A best practice blueprint for a thriving volunteer sector
This research has been used in developing a national approach for a more sustainable volunteer workforce.
To ensure sustainability of the volunteer workforce, volunteers need to feel empowered, appreciated and valued.
We worked with AFAC and a range of key stakeholders on a project to collaboratively develop The Emergency Management Sustainable Volunteering Blueprint, developing national, best practice advice on building the volunteer sector.
Researcher Dr Blythe McLennan says the Blueprint, along with a Strategic Framework, supports a national approach for a more sustainable volunteer workforce.
"It’s about working together in a coordinated, collaborative and creative way to tackle the tangible work that needs to be done to strengthen and protect the foundations of emergency management volunteering," she says.
The Blueprint has been used for strategic planning by agencies including the Victorian Country Fire Authority, NSW Premier’s Department, AFAC Volunteer Management Technical Group, and ACT Emergency Services.
Alison McLeod, Director, ACT Emergency Services, used the Blueprint and Strategic Framework to guide a 2025 review of its Volunteer Charter and other strategic work.
She says the Blueprint’s guiding principles have become a central reference point alongside the ACT Volunteering Strategy.
"We got some really great feedback from volunteers that those guiding principles resonated with them and that they saw great value in them.
"The Blueprint gives us the confidence that our approach is grounded in best practice, and it provides a clear, evidence-based framework that brings coherence to the many strategic plans relating to volunteering and helps us understand how they fit together," she says.
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