What Is Volunteering?

Volunteer work is defined by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) as activities - formal or informal - performed outside the immediate family environment which is:
• done of one’s own free will;
• provides a service to the community; and
• is done without monetary reward, excluding out of pocket expenses. 1

ACOSS maintains, "First and foremost, volunteering is work. It is also an expression of active participation in the civic life of a democratic society." 2

Formal volunteering is organised volunteering done through or for an organisation or project. Informal volunteering is direct volunteer services to other households and individuals (such as helping an elderly neighbour with shopping).

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, an estimated 4.4 million people 18 years and over performed formal voluntary service in 2000, contributing 704.1 million hours unpaid work annually. This contribution has been estimated at 1.4% of GDP, or $8.9 billion dollars. 3

Informal volunteering is not generally counted in surveys, although it is reported that the hours spent on informal volunteering in Australia is almost three times greater than that spent on formal volunteering. 4 There can be little question that the actual figure is much higher. Research has shown that indigenous and non-English speaking background communities tend to rely to a very great extent on informal volunteering, either for cultural or isolation reasons. 5

Volunteering and Nicholson Street

As a Neighbourhood House, Nicholson Street Community House is part of a movement that has depended on volunteers since the beginning. Neighbourhood Houses are very much aware that volunteers need to be supported and feel valued - not just within their own walls, but across the community.

For many years Neighbourhood Houses across the City of Moreland have been involved in the delivery of training programmes for volunteers (the Moreland Community Groups [MCG] Initiative), with funding provided by Moreland City Council.

Nicholson Street has welcomed approaches from volunteers since we were founded 20 years ago. Sometimes we've been able to place people in short- or long-term work, at other times we haven't been able to offer anything suitable at the time, but have pointed them towards other local organisations that also have opportunities for volunteers.

Offering to Volunteer at Nicholson Street

Prospective volunteers are encouragedto contact the House Co-ordinator by phone or e-mail and arrange a time to come to the House for an informal meeting.

At this meeting the Co-ordinator will talk to you about
• your interests
• your skills
• your availability
and answer any questions you wish to ask about volunteering at Nicholson Street.

After this meeting the Co-ordinator will develop a workplan for you and arrange an orientation session for you to begin your voluntary work at the House.

This process is followed to enable each volunteer to work in a role that suits their needs with appropriate support from House staff.

The Universal Declaration on Volunteering

Volunteering is a fundamental building block of civil society. It brings to life the noblest aspirations of humankind – the pursuit of peace, freedom, opportunity, safety and justice for all people. In this era of globalisation and continuous change, the world is becoming smaller, more interdependent, and more complex. Volunteering - either through individual or group action - is a way in which:

• human values of community, caring, and serving can be sustained and strengthened;

• individuals can exercise their rights and responsibilities as members of communities, while learning and growing throughout their lives, realising their full human potential; and,

• connections can be made across differences that push us apart so that we can live together in healthy, sustainable communities, working together to provide innovative solutions to our shared challenges and to shape our collective destinies.

At the dawn of the new millennium, volunteering is an essential element of all societies. It turns into practical, effective action the declaration of the United Nations that “We, the Peoples” have the power to change the world.

16th International Association for Volunteer Effort World Volunteers Conference held on the 14th-18th January 2001, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1 Australian Council of Social Service: Volunteering in Australia ACOSS Paper No. 74, 1996 [return]

2 Quoted in Wesley Mission Sydney: The Faces of Volunteering, May 2001 [ return]

3 Australian Bureau of Statistics: Voluntary Work, Australia, June 2001 [return]

4 Volunteering Australia in partnership with AMP Foundation: Snapshot 2004: Volunteering Report Card, 2004 [return]

5 Lorraine Kerr, Harry Savelsberg, Syd Sparrow & Deirdre Tedmanson: Experiences and Perceptions of Volunteering in Indigenous and Non-English Speaking Background Communities, Adelaide, May 2001 [return]