Newsletter item – Volunteering Tasmania, 10 April 2024
Update from Tasmania’s peak body for volunteering
Volunteering Tasmania has faced a difficult decision and earlier this week, a restructure was implemented that affects all at, and working with, VT.
Two roles have been made redundant, and, as a result, we have lost two valued and highly skilled staff members. This reduces our staffing by 16%. This is a significant loss to our team and will impact on our capacity to respond to need. In addition, three roles have been restructured while other team member have accepted secondment positions to help us get through this fiscal year. We hope they return to us.
This has been a heart-breaking experience for all involved, and significantly impacts the support we can provide to Tasmania’s critical volunteering industry—the largest workforce in our state. These measures were necessary to enable Volunteering Tasmania to continue to advocate on behalf of volunteering to decision makers, and provide support to volunteers, volunteer managers and volunteer involving organisations who play a vital role in supporting our communities.
Like many other not-for-profits, we are navigating the uncertainty surrounding the renewal of anticipated contracts, the impacts of the rising cost of doing business over the past year, and expenses associated with responding to consistently high service demand levels. As we face this uncertainty, we must prepare to implement further austerity measures. These measures will continue to impede our ability to fulfil our role as a peak body, apply pressure on a team that must decrease in size and reduce the services we provide to members and wider stakeholders who rely on us.
The support we have received from the incoming government have included:
• Providing peak body funding of $520,000 a year for two years, including the delivery of Volunteering Awards.
• Developing Tasmania’s first Volunteering Strategy. Providing $150,000 to develop the Strategy and a five-year action plan after its development.
While this looks to future proof volunteering, the challenges the industry and Volunteering Tasmania are experiencing are affecting the volunteer workforce right now.
We urgently call upon the incoming government to prioritise the financial sustainability of the Tasmanian volunteering peak body and the essential programs outlined in our Budget Priority Submission 2024 – 25. These programs are crucial for delivering solution-focused, place-based programs in partnership with Tasmania’s extensive volunteering ecosystem.
We continue to advocate for the sustainable, safe, and supported volunteering workforce our communities need.
