A look into volunteering

In partnership with the City of Mandurah and the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) recently engaged Inclusion Solutions to deliver a series of workshops on attracting volunteers to clubs.

Titled a Volunteer Think Tank, the workshops were designed to expand the participants’ current thinking around volunteerism and introduce them to new ideas and philosophies on volunteering in the modern world.

Attendees from a variety of clubs in Mandurah and Serpentine Jarrahdale worked collaboratively to develop new strategies to engage people into their organisations.

A strong strategy that became evident was to provide an experience for new members rather than looking for a workforce.

The facilitators challenged the participants to change their language from attracting volunteers to attracting time and talent. One participant from South Mandurah Junior Cricket Club highlighted her learning from the Mandurah workshop was to as better questions of her membership.

Their aim was to get a better understanding of the skills of the membership base as well as asking potential volunteers what the club could do for them. This was a shift from the traditional approach where the pursuit of volunteers is based on what roles or tasks the club wanted to fill, rather than matching skills to opportunities.

With the findings from these workshops and another to be held in the Shire of Murray, the department will develop a strategy with Inclusion Solutions that addresses the barriers to attracting volunteers to clubs.  

Inclusion Solutions presented a fantastic live example of a club (West Leederville Bowls Club) adopting the philosophies that were discussed and the huge success they are experiencing with membership growth.