Volunteer manager wears many hats
Katikati volunteer manager Lesley Ruf wears many hats - and she’s desperate for more volunteers to manage.Next week it’s International Volunteer Managers’ Day on November 5, and all over the Bay of Plenty, managers are being celebrated for the work they do for no financial reward. Lesley manages about 35 volunteer drivers who operate the Katikati Community Van, taking people to medical appointments and day surgeries in Tauranga. But [...]
Candidates front up on social issues
Candidates representing some of the major political parties presented their ideas on social issues this week to an audience of about 50 people working in the social and charities sector.The meeting was organised by SociaLink and Volunteering Services which supports the Western Bay of Plenty social and community sector. Jan Logie represented the Green party, Bay of Plenty candidate Pare Taikato represented Labour, Bay of Plenty candidate Christine Young [...]
Fundraiser Rena movie night for environmental groups
Volunteering Services and Envirohub are running a fundraiser screening of the Rena disaster movie Taking Back Our Beach next month to raise funds for two environmental groups. The screening will be held on Wednesday 11 October at 6.45pm, at United Cinemas Bayfair, and will raise funds for ARRC Wildlife Trust and the Western Bay of Plenty Wildlife Trust. Volunteering Services manager Angela Wallace said it would be an opportunity [...]
Results are out! Volunteer Survey 2022
Volunteer Survey February 2022 – The Results Here at Volunteering Bay of Plenty we are always keen to know what Volunteers are thinking and what’s important to them. What better way to find that out than to ask directly, so we ran a survey in January and are now pleased to be able to share the results with you. The full report runs to 10 pages so in this [...]
Should Volunteers Ever Be Paid?
That might sound like an odd question. After all, a Volunteer is someone who works without expecting to be paid, right? Maybe it isn’t always quite that simple. We tend to think of Volunteers as generous people who give up their time to work for charities and community organisations, their only reward being the satisfaction of knowing that they're helping. While many of them certainly do fit that description I [...]
Leading Volunteers through Major Change
It’s tough to lead a team through times of massive change. It’s even harder when they're Volunteers.Most humans dislike change, especially when it’s unexpected and will potentially make life harder. Whether it’s a pandemic, a global economic meltdown or major natural disaster the instinct is to hide or run. Good Volunteer Managers don’t do either so there’s a significant burnout risk. It’s our mission to support Volunteers and Volunteer Managers [...]