About Wide Bay Volunteers
Wide Bay Volunteers - How it started
Wide Bay Volunteers Purpose
Wide Bay Volunteers Mission Statement
Policies, Procedures & Protocols
Grievance procedure
Equal Employment Opportunity
Volunteer Referral Service
Wide Bay Volunteers - How it started
Our background - On 15th of March 1999, The Wide Bay Volunteer Resource Association Inc (Wide Bay Volunteers) was officially opened as a regional office of Volunteering Queensland, by Ms. Diane Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of Volunteering Queensland Inc. At the time of our inauguration, Ms. Morgan was also a member of the boards of Volunteering Australia and IAVE (International Association of Volunteer Effort).
The organisation was incorporated on July 1st 2001 and is managed by a local Management Committee of business people, members and volunteer representatives. Wide Bay Volunteers sets its own policies and procedures and makes its own decisions as to how it operates and the type of programmes it delivers. Wide Bay Volunteers occupies the upper floor of 'Volunteer House' and accommodates both Wide Bay Volunteers and Bay Connect Bundaberg. Wide Bay Volunteers is a non-profit community organisation that assists other not-for-profit organisations throughout the Wide Bay, Burnett and Cooloola regions.
Wide Bay Volunteers comprises a part-time paid Manager and approximately 30 volunteers who work shifts from as little as four (4) hours, up to sixteen (16) hours a week.
Our purpose - Wide Bay Volunteers represents the interests of volunteers and community not-for-profit organisations who use the services of volunteers. The range of work performed is extensive and expanding. The volunteer jobs range from working in hospitals to the arts, the environment to emergency services, and a host of other positions. We promote capacity building by supporting individuals who participate in their local communities, by encouraging community leadership and by assisting and supporting community organisations - building on community partnerships to sustain a more cohesive and healthy society.
Our demographics - From our Bundaberg office, we service the whole of the Wide Bay / Burnett, Fraser Coast and Cooloola regions - a physical area of approximately 50,000 km2 (larger than the size of Tasmania) with an approximate population of 240,000. Over 40 volunteers give the organisation in excess of 1600 hours of work-time each month. We refer more than 1000 volunteers to non-profit community organisations in our community.
Wide Bay Precinct Map in .pdf format
Our service - Wide Bay Volunteers interviews potential volunteers face-to-face at our Bundaberg office and also operates a 1300 phone line. This service is to assist isolated and rural communities with their volunteering efforts. Wide Bay Volunteers refers volunteers to non-profit community organisations to assist them with their operational fundraising and other programmes. There are three options for accessing this referral service for potential volunteers: a face-to-face interview, a telephone interview, or via our Wide Bay Volunteers website.
Our referral service - Our Referral Service benefits communities by promoting community capacity building. The role of the Referral Service is to promote volunteer opportunities across the State within approved not-for-profit community organisations. These member organisations come from all sectors of the community including Emergency Services, Conservation and Environment, Health and Social Services, Arts and Heritage, Tourism, Sports and Recreation, Social Justice, Multicultural, Religious and Educational Institutions. Also due to the requirement for Jobseekers to choose between a number of duties, including Work for the Dole and Volunteering, we have started to see an increase in the number of Centrelink Clients using our services.
Our funding - As a community organisation, Wide Bay Volunteers is funded by Federal and State Government grants. In addition, Wide Bay Volunteers receives funds through Organisational Memberships. Furthermore, Wide Bay Volunteers conducts a weekly community Bingo session to raise funds to assist with operations. Wide Bay Volunteers also applies for grants via submission writing to assist with resources, equipment and community training projects. Training is conducted through Bay Connect, which is another source of revenue.
Work for the Dole and Community Jobs Placement Programmes – Since March 2006 we have also been conducting regular Work for the Dole projects and Community Jobs Placement programmes in co-operation with a number of non-profit community organisations. This provides Jobseekers with the opportunity to develop a range of new skills of benefit to their job search efforts, while at the same time fulfilling their Centrelink obligations.
