“Research undertaken by the community sector, for the sector, is an important part of developing its robust independence. A programme of research and good information about the sector should be developed as an ongoing process within the sector itself.”

He Waka Kotuia – Joining Together on a Shared Journey

Report of the Community-Government Relationship Steering Group, August 2002

Measuring Non-profit Organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand

Garth Nowland-Foreman, Chair of the Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector

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For too long voluntary and community organisations have been treated as if they are invisible. Yet our society would fall apart without them.

In 1990 the Centre for Civil Society Studies at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University initiated an international Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project (CNP). The CNP project aims to analyse the scope, structure, financing, and role of non-profit organisations in a cross-section of countries around the world in order to improve our knowledge and enrich our understanding of this sector, and to provide a sounder basis for both public and private actions towards it.

The CNP now involves research in more than 45 countries in most regions of the world, and in 2003 assisted the United Nations Statistics Division to formulate a Handbook to guide governments in making non-profit organisations more visible in National Accounts. Late in 2004 Aotearoa New Zealand joined the CNP, establishing a Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector – which aims to reflect a partnership between the non-profit sector, government and researchers. The Committee, jointly with the Office of Community and Voluntary Sector, manages this country’s input into the international study. The Committee is also the official advisory group to Statistics New Zealand for their development of Satellite Accounts on Non-Profit Institutions. The Committee’s work is jointly supported by government and philanthropic funders, including the Community Trusts and Tindall Foundation. A research team at Massey University has been engaged to undertake qualitative research to supplement the data collected by Statistics New Zealand.

A significant milestone in the project was reached last year with the publication of the CNP Working Paper, Defining the Nonprofit Sector: New Zealand. Around 1,000 copies have already been distributed and countless others downloaded. A second print run is planned. As well as providing a fascinating overview of non-profit organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand, it describes the standard classifications under which data on non-profit organisations is being collected by Statistics New Zealand.

The next exciting step will be the release on Monday 16 April by Statistics New Zealand of Counting Non-profit Institutions in New Zealand. This will begin to provide some of the basic ‘demography’ of non-profit organisations – how many are there in this country, what types, and so. Then in August 2007, Statistics New Zealand will release its initial Satellite Account of Non-profit Institutions in New Zealand, which will include estimates of their economic significance, employment, volunteer involvement and much more.

The Massey research team will also be busy this year finalising papers on the legal positions of non-profit organisations in this country, its history and the impact of past and current policies on the sector, including an analysis of key issues facing non-profit organisations today. All of this material will finally be brought together into a New Zealand National Report in 2008, which will also compare us with other countries.

Although the end of this project, in another way I hope this will just be the beginning. The beginning of making the sector and its crucial role in society more visible, especially in public policy. We will know a little more about ourselves, have a little more ‘evidence-based’ ammunition to use in our planning and advocacy, and hopefully a little more confidence about what we have to offer. But who knows where it might lead? Already the international data has found no basis to support the idea of the public sector ‘crowding out’ volunteering or non-profit activity. In fact, the evidence suggests that strong public sectors and strong non-profit sectors tend to go hand-in-hand, and that they both may encourage more generous and community-minded citizens.

Garth Nowland-Foreman chairs the Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector. He also teaches in the Unitec graduate programme in Not-for-Profit Management, runs a small consulting firm on non-profit organisations and those who fund them, and is involved in a number of voluntary roles.

Satellite accounts – what’s that all about?

Andrew Rae, Statistics New Zealand

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For the first time in our history there will be official data on non-profit organisations in New Zealand. The Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account (NPISA) will produce a range of financial and non-financial data across a number of sub-sectors, such as sport and recreation, social services and religion. The key results will centre on the economic contribution of these groups to gross domestic product (GDP) while including the millions of hours of volunteer labour in these calculations.

The satellite account relies heavily on the work of the United Nations, which has produced a handbook to guide nations in compiling these statistics within the System of National Accounts. Using this method will allow comparison with New Zealand’s macro-economic statistics and those of other countries. Several countries have produced similar accounts including both Australia and Canada.

Statistics New Zealand is also guided by the advice of The Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector and Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The committee gives guidance from a local perspective ensuring aspects of the New Zealand context and culture are reflected in the project. JHU, who are involved in similar projects in over 40 countries, are helping to ensure international comparability.

The UN handbook recommends grouping data based on the primary activity of the organisation. These recommendations are open to adaptations in line with national differences. For example, Statistics New Zealand has adapted this classification to the New Zealand context with two key additions. The first addition makes provision for early childhood education as a subgroup in the larger education group. Kindergartens, play centres and kohanga reo are easily distinguishable in New Zealand and will be represented separately from primary and secondary education. The second addition focuses on the role Maori play in governing Tangata Whenua outside of central or local government. A new category recognising ‘Tangata Whenua Governance’ as a non-profit activity begins to explore the way in which the Maori worldview intersects with the non-profit sector.

