Video Transcript:

Geoff: Hello, my name is Geoff. I’m the CEO of Volunteering Victoria. When our brilliant comms queen, Jen was planning for our Annual Impact Report, she had the idea that we should try and avoid the usual blurb by the Chair and the CEO, which every Annual Report has and yet almost no one ever reads.

Her suggestion was that we should have a conversation about volunteering and about Volunteering Victoria. So here I am to talk to the outgoing Chair Bronwen Clark and the newly elected Chair Conway O’Brien.

It’s my pleasure to have you both here and, I think Bron, you have actually been the Board Chair for over five years. Con, you’ve got a little ways to go to catch up. But I do know you’ve been on the Board for many, many years. And I just want to recognise both of you for that contribution over so many years and the time that you’ve put into Volunteering Victoria.

But I am interested, why did you start volunteering for Volunteering Victoria and Con should point out that you also were volunteering for Volunteering Australia and then got involved in the Board with Volunteering Victoria.

So let me start with you, Bronwen. What is it that that drew you to being a volunteer Director of Volunteering Victoria?

Bronwen: Yeah, thanks Geoff. And this is a great idea, so shout out to Jen. What got me started? Well, there’s so many things in volunteering now. It’s about feeling part of something and part of the community. And for me, that’s pretty much what life is all about.

So whether it’s our own local social community or being part of a community of interest or community of practise, they’re the sorts of things to me that are really important. And I wanted to find a way that I could contribute to that.

And I think it’s also, as we know with volunteering, it works best when you give and get something out of it too, and you give and receive. So I feel I’ve been able to give my professional skills and training to Volunteering Victoria. From that I’ve also learned so much and met so many inspiring people.

So it’s given me a lot professionally as well as really recognising the importance of volunteering and eventually, as so much of volunteering, I got into this particular thing because somebody asked me to help. So I did, and I think then Geoff, I asked you.

Geoff: Indeed. What about you Con? What got you into this volunteering world?

Con: Well, Bron actually asked me too. Look, I’ve done a lot of interesting things, I suppose, in my career, but not for profit or for purpose organisations for whom volunteers are a critical resource have always been probably the most exciting area that I’ve worked in. Basically because they make so much happen with so little. And funnily enough, that’s what volunteering is all about, I suppose. Our resources are limited and people still do it.

As far as I’m concerned, I really enjoy… I mean, I’ve got skills in the areas of strategy, finance, risk management, cybersecurity and of course governance. And the good thing is that working with Volunteering Victoria, I’ve been able to actually bring all of those skills together and help apply them to where we’re going.

Good governance is essential to any organisation, whether it’s volunteering or otherwise. In this particular case, we’ve been able to use skills for mine and others, and that’s what I’ve really enjoyed.

Geoff: So, Bron, in those years that you’ve been involved with the Board, as deputy Chair and then Chair, what are some of the standouts? What are the things that you’ll reflect on over that history?

Bron: Yeah, there’s been a lot of highs and some lows as well. So not to dwell on the lows, but there have been times of real challenge within the organisation: financially, structurally, stakeholder wise. And so I suppose as a volunteer, you do just have to draw on that inner strength that all volunteers have – and I’d say everyone working in the volunteer involving sector has – to just get on with things.

It’s unpleasant, but at the end of the day, we serve this sort of greater purpose for communities. So there’s been challenging times, but then the good ones far outweigh them. I would say things like every year seeing awards entries and just incredible work that people do, conferences, all those sorts of things.

And then personally, the things that professionally I’m really interested in and hope I have contributed to the Board is around policy, government relations, advocacy, and then just how we – from a really strategic way – help shape volunteer funding and volunteer management programs.

I would say the way that Volunteering Victoria and our incredible team of staff approached the changes to VMA funding was ethically right. I feel that we did the right thing, the hard thing, but we’ve ended up with a system that is much more equitable and fair and sustainable than some of the other state peak bodies have produced. So that’s, that’s a very good one.