Wide Bay Volunteers Management Committee - Our Management Committee consists of people from within our immediate community. We hold our Annual General meeting (AGM) in the second half of each calendar year when a new Management Committee is elected. Wide Bay Volunteers encourages those members of our community who understand the 'ethos' of volunteer organisations, and who are passionate about the work we do, to nominate for our management committee.
Top
Being the peak body for volunteering in the Wide Bay, Burnett, Fraser Coast and Cooloola region; Wide Bay Volunteers strives to work with and work for the not-for-profit community, by providing a one-stop shop for volunteering and volunteer management strategies. Wide Bay ensures this through the following:
Wide Bay Volunteers aims to provide:
- Volunteer management, consultation and mediation for community organisations and volunteers.
- Volunteer referral to member organisations.
- Access to resources on volunteer issues and volunteer management.
- Accessible training in the areas of volunteering and volunteer management.
- Educational assistance and training in the form of workshops, speakers and resources.
Wide Bay Volunteers immediate & longer term goals are:
- To support volunteering by providing resources to facilitate and enhance the volunteering experience throughout Queensland by:
- Providing training materials and other resources that match best practice;
- Providing a volunteer referral service that meets the needs of all service users;
- Planning, designing and delivering educational programs to recognised standards that meet the needs of service users;
- Identifying and responding to emerging and diverse needs of volunteers within the community in an inclusive and appropriate way.
- To encourage and foster the highest possible standards in recruitment, training management and recognition of volunteers by:
- Promoting the implementation of 'National Standards for involving volunteers in not-for-profit organisations'.
- To strive for continuous improvement of the public policy and regulatory environment that impact on the volunteer experience by:
- Advocating for the interests of volunteers and volunteering in all relations with government in order to ensure that the public policy and legislative environments recognise the particular issues faced by not-for-profit organisations.
- Seeking recognition from the Queensland government of the need to develop a whole-of-government approach to volunteering.
Wide Bay Volunteers exists to:
- Encourage people to participate by fostering a positive image of volunteering;
- Provide training to enable community organisations - including volunteer managers to develop the structure, skills and capacity to improve the quality of volunteering for the benefit of the Wide Bay / Burnett, Fraser Coast and Cooloola communities;
- Encourage and train volunteers to develop their skills and capacity to improve the quality of volunteering within their communities.
"WBV believes that volunteers have the right to participate freely in society, and that volunteering compliments but in no way substitutes for paid work"
"To better the quality of volunteering for the benefit of our community, and to remain committed to raising the profile and esteem of volunteering as a vital force within the community"
Wide Bay Volunteers Mission Statement
Wide Bay Volunteers Mission is:
- To promote awareness and value of the volunteering experience by encouraging more members of the community to participate by sharing their time, energy, knowledge and skills with no expectation of payment.
- To enable volunteers to develop the necessary skills that may lead to employment, and to encourage employers to hire those with volunteering experience.
- To develop and maintain a system that provides volunteers with the relevant skills to access community organisations thereby contributing to the relief of poverty, sickness and other misfortunes.
- To promote, by inclusion in volunteering, the well being of individuals, groups and communities who are disadvantaged and vulnerable either socially, physically, intellectually, emotionally, or demographically.
- To promote, support, and assist any social welfare program designed to contribute to the alleviation of poverty, sickness or other misfortune including those undertaken by Statutory Authorities, Voluntary Welfare organisations and other community groups.
About Wide Bay Volunteers Mission Statement - Our Mission Statement sets the framework for our organisation to operate within the community to conduct our activities. Our Mission Statement includes the principles by which we can operate and reflects our values.
Our Mission Statement also relates to our central core activities and describes the reasons why we conduct these activities. In this sense, our organisation’s Mission reflects our understanding of the opportunity for inclusiveness in the broader social context in which our organisation is operating.
Policies, Procedures & Protocols
Wide Bay Volunteers has Policies, Procedures and Protocols in place that are designed to protect staff and all volunteers in the workplace or while they are carrying out Wide Bay Volunteers activities. All organisations have a ‘Code of Ethics’ and/or ‘Conduct’ or ‘Behaviour’ that their staff are required to abide by. This sets the standard for the organisation and ensures that the rights of individuals and the organisation’s reputation are both protected.