Statistics New Zealand has planned two releases in 2007. A report on the population of NPIs will be released on April 16. This report will describe the number of NPIs in New Zealand and will include a measure of their employment. References to a case study on the Masterton region will help to give an indication on the quality and coverage in the report. This report is intended to raise interest in the first-release account in late August. In addition to the measures described above the full satellite account will include a fuller discussion of:

Each International Committee of NFP group
The valuation of volunteer labour
Sources of income for non-profits

· Macro-economic tables

The NPISA is an opportunity to recognise the value and contribution of non-profit institutions and the people that give them life.

For more information on Statistics New Zealand’s work on satellite accounts contact:

Andrew Rae - 04 9314384, andrew.rae@stats.govt.nz or visit

www.stats.govt.nz/people/communities/non-profit-institutions/default.htm

Do you know?

In 2002, the total income of the voluntary sector was at least $1.6 bn
Central government provided the majority of funding, accounting for $920.5m of the total income
If corporate donations, fees for services and other sources of income are factored in, then the total income of the voluntary sector was estimated to be in the region of $3 bn
Health and social services were the biggest recipient of funds, accounting for 31 percent of the total, closely followed by sports & recreation at 29%.

Source: Philanthropy NZ, Funding New Zealand 2002, Resource flows to the community non-profit sector in New Zealand. NOTE: the latest figures are now available in Philanthropy NZ’s updated report. Please visit www.philanthropy.org.nz to purchase a copy.

Setting standards for sector research

Robyn Kamira, Research Clearing House

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After nearly three years of discussion and planning the "Centre of Excellence for Tangata Whenua, Community and Voluntary Sector Research" the research centre is about to release its flagship Draft Code of Practice (the Code) for consultation.

The Code is to be a set of principles and standards for research that relates to the Tangata Whenua, community and voluntary sector. It can be used by researchers to compare or guide how they undertake research, and it can be used by research participants to build strong and balanced relationships with researchers.

The research centre was established through a collaborative process involving community and tertiary organisations including the NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations. An interim governance group is overseeing developments and has succeeded in obtaining initial funding for its first project – the Clearing House - from the Government’s Community Partnership Fund and the ASB Trust. Unitec provide administrative and project support.

The research centre partners say that New Zealand has lacked a robust body of research on the Tangata Whenua, community and voluntary sector. “There is no single institution or non-governmental organisation with a research programme dedicated solely to enhancing our understanding of the ‘Third Sector’ or civil society in New Zealand, nor to promoting such research,” says its governance group.

To address this gap, they say we need the participation of researchers within tertiary institutions and organisations from communities, and Iwi who understand the need for robust research principles and practices at the flaxroots level. Hence the importance of the draft Code and the upcoming consultation round.

The research centre’s initial project, the Clearing House, has been the catalyst for developing the draft Code because its purpose is to provide an online tool to disseminate research, connect researchers, promote collaboration & serve the beneficiaries of research. Up to now, there has been no single code or standard that helps researchers to position their research in terms of values, quality or ethics nor has there been an easy means to find research because it is often not published in accessible places.

The Clearing House is centred around a website that will enable people to access research in, by, for, and about ‘Tangata Whenua, Community and Voluntary Sector’. It will soon be inviting people to upload relevant research to the site and this will enable people to test their research practices against the Code that their Sector says is important.

“The key to this consultation round and achieving a wide acceptance of the Code,” says Unitec’s Not for Profit Management Programme Leader Margy-Jean Malcolm, “is to ask the sector to tell us what the benchmarks in research should be, and to provide practical approaches that promote high quality research while supporting the interests of research participants.”

She believes the challenge ahead is to engage positively with the sector and give people the opportunity to mould the Code so that it is relevant and has a high degree of acceptance.

The research centre’s governance group will shortly be facilitating dialogue amongst researchers and research participants about the Draft Code of Practice following its release in March 2007. It is planning to seek consultation both online and at a variety of forums and meetings throughout the country. Consultation will be followed by the launch of the Research Centre’s Clearing House web site in April.

For more information about the Clearing House Project, the Draft Code of Practice:

Email Robyn Kamira: rkamira@communityresearch.org.nz, or visit www.communityresearch.org.nz

Local Government Act 2002 Research Project

Professor Ali Memon, Lincoln University, Christchurch

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The Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) requires that a Community Outcomes Process be carried out every six years. The purpose of the Community Outcomes Process is to develop community outcomes relating to social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of communities. While the Act is specific in some respects on requirements relating to this process, there is flexibility to enable a process to be developed that best suits expectations of all stakeholders, including the community.

