Doug PollardMaking Volunteering Easier, with Lily D'Ambrosio
Freshly Doug interview with Lily D'Ambrosio, Victorian Minister for Community Development
DOUG: We hear quite a bit about the third sector nowadays. That is, non-government and non-private, the one in-between that we here, at Joy belong to – the voluntary sector, and it can be sometimes difficult to pull everything together that you need, to run a volunteer organisation. But the government has come to the party with a new website and joining us on the line, now is Lily D’Ambrosio. The Minister for Community Development, in Victoria – good morning, Minister.
LILY: Good morning, Doug – and Lily will do nicely and thanks very much for having me on the show.
DOUG: You’re more than welcome. I didn’t know we had a minister for community development. I’m really sorry about that [laughs]
LILY: No, not at all. Doug. In fact, the title used to be: Victorian Communities – and people will remember John Thwaites?
DOUG: M’mm.
LILY: Who was the deputy premier and he was the first minister, if you like. In this field – Minister for Victorian Communities, amongst a number of other things - - -
DOUG: Ah, ha. I see.
LILY: - - - we’ve been very committed from Day One, as a government. To ensure that we recognise the place that communities play in having healthy and well-integrated and harmonious communities.
DOUG: Well, we certainly know within the gay community we couldn’t exist without our volunteer organisations and our volunteers of which Joy itself is only one. But explain to me about this new website. I’ve seen a couple of TV ads, it’s: volunteer.vic.gov.au – what’s this about?
LILY: Well, the website is one of a number of initiatives that form a part of our government’s strategy for assisting volunteering – m’mm; so in 2008, the Premier announced a volunteering strategy - $9.3m. Because we understood having had a lot of discussions with the third sector as you identified earlier, that [indistinct] actually changing within our community. In some ways, it’s becoming more difficult or more challenging for a lot of community organisations to be able to access and keep volunteers. To be able to fulfil the services and the functions that they have, for the broader community - - -
DOUG: That is certainly true, yes.
LILY: - - - yeah – so, we understood those challenges. In consultation with a lot of community organisations, we came up with the strategy to tackle that. The website is one fantastic part of that strategy. I don’t know, Doug, if you’ve had an opportunity to look at the website?
DOUG: I’ve got it right now – in front of me, in fact - - -
LILY: Terrific and you’ll see from the website that it’s very user friendly. What it does is present an opportunity for individuals to go on line, to look for – by category – the types of volunteering opportunities that exist out there and are able to select the opportunities that – m’mm, suit them. That might match their interests or their skills – but also, the amount of time that they’re able to dedicate - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LILY: - - - to volunteering. Because we know that people are becoming more time poor and we need to make sure that community organisations are able to offer up a variety of ways that people can actually engage with them and offer their services.
DOUG: So, there’s a matching service on there? For volunteers and - - -
LILY: It does – but the other part of it, of course – which is really exciting and it’s the first government-sponsored website of its kind in Australia, is that we’re actually providing a matching service. So that community organisations who are seeking volunteers can have themselves listed on the website, advertise the types of volunteering opportunities that are out there. For people who want to hook-up to any of those all they need to do is go in, have a look at the categories that they’re interested in and you can see for yourself that one of the categories amongst a number, which include Environment, Women – m’mm – and the like, Sport, Recreation – we also have a category for the GLBTI - - -
DOUG: Indeed.
LILY: - - - organisations. I’m hoping JoyFM – yourselves, will actually be putting yourselves up there?
DOUG: I’ll have a word with the manager.
[laughs]
LILY: You should do that and it’s going to be a terrific opportunity – but can I say too, Doug? That the website, so far – it had its first iteration a few months ago and now, we’re moving into the matching service - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LILY: - - - but it’s had 50,000 hits so far - - -
DOUG: That’s pretty good.
LILY: Yeah. Absolutely – so, it’s popular. It’s going to be a terrific tool for a lot of volunteer-based community organisations to really put themselves out there and grow their volunteers. Because we know volunteers are so important to the lifeblood of the community.
DOUG: Yeah, there’re also a couple of other resources on there that I wanted to touch on – m’mm, one is a – kind-of, tool kit. For organisations. So that you can find out what best practise is, in a number of areas. For running a volunteer organisation.
LILY: That’s right.