Since the policies and procedures of an organisation are interlinked, it is important to clarify these terms:
· The vision sets the framework for the organisation's activities (why certain things are done);
· The values underpin the vision and give it support - for example, "we see value in...."
· The Policies set the guidelines for actions and decision making within an organisation (our policy on....is....);
· The procedures describe the processes (how things are done and put into action).
Policies and procedures are a part of a framework within which organisations operate. Having sound policies and procedures in place allows employers and employees to know where both the organisation and staff stand on particular issues.
Policy - Policy is basically a set of guidelines or rules which direct the practice of the organisation. Policy reflects the values, mission and culture of the organisation, in line with what is possible and practical for the staff to implement.
Some policies relate to the broader aims of the organisation. Policies also describe how an organisation intends to achieve its goals and may also reflect decisions made in the past.
Policies also deal with specifics, as an example: how each of the organisation’s activities occur; how are they run; how are they managed and who is involved. Besides policies describing how things should happen, they also detail what happens if things don’t go to plan and how the organisation intends to deal with these.
So, Policy has a number of functions:
- Provides practical guidelines for the management committee and staff;
- Helps a group to make a decision in a consistent way;
- Saves time so that people don't have to keep going over old ground to resolve concerns;
- Assists an organisation to act in accordance with its operating principles;
- Gives participants who may be interested in using the service a clear indication of what they can expect;
- Indicates to people what is expected of them.
Procedures - Procedures describe how the policies are put into action. They are the 'processes' and 'methods' that the organisation has chosen to use. They detail how and when things are done, and who is responsible for doing them.
Procedures are important for making sure that things occur consistently. It is important that everyone in the organisation have access to the written procedures of the organisation so that all staff, including its members and the management committee know how things happen. In this way, when a job becomes vacant or a service user makes a complaint, everyone is clear about the processes that need to be followed.
Protocols - Sometimes, standards are known as protocols. (Standards are also known as values, principles, expectations and ethics).
All organisations have a 'Code of Ethics' or 'Behaviour' that staff are required to abide by. This sets the standard for what is acceptable and non-acceptable behaviour for the organisation and ensures that the rights of individuals and the organisation’s reputation are both protected. Some of these protocols may be recorded in policy and procedures, others may be less formally recorded and given verbally, but nevertheless expected.
The aim of the Grievance procedure is to:
- Resolve disputes as close to the source of the grievance as possible;
- Resolve issues in a timely and effective manner;
- Achieve fair and acceptable outcomes for all.
Wide Bay Volunteers respects and upholds an individual's right to complain under the principles contained in State and Commonwealth Legislation. A grievance is a real or perceived issue which causes resentment, suffering or distress and, which may be regarded as grounds for complaint.
Privacy policy
Wide Bay Volunteers strives to act with the highest integrity and offer the best possible service to volunteers, organisations and all people who access our services. To perform volunteer placement and referral services Wide Bay Volunteers needs to collect personal information. It is therefore important that individuals are confident that their personal information entrusted to Wide Bay Volunteers is treated with the appropriate degree of privacy. Personal information is defined as any information from which an individual's identity can be reasonably determined.
Why Wide Bay Volunteers collects personal information?
Collecting personal information is essential to delivering a quality service which includes being able to make appropriate matches between potential volunteers and organisations or events and providing improved training outcomes. If Wide Bay Volunteers does not collect personal information, it is unable to provide effective referral and education services and unable to support and manage its own volunteer staff.
How Wide Bay Volunteers collects personal information?
Potential service users and/or course participants are asked to complete an application or interview sheet in a number of ways. These include the Internet, phone or face-to-face interviews, or via the general post. Course participant's enrolment details and course assessment data is also collected and stored in accordance with our ‘Privacy Policy'.
Personal information collected by Wide Bay Volunteers is always done with the individual's consent and, where possible, in writing.