The community outcomes are owned by the community and are expected to assist service providers, including local authorities, central government departments, and not-for-profit sector organisations, to determine their respective priorities for allocation of resources. Territorial local authorities and regional councils do this within the framework of their strategic Long Term Council Community Plans (LTCCPS or community plans for short). An important intent of the Act is to promote good governance via greater and more effective engagement between communities, local authorities and central government.

The first round of fully fledged community plans became operative mid last year (2006).

Local authorities are also required to develop community indicator programmes to monitor and report progress towards achievement of community outcomes. The first round of community outcome monitoring reports is due at the latest by 2009. You will find information on Council websites relating to their community plans and related monitoring and reporting strategies.

The objective of our research is to gain insights into how local authorities in different parts of New Zealand have interpreted their mandate under the Local Government Act relating to community outcomes processes and monitoring and reporting strategies. We are exploring how effective these processes have been in terms of promoting participatory democracy and sustainable development from the perspective of different stakeholders.

We have just completed over 80 in-depth interviews with people who took part in local and regional community outcomes processes in different localities in New Zealand. These include council staff and elected representatives, central government staff based in the regions, community sector representatives and Mäori/Iwi representatives. We have also interviewed central government head office staff to elicit their perspectives on the potential of community outcomes processes as a vehicle to enhance engagement between communities, local authorities and central government.

The research findings will be collated and published as two related reports to be made publicly available later this year. The first report will focus on community outcomes processes while the second report will be based on community indicator programmes to monitor and report progress towards achievement of community outcomes.

The next phase of our research (2007-2009) will focus on the uptake of community outcomes by central and local government service providers. Please don’t hesitate to contact one of us if you require further information about our research by emailing either me (memona@lincoln.ac.nz) or Lorraine Leonard lorraine.leonard@waikato.ac.nz.

Planning & Governance under the LGA research project is the first phase about the community outcome processes facilitated by local authorities under the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA):

· This project is part of the Planning Under Co-operative Mandate (PUCM) research programme based at Waikato University.

· The study is led by Professor Ali Memon at Lincoln University. Lorraine Leonard is the Research Project Officer and this research.

· This funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST)

For more information on the PUCM research project visit:

www.waikato.ac.nz/igci/pucm.

ANGOA Research Forum

Dave Henderson, ANGOA (Association of Non Government Organisations Aotearoa)

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The Community and Voluntary Sector Research Forum is one of the ongoing activities of ANGOA that our members consistently report as useful, of good value, and worth setting aside the time for.

Previously supported by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), sponsorship of the quarterly forums was taken up by the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS) in 2004. ANGOA Coordinator Dave Henderson puts together the programme of speakers and produces a newsletter which summarises the previous forum and announces the agenda for the upcoming one. Research and sector-related news items are also included in the newsletter. You can be added to the mail list by contacting the ANGOA Coordinator at dave.henderson@angoa.org.nz

Often there is a tension in the choice to have forums focused on “the Sector”. There is a lot of important research happening in “the community”, focussed on what people are doing in their community and how communities are changing, but there are also other forums where that can be reported.

ANGOA’s focus as stated in its constitution is on strengthening the community in the sense of its organisations. Voluntary, third sector, civil society, and not-for-profit are just some of the descriptive labels that are attached to a community’s organisations, but what they have in common is simple: a set of goals or ideals or a vision that is shared by a group of people, who each decide to work together to pursue those goals or that vision. The shared goals may be as simple as sharing childcare, re-planting a stream bank, or increasing their own opportunities to enjoy art, but the principle is the same – voluntary organisation.

Within that simple framework, the scene is set for a wide range of presentations but also for stimulating discussion about the role of the sector in society, its relationships with government, the business sector and academia, the motivations of volunteers, and the sector’s development into the future.

Presentations from the forum are generally included with the archive of past issues of the forum newsletter at www.angoa.org.nz , (go to “Select a report” box at top of the “Research Forum” page) although some are not filed, such as reports which are on work still in progress.

Recent presentations and discussions include:

· How Not-for-Profit organisations use Information and Communications Technology;

· Colonization of the volunteer sector as a result of government economic policies, and the changing face of volunteerism over the past twenty years;

· The experience of Maori mental health providers that contract to provide mental health services for the Crown;

· Understanding public engagement with the not-for-profit sector;

· The Lottery Grants Board decision to commit funds for research and evaluation;

· "Giving New Zealand 2006" – Survey by Philanthropy New Zealand and BERL;

· "Sustainable - is it Attainable?" - Engineers for Social Responsibility;

· SPARC study on volunteers in the sports sector;

· Reflections on community initiated research in Otara;

· Experiences of people in community organisations, Manchester UK and Auckland NZ;

· Defining the Nonprofit Sector in New Zealand and the work of the Johns Hopkins University Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project;

· Update on the Centre of Excellence for research in the community and voluntary sector.