DOUG: (and)The other one is matching up organisations with other organisations that offer grants. To voluntary groups.
LILY: Absolutely – m’mm, one of the key changes that we’re wanting to encourage, amongst community organisations – is the better take-up of technology. Often, community organisations take up new technologies and utilise them to a very minimal level. But this inter-active website presents opportunities to add value to the technologies that community organisations may have – so, therefore they’re able to share the knowledge they have with other community organisations that are of similar character and nature. They can go in and seek new ideas that might be tried, by other organisations – that might be adaptable, to their own circumstances. That’s a really exciting space because within a lot of community organisations, themselves, are very time poor and we want to minimise – I suppose, the burden. On them. To go out and seek ways to become sustainable and maintain themselves. By having a lot of those – m’mm, a lot of that information – accessible – more easily, accessible. Directly through the Internet.
DOUG: What you’re building here is something a bit like a Wikipedia but it’s just for voluntary organisations?
LILY: Yes – well, absolutely and in fact we are going to be moving very shortly in coming weeks, to a Wiki-system - - -
DOUG: M’mm?
LILY: - - - whereby we can have that real exchange of information, across community organisations. To enhance their capabilities – so, it’s a really exciting space for us. We know also that nationally the federal government’s keeping a really good eye on the development of our website. We’re hoping that – m’mm, they’re able to learn a lot. So – from our own experiences so that you never know, one day perhaps this type of website portal will be available to community organisations right across the country.
DOUG: Well, that would be really good. That would be really good, indeed – m’mm, I notice there’s still quite a few gaps on the website so it’s very much a work-in-progress – I mean, most of it is there. But you’ve got – you’re still, actually, populating it. With more and more information, all the time.
LILY: Absolutely and it’s going to be a dynamic website and that’s the really important thing, here too – Doug and you’ve really hit the nail on the head, I mean – it is early days. It’s been taken up really well, to date. But it will continue to grow as a must-go-to website for community organisations and people who want to give-up their time to help others and – m’mm, whether they be young or old no matter what their level of ability or skill or what their interests there will be something, there. For everyone. That can only be a good thing for improving the health and wellbeing of our community. Through volunteering.
DOUG: Yes, indeed – now, if an organisation wants to sign-up and be listed on the website what do they have to do?
LILY: They can seek that information through the website - - -
DOUG: Right.
LILY: - - - where there’s an opportunity for them to express an interest to being signed-up and listed. We’ve a good system in place, in the Department. To deal with that very quickly. Obviously, there’re the normal checks-and-balances for organisations - - -
DOUG: Sure.
LILY: But that’s important, to maintain integrity. Of the organisation.
DOUG: Do they need to be registered?
LILY: Yes.
DOUG: Those qualifying conditions.
LILY: Yeah. There’re qualifying conditions, as you’d expect - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LILY: - - - so for example, they would need to have an ABN. Be incorporated or registered as a company of some sort - - -
DOUG: Right.
LILY: Those basic, qualifying standards that you would expect from any community organisation. That’s really important – but the objective of this of course, is to have an environment through the website that is inviting, accessible and is ultimately, helpful not just to people who want to volunteer but to the many community organisations that we all rely heavily, on. To maintain as I said, the general health and wellbeing of our community.
DOUG: Yeah – well, I think that’s a great idea. Congratulations for getting it off the ground.
LILY: Thank you very much, Doug and I really do encourage JoyFM to get themselves listed on there and start growing your volunteers.
DOUG: We always need people to help here, Lily. We always need people. Thank you very much for joining us this morning.
LILY: Thank you, very much Doug. I appreciate the time and the interest and I wish everyone well.
DOUG: Thank you very much. You’re welcome.
LILY: ‘Bye, ‘bye.
DOUG: M’mm – that was Lily D’Ambrosio, there. The Victorian Government Minister for Community Development and if you’re interested in becoming a volunteer for anyone of a number of organisations there’s a range on there and they’re growing all the time – there is a section, there. For lesbian and gay organisations, too – it’s: Really Long Link - and if you’re a volunteer or if you’re an organisation, one of the more useful bits from an organisational point of view is they have gathered together an awful lot of information about who provides grants to voluntary organisations. So you can go and look for money. Which is something we all need, all the time.
