Support for volunteer managers and organisations

Supporting people who work with volunteers

This page has helpful information for anyone who works with volunteers in Victoria. You’ll find simple guides, templates, resources and links to useful websites. The resources can help you include people from all backgrounds, keep volunteers safe and follow the rules.

General information

Volunteer management

Volunteering Victoria’s Volunteer Management Handbook is a simple guide for people who manage volunteers. It includes tips on finding volunteers, being inclusive, and ways to connect with others including:

• hints and tips
• useful links
• downloadable templates.

The handbook helps new, current, and future Volunteer Managers and Coordinators in their roles. Volunteering Victoria updates the handbook regularly. You can check the information in the handbook any time and as often as you need.

The VIO Lens- Future Proofing our Volunteer Workforce

Published by: Eastern Volunteers

The research report:

• shares what people said about challenges during COVID to help build strong volunteer teams
• helps understand what volunteers need today to support their work.

Boroondara Volunteer Resource Centre

The centre offers tools to help organisations with their volunteer and community programs. The tools include:

• interview and reference check guides
• a self-audit tool for recognising and rewarding volunteers.

Access to these resources is free, but you must become a member by completing a short form.

Understanding volunteer barriers

The Volunteer Lens: Engaging potential volunteers survey

Published by: Eastern Volunteers

This research survey heard from volunteers about their experiences in the community.

The findings:

• support creating plans to build stronger communities
• help to understand what volunteers want and need, so organisations can continue working with them.

Volunteer engagement

Emerging stronger: Increasing volunteer capacity project

Published by: Community Information and Support Victoria (CISVic)

The report provides:

• initiatives, including a 5-year action plan, to recruit and involve volunteers and grow the volunteer workforce in the social support sector
• helpful information for community groups who are having trouble finding enough volunteers.

What Works to Re-Engage and Broaden Volunteering – Two Sides of The Coin

Published by: EV – Strengthening Communities

The report:

• gathers ideas from volunteers and organisations that work with them
• looks at ways to make volunteer workforces stronger and last longer
• shares research on how organisations can adjust to changes in volunteering.

Community sport volunteering

Published by: South West Sport

Resources to help community sports volunteers and sporting clubs increase capacity and thrive. Topics include:

• volunteer mentorship and succession planning
• engaging young people in volunteering
• creating an inclusive club.

To access these resources, go to the South West website and fill out a resource request form. A team member from South West Sport will contact you.

Inclusion and diversity

Victoria ALIVE (Ability-Links-Inclusive-Volunteering-Everyday) is a project run by Volunteering Victoria. It supports people with disability to get involved in volunteering. It also shares helpful information about inclusive volunteer management, recruitment, and networking.

Australian Multicultural Community Services and the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing has a resource kit to support older multicultural volunteers and committee members. The kit helps senior volunteers with their roles. It also gives them tools to deal with challenges. This way, they can keep supporting their communities.

Inclusive Volunteering Guide: a practical resource for inclusive environmental volunteering

Published by: Bellarine Catchment Network

The guide provides practical steps to create inclusive volunteer groups. It includes:

• how to plan and share opportunities that everyone can access and join
• tools, resources, links and templates to help make volunteers feels safe and welcome.

Culturally Inclusive Volunteer Toolkit

Published by: Volunteer West

A helpful resource for organisations to:

• use culturally respectful practices that meet national standards
• include volunteers’ interests in how they manage volunteering.

Evaluation of Volunteer West Inclusive Volunteer Toolkit

Published by: Volunteer West

The evaluation can help organisations use their own toolkit. It includes:

• lessons learned from the Inclusive Volunteer Toolkit
• important features for successful design, challenges, and suggestions.

Pathways to employment

Student Work Placement Framework: a guide to successful student work placements

Published by: Bellarine Catchment Network

A resource for groups that manage volunteers. It can help with:

• better ways to involve work placement students
• creating pathways to employment
• useful tools to plan and run work placements
• links to other resources and templates.

Governance and legal support

The National Standards for Volunteer Involvement is a helpful guide for organisations that work with volunteers. The National Standards ensure organisations look after volunteers, support them, and appreciate what they do.

The National Standards help organisations find and keep volunteers. They also make sure volunteers are safe. Organisations should use these standards with help from their local volunteering organisation.

VolPoll is a free tool that helps volunteers and small to medium groups learn about different volunteering options and any possible risks. The tool follows the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement to help keep volunteers stay safe in their roles.

Justice Connect’s Not-for-profit Law program offers legal help at no cost or a low cost to community groups and social organisations.

Health and safety

This WorkSafe Victoria Volunteer health and safety resource is a guide for community organisations in Victoria. It explains how to manage volunteer health and safety. This includes legal obligations under the OHS Act 2004 (Vic).

Victoria Managed Insurance Agency offers insurance for community service groups funded by the government.

Justice Connect has a free resource to help organisations find and working with volunteers safely. If the law about volunteering is hard to understand, their online tools can help. These tools come with fun activities, videos, and real examples. They support organisations and volunteer managers in their work.