The Future of Volunteering

The Future of Volunteering is an innovative project which will, for the first time in the world, use narrative research processes, tools and proprietary software Sensemaker TM developed by Cognitive Edge to explore an issue of critical public policy. The project is funded by the Department of Disability Ageing and Home Care (NSW), via New South Wales Meals on Wheels. It is supported by the Minister for Ageing, Disability and Home Care (Minster Keneally), the Minster for Volunteering (Minister Burney), and Premier and Cabinet as well as peak organisations in the community care sector. The Society of Organisational Learning Australia and Cognitive Edge are providing the software and facilitation expertise. (SoLA is the learning partner for Cognitive Edge in Asia Pacific).

The key objectives of the project are to develop an understanding of policy issues and implications given the changes in demographics and patterns of volunteering, as well as guidance for those organisations funding and managing volunteers. The project may assist in providing answers to such questions as:

Is volunteering a doomed activity?
Where will the volunteers of the future come from?
What will motivate them?
What might volunteering look like in the future?
What forms might volunteering take (eg corporate volunteering, time-limited or project-based etc)?

The project will result in:

· a data base that contains the experience of volunteers, funding bodies and organisations that use volunteers
· identification of themes and issues, that will inform policy development for government and agencies that use volunteers
· an agreed set of priorities for further research and action


The project was launched in June 2007 and an on-line survey developed which went “live” in August 2007. The initial story-collecting phase ran from August through to mid-September 2007

The initial project plan was ambitious, expecting completion by December 2007. We underestimated the time required to inform, mobilise and facilitate volunteers and others to share their experiences and stories. We probably also over-estimated the ability of many of our target audience (particularly volunteers themselves) to easily access the internet to complete an on-line survey.

We currently have some 800 stories on the database and would like to generate 3 or 4 times that many stories as quickly as possible, to inform planned workshops for February and March 2008.

How can you help?

That’s where you and your organisation come in. We would like to enlist your support in generating stories about volunteering from your own volunteer base and from those staff who work with and manage volunteers. We also invite you and your volunteers to participate in the sensemaking workshops, set for February 25,26. A separate invitation to this event will be forwarded shortly.

What is in it for you?

Well firstly, you will be contributing to building the database and the body of knowledge around volunteering that will come from working with the stories on the database. This information will be in the public domain, and be available to all participating organisations.

However, if you are able to supply at least 300 stories from your own organisation, we will be in a position to “tag” your organisation’s stories and provide you with an analysis of the stories that reflects the issues around volunteering “as they apply specifically to your organisation”. This analysis would include comparisons with the overall data.

It should be noted that individuals can supply multiple stories about volunteering if they wish. We are interested in the experiences of volunteers, and their managers.

How to collect stories:

Recognising the difficulties of only using an on-line survey format, we have now developed 5 options for collecting stories: Whatever option is used, we need the data to be with the project team no later than 1 March 2008.

The survey is still available on-line. To visit the survey website, please point to the following web address: https://60.242.186.37/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.cognitive-edge.com/surveys/fov/ . For those who previously found this difficult to complete, some changes have been made based on feedback that is more user friendly.

The survey is available in hardcopy. Survey forms can be distributed to your volunteers and staff and completed forms sent back to the Future of Volunteering Project at the following address:
Future of Volunteering Project
NSW Meals on Wheels
Level 4, 80 Cooper Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

Ideally completed surveys would be sent back in batches as soon as they are ready so that we have maximum time to arrange for their transcription and up-loading to the database. However, the last date for receipt would be 1 March 2008, as we also plan to hold an “Intervention Design” workshop in mid-March to start to design interventions to address some of the issues which emerge from the sensemaking workshops.

Stories could be recorded and indexed at the time on a variety of recording media. The recorded stories could be sent to the project where they will be transcribed and up-loaded to the database. We can receive the recordings in any format eg as cassette recordings, as audio files via e-mail (viv.read@cognitive-edge.com) or on CD etc. If you wish to use this option please contact one of the project team members on the numbers listed below to discuss.

If the above methods prove difficult, but you have people in your organisation that would like to tell their stories, you could send a list of names and contact phone numbers to the Future of Volunteering Project at the above address and we will have someone call them back and record their stories over the phone.

Alternatively, one of our project staff could attend a meeting/workshop/seminar/other event that your organisation is running and arrange to record stories on the spot.

For further information:

If you are able to assist, require any additional information, have a question or would like clarification, please contact of the following project team members:

Viv Read 0414294339
Chris Fletcher 0402308403
Steve England 0418638873