Obviously then we’ve been through a pandemic and I remember around that time we got together as a Board when it was bushfires to start with and thinking: “OK, how do we need to be ready? What will our members need if we’re fighting widespread bushfires?” and then suddenly it was a pandemic as well. So it’s just been really interesting to see how the sector has responded to that and how volunteering has changed.

I think getting through that and just really focusing, from a Board perspective, on how we work on innovation. Not being afraid to change, responding nimbly and quickly, has been really fascinating. Then to see how the sector has responded too is great. And of course, working with the team has been fantastic.

And all of those CEOs that we seem to have had the benefit and pleasure of leading the organisation over the last five years has been another real highlight. They’re just some incredibly remarkable people within that group, and my hat goes off to all of them.

Geoff: As Volunteering Victoria, we work as a peak body. So we’re always trying to equip volunteer involving organisations to be better at their volunteering and to support volunteers. What would you say that you’ve learnt or observed in that time that you would share with other not-for-profit organisations or volunteers thinking of going onto a Board of those who are on a Board? As you walk away, what are the big learnings that you would want to share out of your own experience that you think others could apply?

Bron: I would say first off, for anyone working in a volunteer involving organisation with a Board, is to recognise that the vast majority of Board members don’t just sort of turn up for a couple of hours to a meeting. It’s a lot of work. You’re thinking about it all the time. You take on incredible risk. You make really impactful decisions that are not going to be popular and you have to defend them. You really put a lot on the line for an organisation because you believe in it and on a volunteer basis.

I think one thing I would really say I learned is that, especially when you step into the Chair role, you’re at the top of the chain. So you don’t always have those people to go to all the time. I think it’s really recognising the effort that it requires and appreciating that. And I know the sector does, but I would say while it’s a lot of effort and a lot of risk, it is so rewarding and I have learnt so much professionally.

I’d really encourage people to give a volunteer Board role a go. But yeah, it’s not just a walk in the park. It’s pretty serious and it can be life changing in a really positive way.

Geoff: Thank you. Now Con coming back to you, normally in the Chairman’s Report, the Chair will say something about this is what our balance sheet says and this is our fiscal position. And we’ve got all those financial figures there in the Financial Report. But do you think there’s any key things that stakeholders and members need to look at when they look at our Financial Report (the audit financials)? Is there anything that they really need to focus in on?

I know one thing that stands out for me when I look at them is this line item in there that says $363,000 held for grants in advance, which kind of feels like an odd thing to have recorded.

So can I just throw to you? What do you think we need to see about the financials and what’s that figure all about as it appears in the financials?

Con: Yeah and look, that’s a good question, Geoff. It’s effectively, we can’t put things in compartments. What actually happens is that money comes in and that money, most of the money that we’re granted by the Federal Government and much of the State Government funds as well, is there to build the capacity of volunteer involving organisations.

We give the majority of that money away to our consortium partners across Victoria, and that goes out to the people in that particular community, to help those organisations with people in those communities. But these things happen over a period of time. It’s not neat and tidy. You can’t say that. “OK, here’s your money. You spend it straight away.” You don’t. It’s carried over various periods.

So come the 30th of June, we’d receive money – of which $363,000 was still to be spent. So that’s not our money. It’s in our bank, which is good. The bank manager thinks we’re terrific. But on the other side, the bank manager is going to be upset because we’re going to take it away from him shortly and hand it to people who really need it. And bank managers don’t need it, let’s be honest.

So in our financials, we re-invest the money we don’t use and we roll it out from one year to the next. But we always keep a track on it so that we know that that money is actually there for the volunteering organisations. It’s not our money; it’s money which in fact is going to them. That’s what that $363,000 is. It’s an investment in the volunteering sector in the coming year.

Geoff: Thank you. And for you as the Chair, what do you see as the priorities for the Board over the next little while?

