Hello and welcome to Volunteering Essentials
my name is Jessica and I'm the member relations coordinator at
Volunteering and Contact ACT. At this session you'll discover key
characteristics of the volunteering sector develop an understanding of your
rights and your responsibilities as a volunteer and explore your role as a volunteer.
So what is volunteering?
Volunteering is time willingly given for
the common good without financial gain. Volunteering Australia undertook a
review of this definition in 2015 and this stands as the current definition
for volunteering in Australia. The reason that this definition was reviewed was
that the old definition prior to 2015 stated that volunteering had to take
place in a not for profit organisation. You'll see from this new definition that
that's no longer the case. To unpack this definition a little bit more let's start
with time with time willingly given. Volunteers should never be exploited or used to
replace paid employment and volunteers should give off their time willingly for
the common good this aligns with the United Nations definition that
volunteering should be for the common good looking a little closer to home
this could mean the common good for the Canberra community or for the Australian
society more broadly and finally without financial gain this simply means that
you as a volunteer do not receive financial reimbursement for your time.
The state of volunteering in Australia report, this report was released by
Volunteering Australia in late 2016. The report investigated a few key
questions is there an alignment between the types of roles volunteers want to
undertake and the sector's that they're interested in? Is there an appropriate
framework to support volunteering? And finally what are the necessary steps to
be taken to future-proof
volunteering? Some of the key findings from the report suggested that there is
a disconnect between the volunteering roles that people are interested in and
the roles that organisations are offering and this misalignment means
that organizations need to market on a really wide front to attract volunteers.
The report shows that volunteers find out about volunteering from a wide
variety of sources internet family and friends and the media are all valuable
starting points for people to find volunteering opportunities and
organizations need to be flexible to meet this need I need to be creative in
the volunteering arrangements they offer to individuals they're giving an
Australia 2016 report estimated that forty three point seven percent of adult
Australians volunteered over nine hundred and thirty two million hours per
year this means that the average volunteer gives one hundred and thirty
four hours over the course of 12 months which is two and a half hours per week
percentage-wise this is an increase as there was only
forty-one percent of adult Australians volunteering in 2005 so that number has
actually increased from eight hundred and thirty six million hours in 2005 to
932 million hours in 2016 going back to the state of volunteering report in
Australia the report looked at how satisfied people were with their
volunteering experience ninety-nine percent of volunteers so that they would
continue to engage in volunteering in the future ninety-three percent said
that they saw a positive change as a result of their volunteering efforts and
60 percent improved their patient skills through volunteering interestingly 86
percent of volunteer involving organizations still need more volunteers
a key finding of the report said that volunteer involving organizations
generally lack resources both human and financial and this can inhibit their
ability to engage volunteers but regardless of this they need more 86
percent of organizations need more volunteers rights and responsibilities
both volunteers and organizations certain rights and responsibilities that
they must have hold to ensure health and safety of all volunteers when starting
to look for a volunteering role it's important to be aware of these rights
and responsibilities let's look at the organization's first organizations have
a responsibility to have insurance to give volunteers a written position
description to provide volunteers with induction and with training to treat
volunteers as staff and respect and value volunteer involvement finally they
must allow volunteers to have a say in the organization you as a volunteer have
rights and responsibilities let's start with the responsibilities you have a
responsibility to be punctual and reliable to respect confidentiality to
carry out the duties listed in your volunteer position description to be
accountable to give notice if your availability changes or if you're
leaving the organization to report any injuries or hazards that you notice in
the workplace to adhere to the organization's policies and procedures
to deal with complaints in an appropriate manner to undertake training
as requested ask for support when needed and support the other members of your
team your rights as a volunteer include working in a healthy and a safe
environment receiving an induction or orientation receiving information about
the organization that you're working for including policies and procedures
receiving a volunteer position description or volunteer agreement that
outlines the tasks that you'll be expected to perform within the agreed
working hours be provided with sufficient training and supervision be
reimbursed for the necessary out-of-pocket
expenses we're protected by appropriate insurance have your personal information
dealt with in a confidential manner to take holidays and importantly to say no
if you're uncomfortable or if you feel like you're being exploited
working with vulnerable people registration in your volunteering role
then in your everyday life you're very likely to work alongside and provide
