunteer experiences & comply with legislation & duty of care

Volunteering is time willingly given for the common good & without financial gain

Imagine you are in a key strategic meeting with a room full of people that look, sound, think and act like you. How many actually need to be there? These days, building a culturally diverse workforce is viewed by most as a powerful strategy for encouraging, innovation and productivity. However the focus seems to have been largely on paid staff rather than on volunteers.

What does the data say? A snapshot of key info & stats about volunteering in Queensland

"Volunteering is time willingly given for the common good & without financial gain"

Our thoughts are currently with Central Queensland (Gladstone Regional Council Area) who are experiencing flooding in their area. There have been no calls for spontaneous volunteers at this time.

The Hon Minister for Social Services Christian Porter MP, Deputy Chair to the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership has recently released the latest findings on business and individual giving and volunteering in two reports.

Child safety agency Child Wise, training social enterprise Our Community and Victorian law firm Moores have released the 2018 Child Safety Toolkit - How to Create a Child Safe Organisation. The new toolkit was launched at the conclusion of the royal commission to assist not-for-profit organisations understand the realistic measures they can take to provide safe places for children.

Ensure that appropriate insurance cover is provided to protect volunteer staff & volunteer board members

Info sheets & guides to help engage international students as volunteers

We have all experienced occasions when we have entered a room full of people only to discover that you are the odd person out. How does it feel and what are the factors that are most likely to convince you to stay? There are thousands of organisations where you can volunteer your time and experience and it is possible that you have already narrowed down the type of organisation in which you would like to place yourself, based on the work they do and where they are located. What you may not have considered is who else works in the organisation and how you will be treated.

The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2015 is the first global review of the power of volunteer voices to help improve the way people are governed. Drawing on evidence from countries as diverse as Brazil, Kenya, Lebanon and Bangladesh, the UN report shows how ordinary people are volunteering their time, energies and skills to transform governance and improve the way they are engaged at local, national and global levels.

Since late 2013 Volunteering Australia has been challenging the concept of ‘what constitutes volunteering in contemporary Australia?’ The new definition follows a review that included the release of an issues paper, national stakeholder information sessions and an online survey to gauge community views. The result is a broader and more inclusive definition that reflects the diversity of volunteering activities undertaken nationally.

Volunteering Australia in partnership with Volunteering WA and Eduka Web Developers will today launch the GoVolunteer App in celebration of tomorrow’s International Volunteer Day. The App connects you to thousands of volunteer-involving organisations all over the country from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and is the ideal tool to help you find your perfect volunteer match.

Volunteering Queensland is pleased to announce that the Hon. Shannon Fentiman MP, Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Family Violence has released the Partnering for the future: advancing Queensland’s community services industry 2017-25 and Action plan 2017-2018.

Queensland Mental Health Week, 9-15 October, is a good opportunity to think about the impact volunteering can have on your well-being.