Resources for Organisations

Top Tips for Advertising a Volunteer Role

Writing an appealing volunteer advertisement is not as simple as it may seem at first. The following tips may help you find the best volunteer for the role…

Top Tips for Involving Volunteers in your Organisation

This is a useful resource full of great tips – compiled by the collective of Volunteer Centres in New Zealand.

Designing Volunteer Roles

Design volunteer roles that work for today’s volunteers. Learn how to create flexible, meaningful opportunities that meet your organisation’s needs while attracting a wider range of volunteers.

Finding the Right Volunteer

Finding the right volunteers for your organisation involves ensuring that you are getting an effective message, and the right message, to the right audience…

Matching Volunteers to Roles

The key to matching volunteers to roles is understanding the specific requirements of the role AND the volunteer’s motivation…

Volunteer Screening and Checks

When recruiting volunteers, there are a range of checks you can undertake to ensure you are getting the right person for the role, the right person for your organisation, and the right person to work with your clients…

Volunteer Reference Checks

When recruiting volunteers, reference checks are an important part of the process. These checks allow you to build a picture of the prospective volunteer and help to ensure that you are getting a good fit for your team…

Checking Criminal Records

The purpose of vetting is to minimise the likelihood of the more vulnerable members of society, eg children, older people and those with disabilities, being put at risk by individuals who may have displayed behaviour that could be detrimental to others safety and wellbeing…

Volunteers and the Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act protects people from unlawful discrimination. The Act’s intention is to ensure that everyone is treated fairly in key areas of life, including employment, and this includes the recruitment of volunteers…

Guides For Managers Of Volunteers

Developing your Volunteer Programme – a guide for managers of volunteers. This highly recommended resource was developed by Volunteer Wellington and contains practical tips, tools and resources to help organisations develop their volunteer programmes.

Volunteer Management Checklist

Volunteering Waikato encourages best practice in volunteer management. This check-list will help you to assess your current processes and assist you to identify areas for the further development of your volunteer programme.

Volunteer Retention

Retaining volunteers is important to ensure the continuation and consistency of the services you provide. Volunteers gain a lot of organisational knowledge during their time in your organisation – when they leave, they take that knowledge and experience with them. If you consider the time and processes you have gone through to recruit a volunteer – you will definitely want some return on that investment.

Exiting A Volunteer

There are many reasons that your organisation may need to exit a volunteer. Perhaps they are no longer able to perform the role, cannot safely complete the required tasks, or are not aligned with the values or vision of the organisation. Exiting a volunteer is sometimes necessary, but not always an easy process…

Engaging Volunteers with Disabilities

Volunteer teams benefit by being diverse and involving a wide range of volunteers, and this may include those with a disability or impairment. Whether you are considering involving a volunteer with an intellectual disability, sight or hearing impairment, someone recovering from an illness, or with a mobility issue etc, this resource contains some helpful considerations…

99 Volunteer Roles You Might Not Have Thought of Yet

Looking for new ways that volunteers can support the aims of your organisation? Our friends at Exult have produced this list of 99 volunteer roles that you might not have thought of…

Reimbursement of Volunteers Expenses

Volunteering Waikato encourages community organisations to reimburse the actual expenses, eg travel, of your volunteers… but make sure you know the IRD rules regarding reimbursement…

HSWA Info For PCBUs That Engage Volunteers – WorkSafe Fact Sheet

The primary piece of legislation that governs health and safety in New Zealand is the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). This fact sheet explains the health and safety duties of a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) that engages volunteers.

GUIDE: Writing A Volunteer Role Description

This template is to assist you to in writing a volunteer role description. It contains a range of considerations, which may or may not be applicable in different situations.

TEMPLATE: Volunteer Role Description – Basic

Do your volunteers have role descriptions? Role descriptions are just as important for volunteers as they are for paid staff. This is an example of a basic volunteer role description.

SAMPLE: Volunteer Application Form

Getting your potential volunteers to complete an application form is a great way to ensure you have the basic information that you may need. This is an example of a basic application form.

SAMPLE: Volunteer Agreement

Do you have a written agreement or contract between your organisation and your volunteers? This is an example of a volunteer agreement.

SAMPLE: Code of Conduct

A Code of Ethics and/or Code of Conduct gives you the opportunity to define the expectations you have of your volunteers. Volunteers need to clearly understand the standards you expect of them, and what the consequences are if these are not met. This example provides suggestions that can be used to customise a code to meet the needs of your volunteer team and organisation.

SAMPLE: Volunteer Exit Survey

When volunteers leave your organisation, do you seek feedback from them? This can be a valuable way of gaining information for the continued improvement of your volunteer programme.

Volunteering New Zealand

The national voice supporting and inspiring effective volunteering across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Regional Volunteer Centres

Find local volunteer centres throughout New Zealand. 

Community Waikato

Strengthening Waikato’s community sector with advice, training, funding, and advocacy support.

Exult

Offers practical training and support to NZ community organisations.

IAVE (International Association for Volunteer Effort)

A global network connecting volunteer leaders to share and grow volunteering impact.

Seek Volunteer

An easy-to-use platform for listing and finding volunteer roles across New Zealand. 

Using Online Services for Member Organisations – Overview

This fact sheet gives Member Organisations the steps to using the basic functions of managing your positions and volunteers on Volunteering Waikato’s website.

Using Online Services for Member Organisations – Step By Step

This is a step by step guide to using Volunteering Waikato’s website – from logging in, listing new roles, updating them, and managing volunteering referrals…

Writing a Role: How to Write Your Role Through Your Volunteering Waikato Member Login

Here’s a guide on how to write a role, and what information to include, for any role you post to our website through your member login.