Con: Well, first of all, there’s a standard priority that the Board has got to work with the CEO and the team to provide the best possible support to its members and to the volunteering sector generally and act as a spokesperson for them. We’re there to provide or to act as a resource for the volunteering community in Victoria.

From an internal point of view, we need to ensure that we’re up-to-date. We need to ensure that the way our governance works is fit for purpose, which means we continually need to review what we’re doing. One of the tasks that I’ve set for the coming year is to look at modernising our Constitution and our governance processes. So we’ll be actually focusing on that. That’s an internal thing, admittedly, but it’s critical for us – if we don’t have good governance then we can’t expect our members to respect us for it.

Secondly, we’ve got a number of Board members whose terms are expiring in the not-too-distant future. There’s a number who are stepping down or have stepped down this year. And Bron herself is stepping down from the Board at this particular AGM. Several of us will have to step down at the end of next year because our terms expire and, constitutionally, we need to move on. So it’s critical that we actually restructure, or we actually ensure that the Board is in the right shape to transition to the next group of leaders, the next Chair, the next Finance Committee, to have its governance processes in place and to have its risk management process in place. That’s the challenge we’ve got internally for the next 12 months.

Geoff: So, you know, we’ve obviously got those platforms to create those structures and Bron your learning and your experience there has been so valuable. But casting out into the wider volunteering world – for both of you, what do you think is the most exciting, interesting, maybe challenging thing that you can see ahead for volunteering?

Bron: I think we’re still in that process of rebuilding post pandemic. So I think the capacity to embrace innovation and to find new ways of looking at volunteering, especially from a cultural diversity and inclusion lens, I think is really exciting because we are all driven by the same sort of purpose and vision. And it’d be great to have more people inside the tent, if you know what I mean, recognising that we’re all trying to achieve similar things.

I can see that in different presentations at conferences and things like that, but there is this real energy around what’s next, and next generation, and different communities that we need to bring into the tents. So I think there’s a lot of promise there for really good outcomes.

I also am excited about the State of Volunteering Report because I think in my day job – it’s a national peak body – those sorts of things are such a great springboard to advocate to government and to try and bring around policy change and funding change. So that’s going to be really important document.

The other point I would say, again having my day job hat on as well, is taking the lead from both Federal and State Governments. From the Federal Government about them wanting to streamline as much as possible their involvement in funding programs and really sort of minimise their stakeholder grouping. I’ve seen that across a whole range of portfolios, so I think that’s here to stay and we can prepare better for that.

And then at the state level, given a fairly precarious economic situation and an election in the not-too-distant future, I think we can see a lot more need for volunteers to fill gaps where people in our community and causes need assistance. My prediction will be that there’ll be perhaps less government funded assistance in a lot of areas, and it will be up to this sector to once again carry our community through successfully. And I’m sure we will.

Geoff: Thank you. What about you Con? What do you think is lying ahead?

Con: Obviously I agree with everything Bron’s said. I always have to agree, but I do genuinely agree with those points. The only other thing I’d add is we need to address what volunteering is really about. If you like, we need to look at the universe of volunteering. People have a limited view as to who volunteers are and what volunteers are. We need to expand that view. We need that view to be something which in fact is picked up across the Board and let people recognise all of the areas that they never thought were volunteering and understand that they are volunteering. Favourite phrase of mine: we have to educate people in the volunteering multiverse, so to speak. That’s the biggest challenge.

Geoff: Lovely. Thank you, both of you. Thank you for your time and your service and acknowledging you as volunteers and thanking you for that.

And to all our stakeholders and members, it’s a genuine privilege to have you along for this journey. We look forward to working with you and as I always say, it’s all about making volunteering better and making sure we have more volunteers because that’s what our community desperately, desperately needs to be a lively, vibrant community in all it’s different forms and all it’s different places that we find across Victoria.

So thank you very much for being with us. Have a great day.

Bron: Thank you.