services to vulnerable people of working with vulnerable people registration is
available in the AC t-- and combines a general police check and are working
with children's check you can apply for a WWV p registration cards at any access
camera service center and have these two checks take place once these checks have
taken place you'll be issued with working with vulnerable people card most
organizations in the AC t that engage volunteers and especially organizations
that work with vulnerable people will require that you have a WWV p before you
start volunteering if you're applying for the card as a volunteer they waive
the $80 fee and you get the card for free boundaries as I mentioned before
often as volunteers you will come into contact with vulnerable people it's
important to set personal boundaries right from the start so we don't find
yourself in a situation where you feel pressured into doing something that
you're not comfortable with there's a few boundaries listed here
confidentiality and sharing information this is of the utmost importance that we
remember to keep information that strong with us as volunteers confidential if
you're not sure what information should be confidential or not discuss this with
your volunteer manager stick to what's in the guidelines and the policies
before you want to take your volunteering role you'll be given
guidelines and policies that are appropriate behavior for you as a
volunteer to work within make sure you stick within these at all times work
within your position description you'll receive a position description when you
start your volunteering work it's important that you work within the
position description and Duty is defined within your description ability to say
no this is your right and it's really important that you make sure
you feel as though that you can say no if you're asked to do something by a
client or even your volunteer manager that you are not comfortable with and
finally remember to be friendly but not to be friends if you're working to
provide a service to vulnerable people in the community it's important to be
friendly but it's important that you remember that you are not there to
become their best friend why volunteer there are many reasons why
people all over the acct each and every week volunteer the top three reasons why
people volunteer are to give something back to the community to help the
community and to make a difference we did some research around this and there
are another ten reasons why people volunteer to connect with your community
to share and to broaden knowledge to uncover hidden skills or talents that
you never knew about to meet new people to try something that you've never tried
before to explore career and personal interest to enrich your education to
build your resume to support a cause it's really important for us to identify
why we want to volunteer so that when we do we can clearly articulate this to the
organization that we're helping this means the both the organization and the
volunteer can get what they want and need out of the volunteering role if you
aren't sure what it is it's motivating you to volunteer there are a few key
questions that you can ask yourself is there a cause that's close to my heart
are there particular skills that I'd like to learn or I'd like to contribute
and how much time do I have to commit if you think about these questions you'll
be able to work out very quickly what it is and why it is that you want to
volunteer the thing for National Volunteer Week is give happy live happy
National Volunteer Week is held in the second week of May each year and is an
annual celebration to acknowledge the generous contribution of all of the
nation's volunteers
the reason that I talk about National Volunteer Week is the thing give happy
live happy there's a lot of research that's gone into this theme and I want
to break down some of the stats for you today
research shows the volunteers are happier healthier and sleep better than
those who don't volunteers doctors wish that they could recommend it 96% of
volunteers say that it makes people happier and 95 so that volunteering is
related to feelings of well-being ninety-two percent said that they were
satisfied or highly satisfied with their volunteering experience long-term
volunteering is associated with better mental health in the experience of
helping others provides meaning a sense of self-worth and a social role and
health enhancements a strong correlation xyx exists between well-being happiness
health and the longevity of people who are emotionally kind and compassionate
and their charitable help helping activities volunteering is highly
associated with greater health and happiness so it really does prove that
when you give happiness to others through volunteering you live a
healthier life yourself so how can you get involved you can search for
volunteering opportunities on our website volunteering acct org today you
you can search by keywords by our time available either by your location you
can even search via our interactive map you can simply hover over the area that
you'd like to volunteer in and see the opportunities that are available once
you find an opportunity that you like simply click through an express interest
for that role once you've expressed interest the organization who is
currently recruiting volunteers or receive your notification with your
details in it and get in contact from there if you'd prefer a little bit more
of a personalized experience you can call us up and make an appointment with
one of our volunteers to help you find a volunteering opportunity we can take you
through the website and the different opportunities available and help you
decide which volunteering opportunity want to you
you
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