Research Forums are scheduled for Wellington on 23 May, 22 August, 21 November, at the Families Commission Meeting Room, 6^th Floor, Public trust Building, Lambton Quay.

Forums are also scheduled for Auckland on 12 April and 3 October (venues to be confirmed) and for Christchurch in the second half of July. ANGOA also convenes a monthly Roundtable for community and voluntary sector organisations and relevant Government agencies –

For more information please visit:

www.angoa.org.nz

Federation focus

A view from our President…

Fran Hoover, President, NZFVWO

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An umbrella – in this weather?

Summer may have felt like it came a bit late in some parts of the country – but it has come. I can say that with assurance, having just spent 3 weeks in sunny Rotorua, then glorious big sky Central Otago and finally walking the Milford Track without ever getting my boots wet.

I didn’t take an umbrella.

Back at work , I recently heard an address by Coleen Clare ,CEO of the Melbourne based Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare. Her organisation is the peak body (umbrella organisation) for child and family welfare providers in Victoria – with an astounding 99% of government funded providers being members.

Coleen’s insights into the role of peak bodies resonated with me. For one thing I always find it reassuring to be reminded that our colleagues in other countries face so many of the same issues and opportunities – it means there is a great chance we can learn something from each other.

A couple of Coleen’s points felt particularly apt to our NZ situation. Firstly, she noted the value of umbrella organisations to the sector. These organisations can provide training and resources their members want, gather the sector view or views on issues and advocate with collective weight, and carry out forward thinking longitudinal research to better inform both practice and advocacy in the future.

I really liked her point that her organisation always actively seeks out and encourages other bodies who might have similar outcome goals for an advocacy issue, but who come from a different perspective. For example, advocating on a child health issue – they’d talk in depth with the Children’s Hospital. The more and wider variety of experts who are saying essentially the same thing, the harder their point is to ignore.

Second, umbrella organisations should add huge value to government – we can and should be a conduit for government to communicate with the sector efficiently, fully and frankly. She gave some examples of policy and legislation they’ve achieved (both processes and outcomes) which seemed to have most of her audience sitting with an “I wish” look on our faces – and that was both government officials and NGOs. I certainly had moments of “contract envy” listening to Coleen. By the way - a regular Price Index contract fee adjustment is possible !

The Federation and other umbrella organisations add huge value to the sector. The resources produced; the training that is offered; the networks that are supported; vital research is undertaken (although well co-ordinated longitudinal studies are not really in our domain); the advocacy that happens both in and out of Wellington – the Federation is active, and mostly effective, in all these areas.

The point that really struck a chord was whether or not we add real value to government – and that matters because I believe if we are adding value to government we will be adding exponentially more value to the sector. If a government officials need access to NGOs how do they get it? Do we make it easy for them to know who to talk to? Do we do everything we can to ensure we have such a good connection and relationship that government policy simply couldn’t be set without really sound and honest consultation?

I believe we in the NGO sector have work to do in this respect. There are many and varied individual NGOs, and quite a few and varied umbrella organisations. It can be confusing from the inside, let alone when you’re just visiting.

That work is about carrying on and extending the co-ordination and collaboration which is already happening to such good effect. COmVOiceS for example is an extraordinarily successful collaboration.

Don’t get me wrong – I see constantly the support and collegiality of individuals within our umbrella organisations. We have excellent relationships among ourselves. My point is that I don’t think others (government, business stakeholders, philanthropic funders…) necessarily experience the NGO sector as co-ordinated and together.

The Federation met recently with NZ Council of Social Services – and together we have re-started a previous dialogue about how we can work more effectively together, co-ordinate our efforts, share resources and ideas, and how we can make our collaboration obvious to the rest of the world so that the NGO sector becomes a bit less complex and confusing for them. It is very exciting work because it goes to the heart of the role of umbrella organisations – effectively supporting members and having influence with issues and agendas that matter to them.

I didn’t take a real umbrella with me this summer. No matter what the weather I’ll take the support of a metaphorical one with me through the rest of the year.

From the Executive Director’s desk…

Tina Reid, Executive Director, NZFVWO

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A strong voice for the sector

Feedback to us over the last year has been very clear that as a national umbrella organisation we are expected to be in touch with what is happening in Government and in Wellington, and finding ways to influence agendas and processes. This has confirmed for us that our role in advocacy is a priority.

We are very aware of many layers within this role, and this year will be ensuring that we communicate how we undertake this. In our recent work, issues about a tax rebate on donations to charities provide an interesting case study.