Which is why we like you to become members of Joy, of course <cheesy grin>..
DOUG: We hear quite a bit about the third sector nowadays. That is, non-government and non-private, the one in-between that we here, at Joy belong to – the voluntary sector, and it can be sometimes difficult to pull everything together that you need, to run a volunteer organisation. But the government has come to the party with a new website and joining us on the line, now is Lily D’Ambrosio. The Minister for Community Development, in Victoria – good morning, Minister.
LILY: Good morning, Doug – and Lily will do nicely and thanks very much for having me on the show.
DOUG: You’re more than welcome. I didn’t know we had a minister for community development. I’m really sorry about that [laughs]
LILY: No, not at all. Doug. In fact, the title used to be: Victorian Communities – and people will remember John Thwaites?
DOUG: M’mm.
LILY: Who was the deputy premier and he was the first minister, if you like. In this field – Minister for Victorian Communities, amongst a number of other things - - -
DOUG: Ah, ha. I see.
LILY: - - - we’ve been very committed from Day One, as a government. To ensure that we recognise the place that communities play in having healthy and well-integrated and harmonious communities.
DOUG: Well, we certainly know within the gay community we couldn’t exist without our volunteer organisations and our volunteers of which Joy itself is only one. But explain to me about this new website. I’ve seen a couple of TV ads, it’s: volunteer.vic.gov.au – what’s this about?
LILY: Well, the website is one of a number of initiatives that form a part of our government’s strategy for assisting volunteering – m’mm; so in 2008, the Premier announced a volunteering strategy - $9.3m. Because we understood having had a lot of discussions with the third sector as you identified earlier, that [indistinct] actually changing within our community. In some ways, it’s becoming more difficult or more challenging for a lot of community organisations to be able to access and keep volunteers. To be able to fulfil the services and the functions that they have, for the broader community - - -
DOUG: That is certainly true, yes.
LILY: - - - yeah – so, we understood those challenges. In consultation with a lot of community organisations, we came up with the strategy to tackle that. The website is one fantastic part of that strategy. I don’t know, Doug, if you’ve had an opportunity to look at the website?
DOUG: I’ve got it right now – in front of me, in fact - - -
LILY: Terrific and you’ll see from the website that it’s very user friendly. What it does is present an opportunity for individuals to go on line, to look for – by category – the types of volunteering opportunities that exist out there and are able to select the opportunities that – m’mm, suit them. That might match their interests or their skills – but also, the amount of time that they’re able to dedicate - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LILY: - - - to volunteering. Because we know that people are becoming more time poor and we need to make sure that community organisations are able to offer up a variety of ways that people can actually engage with them and offer their services.
DOUG: So, there’s a matching service on there? For volunteers and - - -
LILY: It does – but the other part of it, of course – which is really exciting and it’s the first government-sponsored website of its kind in Australia, is that we’re actually providing a matching service. So that community organisations who are seeking volunteers can have themselves listed on the website, advertise the types of volunteering opportunities that are out there. For people who want to hook-up to any of those all they need to do is go in, have a look at the categories that they’re interested in and you can see for yourself that one of the categories amongst a number, which include Environment, Women – m’mm – and the like, Sport, Recreation – we also have a category for the GLBTI - - -
DOUG: Indeed.
LILY: - - - organisations. I’m hoping JoyFM – yourselves, will actually be putting yourselves up there?
DOUG: I’ll have a word with the manager.
[laughs]
LILY: You should do that and it’s going to be a terrific opportunity – but can I say too, Doug? That the website, so far – it had its first iteration a few months ago and now, we’re moving into the matching service - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LILY: - - - but it’s had 50,000 hits so far - - -
DOUG: That’s pretty good.
LILY: Yeah. Absolutely – so, it’s popular. It’s going to be a terrific tool for a lot of volunteer-based community organisations to really put themselves out there and grow their volunteers. Because we know volunteers are so important to the lifeblood of the community.
DOUG: Yeah, there’re also a couple of other resources on there that I wanted to touch on – m’mm, one is a – kind-of, tool kit. For organisations. So that you can find out what best practise is, in a number of areas. For running a volunteer organisation.
LILY: That’s right.
DOUG: (and)The other one is matching up organisations with other organisations that offer grants. To voluntary groups.
