Hi e-news member,

Welcome to the November edition of our newsletter, we have a busy month ahead in the lead up to the second Homeless Connect event and to International Volunteer Day. Read on for more information on both these events..

1. Volunteering WA AGM & Board changes
2. International Volunteer Day invite
3. Training survey results
4. Homeless Connect donations sought
5. Guidelines for involving children and young people
6. Jobs fund round 2 now open
7. Contribution of the Not for Profit Sector - draft report
8. National volunteering strategy
9. IT volunteer position sought
10. Seminar and training information
11. Welcome to new members...
12. November’s hot resource tip!

Volunteering WA AGM & Board changes

Thanks to all those who came along to our AGM, it was great to see so many of you there. For those who couldn't make it our 2008 - 2009 Annual Report will be put on our website soon for you to read through.

We would like to say a fond farewell to departing board members, Christine Gray and Rachel Kemp, and to our Chairperson, Sue Young, who have finished their term of service. Thank you for being a part of Volunteering WA and for all your work and input over the years.

We are pleased to announce that our Vice Chair, Stephanie Withers, has now taken up the position of Chair of Volunteering WA. We also have three new board members and welcome aboard John Poulsen, Peter Clough and Graham Lovelock. We look forward to your input on the Board and welcome you all to the Volunteering WA team. You can read about all our Board members here.

International Volunteer Day

Once again Volunteering WA will be organising a celebration to recognise and thank volunteers. International Volunteer Day takes place on Saturday 5 December.

An invitation is extended to financial members of Volunteering WA to nominate, free of charge, up to four volunteers to join His Excellency the Governor Dr Ken Michael AC CitWA & Mrs Julie Michael for afternoon tea in the magnificent grounds of Government House from 4pm – 6pm on Friday 4 December 2009.

Additional volunteer places can also be requested by financial member organisations at a charge of $22 (inc GST) per place. Non financial members (free position listing only category) are also invited to nominate volunteers at a charge of $22 (inc GST) per place.

Entry is by invitation only. Members are asked to forward the names of their volunteers to Volunteering WA. Personal invitations will then be posted to members to distribute to their nominated volunteers. Guests are asked to wear something red.

If you are unsure whether your organisation is a financial or non financial member please give us a quick call to check on 9482 4333. Non financial members have the year round option of becoming financial members, ask for more information or take a look at our website.

RSVP your invitation list by Friday 20 November to Caroline on 9482 4333 or caroline@volunteeringwa.org.au

Training survey results

Thank you very much to all of our member organisation representatives who participated in the Training Needs Survey in the last few weeks. We had 61 responses, and we gained some great insight into the respondents' training needs.

Here are some of the main responses to key questions:

• 78.8% of respondents indicated that their organisation has budgetary allocation for training – this is great news!
• 100% indicated that their organisation supports them in pursuing training endeavours
• 79.4% of respondents said that VWA's new fee-for-services system would not be a barrier to them attending training offered by VWA
• 20.1% indicated that they would be interested in participating in Accredited Training. 44.4% indicated that they might be interested.
• 58.7% of respondents indicated that they would not participate in a Volunteer Manager Mentoring Program.
• There was a great deal of interest in workshops. The most popular topics were:
• Effective Orientation and Induction
• Submission Writing
• Recruiting, Managing, Retaining, Rewarding
• Facilitating Groups
• New Technologies and their Role in Volunteer Management

Finally, we would like to congratulate Andre Shannon from Landsdale Family Support Association , the proud owner of a new iPod Shuffle!

Andre indicated that he was going to donate the iPod back to LFSA as a contribution to their fundraiser – great job, Andre!

If you have any questions or comments regarding training at Volunteering WA, please contact Martha on martha@volunteeringwa.org.au.

Homeless Connect donations sought

VWA, in partnership with the City of Perth and other service providers to the homeless community, will again be presenting Homeless Connect Perth on Wednesday 25 November .

We have been overwhelmed with general volunteer requests and have reached our maximum number. We are, however, still recruiting for some specialist volunteer roles (see our website for more details on these specialist roles).

Our donation warehouse is also open should you have anything you would like to contribute. A list of items required and details of the warehouse location and opening times can be found on our website.- www.volunteeringwa.org.au.

Guidelines for involving children and young people

The Commissioner for Children and Young People has just released guidelines to assist organisations to involve children and young people in their work.

The guidelines include examples of the success occurring around Western Australia.

Click here to access this practical resource.

Jobs fund round two now open

The Jobs Fund is an Australian Government Initiative designed to maximise job and training opportunities in local communities. The Jobs Fund forms part of the Australian Government's Jobs and Training Compact and has been established to support families and communities most affected by the Global Economic Recession.

The Jobs Fund has been retargeted to include a number of broader initiatives and to align with the recommendations from the final Keep Australia Working Report, released on 16 October 2009. The Local Jobs stream and the Get Communities Working stream have also been tightened to focus on green jobs and training outcomes and effective Intermediate Labour Market models, including social enterprises. (source: Keep Australia working web page)

More information about the Jobs Fund including updated guidelines and application forms is available at www.keepaustraliaworking.gov.au/jobsfund.

Applications close 11.00pm AEDT Friday 11 December 2009.

Contribution of the Not for Profit Sector - draft report

The Productivity Commission has recently released a draft report on the Contribution of the Not for Profit Sector. This draft report can be downloaded from their website and is available as a whole document or for download by chapters. Written submissions are invited and accepted until 24 November 2009 .

To download the report please visit the Productivity Commission website .

National volunteering strategy

Work has begun on a national volunteering strategy which will be released in 2011 to mark the International Year of Volunteers +10.

State and Territory ministers joined together to input towards the strategy last month and a Volunteering Policy Advisory Group also met for the first time. CEOs from both Volunteering Australia and Volunteering Queensland are part of this group. The work will hopefully result in a shared vision for volunteering in Australia. You can read more about the strategy and it's aims here.

IT volunteer position sought

A volunteer has contacted us and he would like to volunteer in either a systems analysis or IT and software development role as this is his background. If you are have a suitable role and are interested in contacting him please email lorien@volunteeringwa.org.au.

Seminar and training information

Training on VWA website

We have recently updated our training page to include relevant training opportunities for WA based Volunteer Managers offered by other organisations. We hope this is useful to your professional development by helping you see a range of opportunities in one place. View training page.

Trees and Life seminar

Men of the Trees invite you along to their Trees and Life seminar which will help participants to start to rethink their lives and take steps to ensure the survival of forests and trees.

Entry is free and a light lunch is provided. They ask that you simply bring your interest and good thinking. Visit their website for more information - http://menofthetrees.com.au.

RSVPs required to sandra@menofthetrees.com.au or 9250 1888
Where: Perth City Farm. 1 City Farm Place, East Perth (off Lime Street)
When: Monday 23 November 2009

Cert IV in Business

One of Our Community's member organisations has recently expressed interest in the nationally accredited Certificate IV in Business (Governance) course and would like to arrange the 4 day course for early December in Perth.

Minimum numbers are required for the course to run. If anybody is interested in attending the 4-day course please contact Lisa Reed on 03 9320 6820.

Further information on the course can be found at www.ourcommunity.com.au/certiv.

Welcome to new members...

• Adoption Research and Counselling Service
• Partners of Veterans (WA)
• Channel 7 Telethon Trust
• South East Regional Centre for Urban Landscape

We look forward to working with you.

November’s hot resource tip!

OurSharedResources.com is a newly launched resource clearinghouse for the volunteer sector where volunteer management resources can be shared. If you have a great resource then show it off, if you're looking for something then it might be worth a quick check here - www.oursharedresources.com/