History: This has been a topic that the Federation has raised several times in its history – over the last six years I have been involved in at least two processes of discussion with other NGOS – particularly church ones – and approaches to Ministers. These have always been rebuffed with the response that a regulatory framework was needed, including the means to quantify the expected impact of any changes to the rebate level, before it would be considered. Now we have the Charities Commission and can move our lobbying up a level.

As part of joint strategising about key messages in the COmVOiceS project, Philanthropy NZ and ourselves included this issue in the messages about funding and sustainability of the sector.

Party policy: United Future developed a pre-election policy for the community and voluntary sector which included addressing the tax rebate level and the concept of a tax incentive for volunteering. We met with them prior to the election and particularly discussed the rebate issue – and were pleased that this issue made it to the agreement they forged as part of the current government coalition.

Government policy: So early last year we approached Peter Dunne as the Minister of Finance to seek assurance that was on the government work plan, and offered our support for this issue. We met several times with senior officials in IRD to discuss issues and they kept us in touch with the development of their work in this area, and we were in the loop for the release of the discussion document in October and had the series of five consultation workshops ready to confirm and advertise once the paper was available.

Consultations: Over the next month about 300 people attended workshops in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. These were hosted by local networks and presented by IRD with either Philanthropy NZ or ourselves present at each.

The discussion paper and notes from each meeting were on our website for reference and to make information easily available outside of the workshops. Based on the workshop discussions, we developed a draft submission we sent to all our members for their consideration and use, and made it available on our website for wider community use.

Collaboration:We have been working closely with other national and umbrella organisations, both as part of COmVOiceS and in hosting workshops and so have been continually sharing information and feedback.

Submissions: IRD received 227 written submissions, which was a very positive response to their paper (even more than they received for Kiwisaver). They met with us again at the end of the year for a debrief on the process and to discuss their plans from here. They are working on picking up the issues raised over the next two years

Debrief & forward planning: Recently we met again with Peter Dunne to emphasise the importance of this work for our sector, and our hope to see it reflected in priorities for the next two years, and we have requested a meeting with the Minister of Revenue.

It will remain a priority for us – and the officials and Ministers are very aware of this.

Lessons: This whole process is fascinating – and is a demonstration that advocacy:

operates on several levels:

within our sector,
with political parties,
with officials
with Ministers.

The topic is important to our sector, and developed over time:

it was useful to have this history among ourselves,
players at different times are in different roles.

Involves significant discussion and analysis “behind the scenes” to focus and develop the issues:

we had already collaborated about it as a priority,
it is our impression that the discussion paper was significantly more comprehensive as a result of our discussions with officials that it may otherwise have been ,
the input and discussion at consultative workshops and among our members provided us with clear messages for our submission.

Builds on constructive and existing relationships in the sector. For instance the consultative process was very collaborative, and happened quickly and smoothly because:

we had been kept informed of the time frame,
we had jointly planned ahead,
the meetings were set up and managed by the sector,
IRD made themselves available and paid all direct costs.

Sense of belonging to a wider sector

New Dialogue readers survey results

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In the last issue of New Dialogue, we invited readers of both the online and hardcopy version of the magazine to take part in a short online survey to tell us what they thought of the publication. We got a good response to the survey, with 132 respondents volunteering their views on the look and feel of the magazine, readability and usefulness of the publication, through to paying a subscription fee to cover the costs of publication.

The Federation is keen to see a stronger, well-connected and effective voluntary sector. The most heartening thing for the Federation amongst the findings of this survey was that the vast majority of readers reported that they felt that New Dialogue gave them a sense of belonging to the wider sector and that the magazine would be missed if no longer published. This is a key finding for the Federation since it reinforces the reasons for so much of the work we do. Thank you so much to all those who responded to the survey, not only for your time but also for your candid responses which have really informed us on how to continue making New Dialogue more useful and relevant to our readers.

The questions in the first half of the survey were posed to give us an indication of how useful readers were finding the magazine, and what could be done to improve either the online or hardcopy summary version. Unsurprisingly, reader habits are as diverse as is our sector, but 90% said they read the magazine thoroughly or at least browsed the issue each time. As for content, the main theme, articles about the sector and the events & resources sections were valued more highly than other sections. Several respondents stated their preference for continuing with a ‘main theme’ for each issue, since this meant that the magazine was always looking at sector issues from fresh angles. Interestingly, readers also said that they found the magazine useful for all the contact names provided in articles. Majority of readers also said that they found the publication easy to read, some indicating that it could be brightened up with the use of photographs. The Federation has long been mindful of readers who are still on dial-up connections, but will be looking at ways to liven up New Dialogue.

