Action Plan Co-Design Workshop - National Strategy for Volunteering

1.1 Focus on the Volunteer Experience

A good volunteer experience is paramount to achieving individual and collective goals. Providing volunteers with the opportunity to satisfy their motivations and aspirations, ensuring their time is used efficiently, and communicating how their involvement makes a difference will promote positive outcomes and improve retention.

1.2 Make Volunteering Inclusive and Accessible

Participating in volunteering should be an easy choice where everyone feels welcome to come as they are and contribute their time, skills, and passion to activities and causes they care about. Access should not be mistaken for ability and volunteering should take place in environments where people feel culturally and psychologically safe and included.

1.3 Ensure Volunteering is Not Exploitative

Volunteering should be safe and ethical. Appropriate supports are required to ensure that volunteers are protected. Volunteering should not be exploited as ‘free labour’, used to replace paid workers or compensate for shortages in the paid workforce, or be wholly responsible for delivering public services.

2.1 Diversify the Understanding of Volunteering

Improving the understanding of volunteering to include different cultural expressions and interpretations will ensure volunteering, in all forms, is well supported and celebrated across Australian communities.

2.2 Reshape the Public Perception of Volunteering

Expanding the public consciousness on volunteering will inspire more people to contribute to activities and causes they care about and will improve awareness about the role of volunteering in Australian society.

2.3 Recognise the Inherent Value of Volunteering

Celebrating and supporting volunteering as an activity with inherent value makes a powerful statement about the importance attributed to volunteering in Australian society. The innate value of volunteering should be recognised alongside the role volunteering plays in achieving other individual and collective outcomes.

2.4 Enable a Community‑Led Approach

Empowering and enabling communities to be drivers of how volunteering influences their futures will ensure everyone who wants to participate can do so irrespective of their level of power or access to resources.

3.1 Make Volunteering a Cross‑Portfolio Issue in Government

Governments need to consider volunteers and volunteering across all domains. Comprehensive policy and investment in volunteering should be recognised as an essential remit of governments at every level.

3.2 Build Strong Leadership and Shared Accountability

Strong leadership for a shared agenda on volunteering will elevate its importance and foster collaboration and accountability, enabling greater collective impact.

3.3 Commit to Strategic Investment

The availability of and investment in common enabling infrastructure, including technology, research, resources, and support services, will improve capacity and capability across the volunteering ecosystem.

3.4 Recognise the Importance of Volunteer Management

Recognition of and adequate resourcing for Volunteer Management as a function and profession will improve the experience of volunteers and amplify the impact of volunteering.

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