How WestSeed can help grassroot groups reach their full potential

WestSeed.png

The referral service team at Volunteer West works with two groups within the community: people who want to volunteer, and community organisations that need volunteers.

Which group do you think we see more?

This piece of information might help. Most community groups and organisations are under-resourced and overworked. It takes a lot to run good community projects: project design, planning, admin, promotion, logistics, communication, grant writing, reporting, and the list goes on. There is never-ending paperwork and never enough time.

So, what is your guess?

Strangely enough, the answer is… people who want to volunteer.

The number of people who want to volunteer always greatly outnumbers volunteering opportunities in our database. It is not that community organisations do not need any help. It is the opposite. When you are just keeping your head above the water, you don’t have capacity to ask for help. Although you desperately need it.

To involve volunteers, you need to be clear about what you want. Then you need to develop the role, advertise the opportunity, interview to find right people, run police checks if required, and train them. All of these require time, while there are myriads of tasks that must be done immediately.

Small community organisations could benefit the most from working with volunteers, but they don’t have time or resources to make it happen. This is a catch-22 problem. As experts in volunteering, we are determined to solve it.

 WestSeed: Growing Grassroot Groups

Previously, we waited for organisations to approach us with a volunteer position description ready to be advertised. Thanks to the Working For Victoria funding, we are taking more proactive approach. We are reimagining the volunteer support service with stronger emphasis on community development.

WestSeed: Growing Grassroot Groups is a free service package. It is open to any multicultural groups or those that aspire to be inclusive of multicultural volunteers. For the next three months, the WestSeed team are going out to the community to meet 144 community groups, and learn about their aspirations and challenges. The groups will receive practical support in three areas:

Finding volunteers who want to support them.

  • Identifying volunteer roles

  • Writing position descriptions

  • Advertising the role at pop-up events, the volunteer pool, and online

  • Pre-screen candidates to find right people

Promoting the groups

  • Online map

  • Blog posts

Networking with other groups

  • One-off community development workshop

We believe that any community can thrive with passionate volunteers, good promotion and strong network. We are excited to meet 144 community groups all over the West, learn their stories, and amplify their great work with our support.


For more information on how to register for WestSeed, visit here.

Previous
Previous

Learning how to build community awareness through volunteer management

Next
Next

CEO Reflections | VolConnect Launch