Information for Volunteers What is GoVolunteer? Why Volunteer? How to Find a Volunteer Job Using GoVolunteer Definitions & Principles of Volunteering Volunteer Rights & Checklist Young People Involved In Volunteering Interested in volunteering overseas? Visas for Volunteers from Overseas Family Volunteering Terms & Conditions of Use Privacy Policy   What is GoVolunteer? A warm welcome to all first time visitors. GoVolunteer is an initiative of Volunteering Australia and is Australia's first volunteer recruitment website. It is a not-for-profit site that provides free Internet advertising for not-for-profit community organisations looking for volunteers. GoVolunteer provides you with all you need to find out about volunteer opportunities, and helps you make the best match possible between your personal requirements and choice of volunteer work. There's no need to register to use GoVolunteer. It's easy to use, completely free and available to anyone who is interested in volunteering. GoVolunteer does not collect any personal information. You decide what information you want to share about yourself when you express your interest in an opportunity listed by a not-for-profit organisation. Why Volunteer? More than 5 million Australians make a difference in their local community by volunteering each year, doing a wide range of tasks for a wide range of not-for-profit organisations. People volunteer for many reasons and in many different ways. There is a great deal of satisfaction that comes from making a difference. You can experience working for causes that you are interested in, or assist in creating change in areas that are important to you. You can build new skills, meet new people and add variety to your work experience. GoVolunteer makes it easy for you to find a volunteer job to suit your interests and location. How to Find A Volunteer Job Using GoVolunteer Search the GoVolunteer database to find volunteer opportunities near where you live or work that match your interests and the time you have available. Use the Quick Search on the GoVolunteer home page, or select Opportunity Search to enter more detailed search criteria. You can search on a particular postcode with the distance that you are prepared to travel or you can select a broader region eg. Melbourne or VIC-Other. You can select the type of organisation that you would like to help and/or the type of task that you are interested in doing. You can also choose one-off opportunities (such as an event) or ones that involve a regular time commitment. To make your search criteria more specific or to locate a specific organisation, you can use one or more keywords. To make your search broader, you can select multiple options (Just hold down the "Ctrl" key (PC) or "Apple" key (Mac) while you select with your mouse) or use the "any" category within the criteria. Opportunities that match your search are listed in date order, with the most recently listed ones first. To view more details about any particular opportunity, just click on its title - this is a link to a more detailed description. Once you have found a volunteer opportunity that you are interested in, it's easy to let the organisation know you're interested. Press the "Express Interest" button below the Job Description, fill in a few details and an email will immediately be sent to the organisation. To view more information about the organisations that list opportunities on GoVolunteer, select Organisation Profiles from the navigation bar and browse organisations by alphabetical order. All organisations registered with GoVolunteer have agreed to the Australian definitions and principles of volunteering. Young People Involved In Volunteering Young people (aged 16 to 24 years old) are a growing volunteer base. According to the ABS statistics (2000) the biggest growth area in volunteering was youth. There was an increase in participating 18-24 year olds from 16.6% to 26.8% between 1995 and 2000. What Young People Can Gain from Volunteering: Skill acquisition - job skills, communication skills, etc Personal & professional development and training Confidence Experience - especially to be able to add to your CV A written/verbal reference Having fun Meeting new people Experiencing new challenges Satisfaction from doing something to make a difference The ability to explore different sorts of career or job opportunities in a voluntary capacity. What Young People Can Offer: Energy Enthusiasm A fresh perspective and new ideas as to how organisations do things Skills and abilities, in particular 'new' skills - especially in IT A 'youth' point of view. Examples of Youth-friendly Projects: Dog-walking - may only need to commit to an hour a week Planting trees - see instant results Novelty fun fundraising activities - eg National Board shorts Day Painting fishes on drains to remind people that what we put down the drain goes into our rivers Office skills, get real life experience! Computer tutors to teach older people about computers and the Internet Retail Experience volunteering in an Op Shop Marketing volunteers to assist in brochure distribution Lifesaving on the beaches Sailing or ten-pin bowling with people with disabilities. An Outline of What to do to find a Volunteer Position: Have a look at GoVolunteer and apply on-line for any position that you are interested in. Alternatively go to your local Volunteer Resource Centre (all their contact details are viewable on GoVolunteer under VA's