What is the role and potential of volunteers in your organizations?
Help is on its Way
One of the interesting bits of research that’s emerging from the NZ not-for-profit sector’s efforts to get to know itself a little better is the way New Zealanders have organized themselves for sport, recreation and culture in this country. Putting it simply, there are high levels of volunteering, without which undoubtedly, the sector would look a whole lot smaller. (If you want more fascinating detail, go to OCVS’s site and read up on the history and comparative study research available there).
Which gets me thinking of our own engagement and commitment to volunteering in the arts. Volunteers are always such an essential part of philanthropy (they tend to be givers of money as well as time) as well as of fundraising (where every textbook will tell you to get them involved, early, in your fundraising campaign). I’m going to start this part of the forum, where we are going to try and identify and evaluate fundraising resources, by asking: what is the role and the potential of volunteers in your organizations? Lets see if we can add some colour and life to those top-line statistics.
Bring on the first line of our supporters in the arts – the volunteers !
Comments
I'm very pleased to see volunteers being included in this focus on philanthropy. As executive director of Volunteering NZ (VNZ) my interest is in how can we help the various sectors, including that Arts sector, find, retain and fully support their volunteers. A number of the programmes VNZ co-ordinates or supports will help in defining how the full potential of volunteers can be achieved. For instance, there will be a series of nine workshops taking place in July and August in different parts of the country presented by Andy Fryar from Australia who is a very effective educator on running quality volunteer programmes. Then there will be the opportunity for arts organisations to highlight their volunteer programmes during Volunteer Awareness Week 20-26 June. More information about this and lots more about volunteering can be found on our website www.volunteeringnz.org.nz
Auckland Film Society Film societies have been promoting film culture in NZ for over 60 years. Our organisation, the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies, is run almost entirely by volunteers. We pay for the services of a professional film programmer (Michael McDonnell, who is assistant programmer for the New Zealand International Film Festival). Most film societies hold screenings in a local cinema, and venue hire includes the services of a professional projectionist, who may also be assisted with advice from film society projection specialists. And we all contribute to the fee for a designer for our national brochure and website. Everything else - front-of-house, publicity, national and local sponsorship, administration, website maintenance and magazines for members - is done by volunteers. Are there other arts organisations in NZ that owe so much to volunteer support? Find out more about us at www.nzfilmsociety.org.nz and www.aucklandfilmsociety.org.nz
Bravo, Auckland Film Society. 60 years and that wonderful level of commitment to promoting film culture in New Zealand. Fantastic - no wonder we keep on making and enjoying great film in this country!
On the visibility of volunteers theme, check out this story on the estimated value of volunteer hours in the US from the latest Independent Sector report today. Volunteering is big in the States, in an economy vastly bigger than ours, the estimated eight billion hours for 2008 looks like a mighty contribution.
It has me reaching for my calculator. I know its metrics, I know we Kiwi’s are a quiet unassuming lot. But let’s all get out there and talk about the value of our own volunteering to the arts. It has got to be saying something powerful about New Zealander’s engagement with the arts and creative sector and its contribution.
Volunteering NZ is equally impressed by the volunteer involvement in the Auckland Film Societies and all the other film societies.
There has been work done on counting the numbers of volunteers in NZ and also putting a value on the contribution they make. The Not-For Profit Satellite Account study released in 2007, which used 2004 estimates of volunteer numbers conservatively estimated the value of their contribution as $3.3 billion dollars a year.
Most recent research on volunteer numbers estimated there were 1,241,000 volunteers aged 10 and over in 2008 (34% of the population for those 10 and over) and about 4% indicated they volunteered in the arts and culture sector ie about 50000 people.
Volunteering NZ would love to tell more stories about volunteering in the arts and also would encourage the sector being active in Volunteer Awareness Week 20-26 June. If anyone wants more information contact Tim Burns at ed@volunteeringnz.org.nz.