The Volunteering Strategy for South Australia was launched in February 2014 by the South Australian Government in partnership with Volunteering SA&NT, Business SA and the Local Government Association of SA.

It provides a practical ‘blueprint’ for action that will result in real and lasting improvements to the volunteer experience in South Australia. Over 500 South Australian stakeholders contributed to develop the strategy through roundtable meetings, workshops, social media and an on-line survey.

The strategy articulates a vision for volunteering in South Australia that is distinctly  South Australian and reflects our social and economic way of life.

The strategy has identified four focus areas and sets out a framework of priorities to support decision making and policy development to 2027. Click below to find out more about each of the focus areas.

Focus Areas

Invest in the foundations of volunteering

This area will focus on the value and benefits of volunteering to the individual, the local community and across South Australia.

Aim

Build the capability of volunteer involving organisations to inclusively engage, train and support volunteers.

Key priorities

1.1 Promote how volunteering improves health and wellbeing and benefits the individual, community and the environment.

1.2 Encourage organisations to connect with the community and engage with a diverse range of volunteers regardless of ability, age, gender, ethnicity or sexuality.

1.3 Support organisations to find new ways to keep and encourage regional and metropolitan volunteers, as well as targeting young people.

 

Communicate the benefits of volunteering

This area will focus on continuing to advocate for volunteering and raising the awareness of the range of volunteering activities available.

Aim

Raise the profile of volunteering in the community to encourage greater participation.

Key priorities

2.1 Make sure volunteers and their managers know about different ways to communicate and interact, so that:
• volunteers can communicate well with each other
• the community knows how volunteers help them
• people who want to volunteer know what their options are.

2.2 Make sure that people can choose volunteer activities that suit them and help achieve personal goals. Do this by having flexible ways of finding volunteers and a wide range of volunteer positions to choose from.

Implement leading practice and high quality standards.

This area will focus on organisations having high management standards to make sure that volunteers have the resources and support to do their work to the best of their ability.

Aim

Organisations have access to relevant information, resources and networks to establish effective management practices.

Key priorities

3.1 Help volunteer involving organisations to develop good volunteer management practices, appropriate structure and governance, and relevant training opportunities for volunteers.

3.2 Increase the understanding of compliance and risk management to make sure that clients, volunteers and staff are protected and safe.

Continuous improvement.

This area will focus on helping government, business and not-for-profit organisations and groups improve how they build the community through volunteering.

Aim

Continue to build relationships, networks and partnerships to maintain the impact of volunteering on our communities.

Key priorities

4.1 Encourage partnerships and collaboration between different sectors to promote and sustain volunteering.

4.2 Encourage continuous improvement in volunteer management and engagement.

4.3 Support research on the impact and growth of volunteering.

Download The Volunteering Strategy for South Australia 2021-2027

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