Network. If you are not keen on volunteering on your own then perhaps look for a group activity and take along a friend! Download our Young People Involved in Volunteering Fact Sheet (PDF Document) Family Volunteering Family volunteering allows parents, children and other family members to spend time together while contributing to the community and causes they care about. It can be a fun activity that can improve communication within the family resulting in stronger family relationships. A growing trend overseas is for families to volunteer together. Family volunteering can involve siblings, parents, spouse and children. Families can volunteer to help a cause close to their heart. What Families Can Gain from Volunteering: Parents act as role models and can demonstrate helping others in need An increased sense of worth and accomplishment from making a difference A stronger sense of community and decrease in social isolation Respect for different people and conditions Relative or family members could benefit from the activity Learn new skills or using existing skills Volunteering is fun and something families can do together Examples of Family-friendly Projects: Sorting donated books Recycling projects Craft projects Planting trees Fundraising activities Assisting with brochure distribution Visits to nursing homes School and kindergarten activities How to find Family-friendly Projects: GoVolunteer, Australia's first national not-for-profit volunteer-matching website, allows families to search for volunteering opportunities by using the keyword "team". Visas for Volunteers from Overseas As a tourist can I volunteer in Australia? Yes. Provided that tourism is the main purpose of your visit and that volunteering is incidental to this. Volunteering is a very popular activity in Australia with a wide variety of venues, and tasks available. Before you come you should decide on the state(s) and or city(s) and or region(s) where you would like to visit. Once you have decided this you can contact a volunteering state centre: Volunteering New South Wales; Volunteering Queensland ;Volunteering Australia, Darwin Office (Northern Territory);Volunteering Western Australia; Volunteering South Australia; Volunteering Tasmania; Volunteering Victoria; Volunteering ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Or you can search this website for an idea of the positions available. It is advisable, to wait until you are in the country to make sure that your chosen location is suitable for you and then contact the volunteering state centre or volunteer involving organisation of your choice. To visit Australia and volunteer while on holiday, you will need a visa. There are two methods: 1. Apply for a Visitor/Tourist ETA (976) ETA stands for Electronic Travel Authority. Passport holders from thirty-two countries may obtain an ETA through travel agents airlines and specialist service providers around the world. There is no Australian government charge for issuing an ETA. Passport holders of countries where ETA arrangements are currently available: Andorra Iceland Singapore Austria Ireland South Korea Belgium Italy Spain Brunei Japan Sweden Canada Liechtenstein Switzerland Denmark Luxembourg Taiwan* Finland Malaysia UK - British Citizen France Malta UK - British National Germany Monaco (Overseas)** Greece Netherlands USA Hong Kong Norway Vatican City Portugal Republic of San Marino   * In the case of Taiwan, passports must not purport to be official or diplomatic passports. ** Holders of UK passports which indicate their nationality to be British National (Overseas) can only be processed for an ETA if resident in and applying in Hong Kong. 2. Apply for a Visitor Visa Passport holders from countries where ETAs are not yet available will still have to apply for a visitor visa through an Australian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate. A $A65.00 Visa Application Charge applies and there are various legal requirements that need to be met before a visitor visa for Australia may be granted. The legal criteria for the granting of a visitor visa requires, amongst other things, that applicants meet Australia's health and character standards, have adequate funds for support for the period of the visit, and intend a genuine visit to Australia. This applies to all visitor visa applicants including those seeking to undertake work as volunteers. When assessing applications from prospective visitors interested in taking part in voluntary work schemes authorised DIMIA decision makers must be satisfied that: An applicant's main purpose in visiting Australia is tourism, and that any voluntary work remains incidental to this. Voluntary work schemes must not, in other words, become a way of circumventing the general work prohibition that applies to the visitor visa: The work involved would not otherwise be undertaken in return for wages by an Australian citizen or resident. As long as this condition is met, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs accepts that remuneration by way of board and lodging or reimbursement of out-of-pocket living expenses in return for voluntary work does not constitute paid employment; and The work activities are genuinely voluntary. We suggest you visit the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs site for up-to-date information regarding visas to Australia, the address is www.immi.gov.au. * The information provided has been verified by DIMIA on 23 July 2003