LILY: Absolutely – m’mm, one of the key changes that we’re wanting to encourage, amongst community organisations – is the better take-up of technology. Often, community organisations take up new technologies and utilise them to a very minimal level. But this inter-active website presents opportunities to add value to the technologies that community organisations may have – so, therefore they’re able to share the knowledge they have with other community organisations that are of similar character and nature. They can go in and seek new ideas that might be tried, by other organisations – that might be adaptable, to their own circumstances. That’s a really exciting space because within a lot of community organisations, themselves, are very time poor and we want to minimise – I suppose, the burden. On them. To go out and seek ways to become sustainable and maintain themselves. By having a lot of those – m’mm, a lot of that information – accessible – more easily, accessible. Directly through the Internet.
DOUG: What you’re building here is something a bit like a Wikipedia but it’s just for voluntary organisations?
LILY: Yes – well, absolutely and in fact we are going to be moving very shortly in coming weeks, to a Wiki-system - - -
DOUG: M’mm?
LILY: - - - whereby we can have that real exchange of information, across community organisations. To enhance their capabilities – so, it’s a really exciting space for us. We know also that nationally the federal government’s keeping a really good eye on the development of our website. We’re hoping that – m’mm, they’re able to learn a lot. So – from our own experiences so that you never know, one day perhaps this type of website portal will be available to community organisations right across the country.
DOUG: Well, that would be really good. That would be really good, indeed – m’mm, I notice there’s still quite a few gaps on the website so it’s very much a work-in-progress – I mean, most of it is there. But you’ve got – you’re still, actually, populating it. With more and more information, all the time.
LILY: Absolutely and it’s going to be a dynamic website and that’s the really important thing, here too – Doug and you’ve really hit the nail on the head, I mean – it is early days. It’s been taken up really well, to date. But it will continue to grow as a must-go-to website for community organisations and people who want to give-up their time to help others and – m’mm, whether they be young or old no matter what their level of ability or skill or what their interests there will be something, there. For everyone. That can only be a good thing for improving the health and wellbeing of our community. Through volunteering.
DOUG: Yes, indeed – now, if an organisation wants to sign-up and be listed on the website what do they have to do?
LILY: They can seek that information through the website - - -
DOUG: Right.
LILY: - - - where there’s an opportunity for them to express an interest to being signed-up and listed. We’ve a good system in place, in the Department. To deal with that very quickly. Obviously, there’re the normal checks-and-balances for organisations - - -
DOUG: Sure.
LILY: But that’s important, to maintain integrity. Of the organisation.
DOUG: Do they need to be registered?
LILY: Yes.
DOUG: Those qualifying conditions.
LILY: Yeah. There’re qualifying conditions, as you’d expect - - -
DOUG: Yeah.
LILY: - - - so for example, they would need to have an ABN. Be incorporated or registered as a company of some sort - - -
DOUG: Right.
LILY: Those basic, qualifying standards that you would expect from any community organisation. That’s really important – but the objective of this of course, is to have an environment through the website that is inviting, accessible and is ultimately, helpful not just to people who want to volunteer but to the many community organisations that we all rely heavily, on. To maintain as I said, the general health and wellbeing of our community.
DOUG: Yeah – well, I think that’s a great idea. Congratulations for getting it off the ground.
LILY: Thank you very much, Doug and I really do encourage JoyFM to get themselves listed on there and start growing your volunteers.
DOUG: We always need people to help here, Lily. We always need people. Thank you very much for joining us this morning.
LILY: Thank you, very much Doug. I appreciate the time and the interest and I wish everyone well.
DOUG: Thank you very much. You’re welcome.
LILY: ‘Bye, ‘bye.
DOUG: M’mm – that was Lily D’Ambrosio, there. The Victorian Government Minister for Community Development and if you’re interested in becoming a volunteer for anyone of a number of organisations there’s a range on there and they’re growing all the time – there is a section, there. For lesbian and gay organisations, too – it’s: Really Long Link - and if you’re a volunteer or if you’re an organisation, one of the more useful bits from an organisational point of view is they have gathered together an awful lot of information about who provides grants to voluntary organisations. So you can go and look for money. Which is something we all need, all the time.
Which is why we like you to become members of Joy, of course <cheesy grin>..
