Grassroots Involved in Blue Sky Thinking

“In Clunes there are more than 40 community and social groups active at different times,” said Lana de Kort, Manager of Clunes Neighbourhood House who is the lead for this town project, “Often these groups are completely volunteer-led and involving.”

The Volunteering Local project will start with five of these community organisations; Clunes Tourist & Development Association, Clunes Football and Netball Club, Clunes Museum, Creative Clunes and Clunes Neighbourhood House.

“This diverse group have volunteer opportunities that appeal to a different target market (so are representative of a broad cross-section of our population) and are some of the more formally structured organisations where people volunteer in town.”

“Working together with this pilot group, our goal is to develop practical (and easy to use) volunteering tools to help recruit and retain volunteers in town, as well as learning and promotional opportunities that will also be inclusive of the more informal groups,” said Lana.

Volunteering Local (www.volunteeringlocal.org) will provide a single entry point for anyone in town wishing to find a way to connect through volunteering.

“The website is a handy ‘volunteer bank’ for all our community groups to use to advertise opportunities,” said Lana, “As well as a space where we can join forces to ensure people can give of their time and skills in a safe and welcoming way. Behind the scenes, the functionality of the site will help groups induct volunteers, share resources across the town when we have big events or crises to respond to, as well as ensure people know about the different (and more flexible) ways of being an active part of our town.”

In October 2022 this project was further boosted by support from the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal, Strengthening Rural Communities Program, allowing Clunes to add an innovative training and development component to the project.

“This was an incredibly exciting boost because it means Volunteering Local is not only about developing and sharing tools to assist volunteering, but that we can step outside our usual day to day pressures and reimagine what volunteering can look like for us all going forward,” said Lana.

The pilot groups involved with Volunteering Local will be working with Australian volunteering expert, Mark Creyton through a series of workshops and one on one sessions.

“We are excited to share our learnings as we go through this process,” said Lana, “Because we know that we are not the only place working hard to rebuild momentum – and reimagine a stronger future - since COVID.”