The rest of the survey dealt with the tricky / ongoing issue of securing the sustainability of the magazine. The Federation has been issuing a hard copy magazine to the sector for a very long time – New Dialogue being the latest incarnation of a continuous stream of information going back 29 years! Finding ways to fund the magazine is always going to be an issue – and we asked readers if they would be willing to pay a subscription fee. The response was split down the middle, with just under half of respondents saying they would be happy for New Dialogue to be subscription based, with two-thirds thinking a fee between $10 and $25 to be reasonable. However, many thought that yet another subscription fee would be a burden on most voluntary organisations. Others suggested that the magazine be free to Federation members, with a nominal subscription for non-member organisations.

Currently, the electronic version of New Dialogue is sent to 2,000 readers via email and the hard copy is sent to 3,200 organisations around the country, with Federation members accounting for less than 4 percent of this total readership. We feel that it is important that New Dialogue remains a vehicle for connecting and sharing information with the wider sector and not limited only to Federation members. We enjoy providing New Dialogue to the sector and will continue to do so – and although there are no immediate plans to charge for the magazine, the feedback from our readers’ survey will be instrumental in helping us secure its future in line with expectations of its readers.

In the meantime, if you would care to support New Dialogue, the Federation would be happy to accept any donations / contributions towards the costs of publication. To make a donation towards New Dialogue, please feel free to call us on 04 385 0981 or email Michael Woodcock at marketing@nzfvwo.org.nz

To view a comprehensive summary of the findings, visit:

www.nzfvwo.org.nz/files/summary.html

Members Forum: Recruitment and retention

Every issue, we ask three of our members their opinion on a topical issue. With changes in the way people volunteer their time and effort for good causes, we ask what organisations are doing to recruit and retain their volunteers.

Doing small things with great love

C.A.R.E. Waitakere Trust – Lynn Goold

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C.A.R.E. Waitakere Trust is a not-for-profit community agency providing professional counselling and budgeting services (New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services affiliated). Our recruiting has mostly been by word of mouth. Every person showing an interest is invited to peruse our Training Manual to ensure that they are able to understand and commit to the vision and goals for the organization.

Our volunteer team includes Budget Advisors, Administrative Assistants, Grounds-people and Budget Service Management Team members. Because of the nature of our organization, all of the 35 people who work with the agency, even if they may gain some payment for services, also often contribute many hours of voluntary work. We have found that the key thing that holds a person is the quality of relationship… we do everything we can to ensure every person feels welcomed and valued as a vital part of the whole team.

Providing regular personal and professional support, as well as ongoing training and supervision individually and as a team, have been key factors in retaining volunteers and building our team. Volunteers are reimbursed for costs incurred (e.g. mileage) and all expenses are paid for Budget Advisors to attend the NZFFBS Bi-annual Conference. Opportunity for social interaction is also important. Providing special lunches, including presentation of Training Certificates and/or Certificates of Appreciation have been great times of celebration and building friendship. We also look for other ways to give back to our volunteers, for example remembering their birthdays and giving small gifts at Christmas time and sometimes during the year, celebrating their successes and supporting them when times are hard. Our Annual Report gives another opportunity to feature every team member and publicly acknowledge their contribution.

“We may not all be able to do great things but we can all do small things with great love” (Mother Teresa) Our goal is to model the same quality of caring within our team that we seek to demonstrate in our services to our community.

Building strong relationships

Cancer Society of New Zealand – Ann Hodson, Volunteer Manager & Prema Mani, National Advisor

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The Cancer Society is looking at the future recruitment and retention of volunteers as part of a pan Division Volunteer Strategy.

Discussions on recruitment of volunteers will focus on how we can recruit a volunteer pool that is reflective of the local demographics of the community and encourage, for example, workers (full-time or contract), students, people from other cultures, stay at home parents, as well as the more ‘traditional’ volunteer who is usually retired and Pakeha.

Building a pool of diverse volunteers is requiring us to look at more creative recruitment strategies such as website recruitment, approaching tertiary institutes, involvement in corporate volunteering as well as the more ‘traditional’ medium of community newspapers and other media.

Recent experience has shown us the importance of establishing clear expectations of both parties. The benefits of having a diverse range of volunteer including short term and episodic volunteers can bring valuable skills to enhance the work of the Cancer Society. International students, for example, have been involved in a number of short term projects bringing computer skills as well as good academic and motivation skills.

In seeking to recruit volunteers from other cultures including Maori and Pacific Peoples, we are seeking to build strong relationships with these communities to understand where volunteering fits in with their cultural view of volunteering.

A Volunteer Strategy will also look at the retention of volunteers and some areas for review will be orientation, ongoing training and support for volunteers, and volunteer involvement in planning and decision making.