Personal information is not disclosed to any other person or group other than Volunteering Queensland (who maintain a state-wide database) and Volunteering Australia (who report to the Australian Government with de-identified data) unless the individual has consented in writing except where required by law.
From time to time, Wide Bay Volunteers may update individual's personal information. This is done by contacting the individual or when the individual contacts Wide Bay Volunteers to make any changes or update their personal information.
How Wide Bay Volunteers secures personal information?
The protection of personal information is a priority to Wide Bay Volunteers. All reasonable precautions to safe-guard personal information from misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure are taken.
When personal information is no longer required or out-of-date, it is deleted from Wide Bay Volunteers systems, and or securely destroyed. Hard copy records of personal information are kept in Wide Bay Volunteers filing systems and/or on a computer database.
Individuals may request access to any information that Wide Bay Volunteers holds about that individual.
Wide Bay Volunteers may need to make contact with an individual who has accessed a service provided by Wide Bay Volunteers for the purpose of follow-up, evaluation or further business with that individual. The nature of any further contact with Wide Bay Volunteers will always be subject to agreement from the individual.
Wide Bay Volunteers Privacy Policy and Procedures will be constantly reviewed and updated in accordance to any changes in the law.
An individual has the right to complain about a breech of privacy by lodging their concern or complaint with Wide Bay Volunteers. If there is no satisfactory outcome the individual can contact the Federal Privacy Commissioner on phone 1300 363 992 or write to Director of Complaints, Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042.
Wide Bay Volunteers is an equal employment opportunity employer. EEO legislation is the provision to provide no less than equal opportunity to all persons, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, persons from Non-English speaking backgrounds and the disabled, including people of all ages. EEO protects workers from discriminatory practices in the workplace, including prejudiced and judgemental practices to do with age, sex, marital status, health, country of birth, religion, appearance and favouritism. Anti-discrimination legislation is in place to ensure that everybody regardless of cultural background, gender, age, personal preferences and people with disabilities are treated as equals in the workplace.
DISABILITY AWARENESS
We have many people with disabilities making a contribution to our organisation whether they work with us or are just visiting. When interacting with people with a disability, one must focus on the individual, not the disability, and always ask if assistance is required. Respect and good communication skills are an important aspect of nurturing acceptance.
GOAL 1: Referral
The effective sourcing and referral of volunteers to community organisations
- Referral of Volunteers towards suitable voluntary positions;
- Market the program to potential volunteers and non-profit organisations;
- Develop and maintain databases of volunteers and member organisations;
- Provide ongoing support and advocacy to volunteers in volunteer positions and member volunteer organisations;
- Develop standards of service that recognise the importance of effective management which supports voluntary efforts.
GOAL 2: Training
To deliver training programs that develop the skills and capacity of volunteers and volunteer managers
- Offer volunteers appropriate training programmes to allow them to develop generic skills to fill volunteer positions;
- Assist and support volunteer managers in developing volunteer Management strategies.
GOAL 3: Sustainability
- Adequately resource the organisation to maintain effective service;
- Ensure the ongoing viability of current projects and training programs;
- Maintain and develop partnerships with peak bodies and stakeholders;
- Sourcing appropriate funding for projects that are consistent with our vision and purpose statement;
- Maintain, review and evaluate policies and procedures to ensure compliance with current National Standards.
The role of the Referral Service is to promote volunteer opportunities across the Wide Bay within not-for-profit community organisations. These member organisations come from all sectors of the community including Emergency Services, Conservation and Environment, Health and Social Services, Arts and Heritage, Tourism, Sports and Recreation, Social Justice, Multicultural, Religious and Educational Institutions. The range of positions within these organisations vary widely and continues to expand on an on-going basis.
The range of work performed by volunteers is extensive and forever changing. The volunteer jobs range from working in hospitals to the arts, the environment to emergency services, and a host of other areas. Depending on the organisation where volunteers are being used, the role may vary widely from reception, meeting and greeting, refreshments, organising tasks and activities, personal care and/or companionship, to management and supervisory roles.