FAQs for volunteer organisations
Can't find the information you were looking for? Contact us with your query and we'll get back to you.
Select a question for more information:
- What's this website all about?
- What is the volunteer matching service?
- Where can I advertise volunteering opportunities for my organisation?
- How can we attract different kinds of people into our volunteer programs?
- There's so much to know about running a volunteer organisation and managing volunteer programs. Where can I find good information?
- Where can I find out about grants and funding opportunities?
- What training do my volunteers need? How do I develop a training program? Are there existing courses and subjects for volunteers?
- What policies and procedures do you need in a volunteer organisation? How do you develop them?
- Are there any government services, programs or information available for volunteer organisations?
- Where can I find research and publications relating to volunteering?
What's this website all about?
Victoria's Volunteering Portal is an online community and information resource for Victorian volunteers and volunteering organisations. It aims to inform, support and inspire everyone involved in volunteering including volunteers, volunteering organisations and the people they service.
Find out more about the Portal on our Who We Are page.
What is the volunteer matching service?
The volunteer matching service on Victoria’s Volunteering Portal is a powerful online search engine that links prospective volunteers with targeted volunteer opportunities that closely match their specific volunteering needs.
Prospective volunteers can search for opportunities based on a range of criteria including interests, skills, time commitment, availability, location, age and special needs.
Volunteers come from all walks of life and have very different needs and motivations. The matching service is designed to give prospective volunteers the flexibility to find volunteer opportunities (and volunteer organisations) that meet their individual needs.
Where can I advertise volunteering opportunities for my organisation?
Many volunteers use the Web to research potential volunteering opportunities. The Portal will provide volunteer organisations with the ability to register and advertise their opportunities through our online matching service. We anticipate that this functionality will be available in late November 2010. Contact us and provide your organisation's email address if you would like us to notify you when this functionality is available.
Alternatively, you can contact a Volunteer Resource Centre near you and talk to them about how they can help you to promote your volunteer program to prospective volunteers. You can also contact organisations in your area such as local councils, libraries, Neighbourhood Houses or community centres to see if you can promote your opportunities through their notice boards, websites or publications.
How can we attract different kinds of people into our volunteer programs?
There are many reasons why all kinds of people in the community (as well as those from different demographics and backgrounds) encounter barriers to volunteering.
Things like being aware of the potential barriers to getting involved, knowing the particular types of people you'd like to attract into your volunteer program and having a plan for making your program more attractive to these people are just some of the things you can do to encourage diversity. Visit these pages for more information:
There's so much to know about running a volunteer organisation and managing volunteer programs. Where can I find good information?
One of the goals of the website is to provide a central source of best practice information, tools and resources for volunteer managers, coordinators and others involved in running volunteer organisations.
We're calling this resource the Best Practice Toolkit and over the next few months we'll be gradually adding pages to this resource for you to use, share and, importantly, contribute to with your own tips, feedback, case studies and sample documents. The Toolkit will get you started with basic information on all aspects of managing a volunteer organisation and running volunteer programs and link you to more detailed, quality information and resources on specialist websites from around Victoria, Australia and, in some cases, internationally.
In the meantime, here's links to some of the most popular websites that volunteer organisations currently use to source helpful, quality information:
Where can I find out about grants and funding opportunities?
Our Grants and Funding page lists volunteer-related grants and funding opportunities provided by state, federal and local government, charities and philanthropic organisations. It also has links to the main subscription-based funding databases and services.
What training do my volunteers need? Are there existing courses and subjects for volunteers?
Visit our Induction and Training section for information about how to develop volunteer training programs and links to further resources to help you find relevant training and training providers.
What policies should you have in a volunteer organisation? How do you develop them?
We have a number of pages in our Best Practice Toolkit that discuss policies and procedures for volunteer organisations. These pages also link to a good range of policy and procedure templates and sample documents. Visit these pages:
Are there any government services, programs or information available for volunteer organisations?
Volunteering in Victoria is supported through different state, federal and local government policies, programs and services. Our Government Information and Assistance page outlines the key volunteering policies, programs and initiatives in State, Federal and Local Government.
Where can I find research and publications relating to volunteering?
Our Research and Publications page has links to the main volunteering-related national and international research and publications including books, reports, policies, journals and standards.