Valuing dedication and skill

Earthlink Inc, Shirley Cressey

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Earthlink Incorporated (Te Kaporeihana Mahi Papatuanuku) was founded in 1995 to provide vocational pre-employment and paid employment opportunities for people with mental health concerns. In 2006 Earthlink carried out these services through amenities horticulture, machinery maintenance and repair and the recycling of inorganic items for sale. Earthlink also runs work related educational courses and now supports 132 Clients, Tangata/Whaiora annually with long term unemployment, mental health, addiction and disability concerns facing continuing work place challenges.

During Earthlink Inc strategic planning for 2005-06 we acknowledged the overload, stress, and idealist model that many of our managers and key support staff are working in and how we as an organisation were not tapping into the vast number of people dedicated to the volunteer sector of our workforce with experience, understanding, academic and work related skill that our organisation needs in our quests to support people into employment opportunities of their choice.

Earthlink for the first time in our 10 years of operation is looking to gain support from this very vital and dedicated sector of people in our objective to skill, prepare, place and support people in full time and part time employment. We are committed to assisting people towards an independent, quality of life and we believe in a recovery model of wellness. Mentoring, teaching, tutoring marketing, are just some of the areas where volunteer support can only enhance, strengthen, and grow our service and support others less fortunate and we will be seeking to emphasise the value and rewards of the work we do in attracting volunteers.

Sector news

The growing value of love

David Shannon, Strategic Pay Limited

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Readers of my articles and various publications might be familiar with what I term the “Love Factor.”

Through a number of surveys I instigated beginning back in 1992, we identified and analysed a distinct difference in the pay that employees in the broad voluntary/charitable/non-governmental/not-for-profit sector are willing to accept in return for the more personal rewards gained in working in this sector.

We came to call this pay margin the ‘Love Factor,’ as those employed in this sector were usually prepared to sacrifice the extra financial gain for the sheer love of the work. In fact, the very concept of ‘love of work’ and the satisfaction gained from the work performed is probably better understood by these employees than anyone else.

Through the past 12 years, I have worked with a number of these agencies in the struggle to balance the increasing value of the Love Factor with their very real budgetary constraints.

In most cases, the struggle focused on moving salaries to avoid falling further behind the general market. However, in recent years the attempt to maintain a reasonable margin has been undermined by another dynamic.

Many organisations in the Not for Profit Sector (NfPs) receive a significant portion of their funding from various Ministries, e.g. Health or Social Development, in the form of contracts for services. These contracts are drawn up in good faith by both parties and typically include provision for paying the NfP employees based on current pay rates for those jobs at the time of the contract. This would seem fair to all as it provides sufficient funding for the NfP to employ qualified staff at salary levels on broad parity with what these same employees could receive working in the public sector.

That was acceptable as long as salaries in the public sector remained at levels broadly stable.

However, salaries in the public sector have not stagnated over recent years. They continue to move upwards at 3% to 5% per annum for roles below the managerial level. In addition, union awards have resulted in significant movements for particular employment groups.

Where these salaries have moved substantially, NfP employees paid at the older salary levels now find the substantially increased Love Factor unsustainable. The temptation to leave for higher paid employment in the public sector – often with the very agencies that contracted for their services – becomes increasingly potent.

As long as the NfPs remain bound by contracts where salary rates reflect an earlier day, they will struggle to retain the staff required to deliver the services.

This makes it more crucial for these organisations to have access to reliable information on current market rates for the roles they employ. Sound market analysis of current remuneration levels within the organisation provides the following advantages:

A means of establishing the internal relativities of jobs and thereby maintaining an internal reward structure that is seen as fair and equitable by staff.
A means of comparing the organisation’s roles with those in other Not for Profit agencies in order to ensure equitability across the sector.
A means of comparing the organisation’s roles with comparable roles in the Public or other employment sectors in order to understand any difference that may exist in pay levels and make sound decisions on how to address that gap.
A means of tracking direct comparisons with counterpart employment groups in the Public Sector (or other funding sources) in order to prepare for effective contract negotiation which will provide for on-going equity in remuneration levels.

While it would be wonderful for a Not for Profit Agency to operate in a bubble where staff worked for whatever the organisation can afford because they love their work so much they will never leave, such is not the way of today’s market.

When NfPs must renegotiate their funding contracts, they must do it in full knowledge of the market remuneration rates that may apply both then and in the future.

For more information visit :

Strategic Pay

Employment in the sector

Tina Reid, NZFVWO

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There are unique features about employment in our sector, which have been highlighted as part of a developing project over the last year. We have discussed such things as:

Volunteer Committees as employers have wide ranging implications – there can be significant turnover and lack of continuity on the Committee, lack of previous experience and understanding of the role, and this being only one of numerous pressures,
Recruitment and retention of staff can be difficult - salaries are historically low and there are few opportunities for career development
Demands on staff can be very unrealistic – with large workloads and few opportunities for delegating
Lack of funds for training and support
The dynamics involved in working as paid staff alongside volunteers

· Many staff are involved in continually raising their own salaries.

In response to all these issues, we also have some great opportunities:

· Offering creative and interesting jobs

· To bring personal passion and human interest to your work, with the motivation of making a positive contribution to society

· Providing flexible work practices

· In valuing people for the contribution they make to our work

· Many small organisations where one has the chance to see the impact of ones work.

This all adds up to some specialist issues about employment in our sector, and this is the focus of a joint project that was initiated last year between us at NZFVWO, Social Services Waikato and NZ Council of Social Services. In 2007 we will be continuing with this project, and developing our ways to support and promote good employment practices in the voluntary sector.

Last year, following up previous work in Hamilton with the mediation service of the Department of Labour, we planned and ran several free, one day workshops on employment practices – in Hamilton, Auckland and Hutt Valley. These were attended by over 70 people and received very positive evaluations. This year we are hope to run other 3 – 5 workshops in different locations, and will be following up with organisations who have expressed interest in the past to assist us an arrangements and advertising of these workshops.

As part of this project we are also exploring what kind of ongoing support and advisory service would be useful and how we could facilitate this. We will collate a number of excellent resources available from employer organisations, unions and good practice guidelines in the sector, and hope to attract some funding to develop an ongoing resource and support service.

Employment is a crucial part of meeting our goals as voluntary organisations – all organisations can continually seeking ways to improve and develop their practices – and we hope to be part of developing that culture in our sector.

COmVOiceS in 2007

Tina Reid, NZFVWO

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COmVOiceS is a collaboration of national and umbrella organisations, developed to promote a higher profile for the Tangata Whenua, community and voluntary sector. At the end of 2006 we undertook evaluation of the last year, and received great feedback about its value in:

· Providing valuable media updates

· Creating a sense of connections and connectedness across the sector

· Significant progress on media coverage in the last 18 months

· Opportunities for coordinated advocacy

· Increase in media skills and confidence by working group members.

This project has relied in funding from a number of sources, and we are delighted that we have received crucial support from two philanthropic trusts, and renewed contributions from several members which enable us to plan 2007 with confidence. We have recently had some more organisations join the working group, so that it now comprises of:

NZFVWO (NZ Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations)
ANGOA (Association of Non Government Organisations in Aotearoa)
Volunteering NZ
Funding Information Service
Healthcare Aotearoa
Community Sector Taskforce
Philanthropy New Zealand
New Zealand Council of Social Services
DPA (Disabled Person’s Assembly)
Presbyterian Support
ESOL Home Tutor Scheme
Prison Fellowship
YMCA
IHC
CHAI (Community Housing Aotearoa)

This brings a great and diverse range of interests to the table, and we will continue to work to communicate through the three key messages developed at the beginning of the project. We will focus more clearly on three key activities for the year:

A series of cross parliamentary breakfasts
Communications to the sector, including media alerts, updates and revising the website
Strong focus on 3 – 4 national events to provide and co-ordinate support and activities.

As part of communications to the sector, we invite interested organisations to join the update list for this project, and receive regular updates from us about our activities. We will also be developing several more workshops around the country to follow up our pilot workshops last year – and so are interested to hear from any local networks that would be interested in hosting and working with us to deliver a local workshop: please email ed@nzfvwo.org.nz

For more information on COmVOiceS visit:

www.nzfvwo.org.nz/comvoices

National and regional forums on the 4 R’s

Community Sector Taskforce

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Community Korero is coming with all you need to know about the forums we are planning that will lead to a positive engagement with government in June 2007 in Wellington. The national forum will be held over two days. Day One will be a day for the sector representatives to come together with the taskforce to coordinate our korero and Day Two is for engaging with the government on matters of mutual importance. The main theme for discussion at the national forum are to be centred around the 4 R’s, namely Relationships, Resourcing, Representations and Regional Networks.

Relationships: How we understand our relationships with each other, what we have in common across the sector and what changes are needed for our sector and Local and Central Government working more effectively together.

Resourcing: How can the work of organisations, groups and community networks be better supported by government. Where does sector-driven accountability fit into current thinking and practice around funding and resourcing models for the sector. Do we have a better way here?

Representation: Participants at the forums, in the regions, the national organisations’ meetings and fono will have an opportunity to select 6 people to attend the national forum in Wellington in June.

Regional Networks: The taskforce continues to support the establishment of regional networks as a key mechanism to further strengthen relationships in the sector. We would like to encourage the growth of regional networks.

In the run up to