Theme for National Volunteer Week 08
22 October 2007 at 9:32 am
Volunteering Australia has announced that the theme for National Volunteer Week 2008 will be ‘Volunteers change our world’ reflecting both recruitment and recognition.
This theme was developed in light of Volunteer Australia’s recent research which asked for feedback regarding the theme, purpose and promotional items for the week.
The research concluded that having a new theme each year is helpful to most organisations, and that the purpose of the week should move on from focusing on recruitment, and instead should focus upon thanks and recognition of volunteers.
Volunteering Australia says the research demonstrated that International Volunteer Day alone is not enough to celebrate and thank volunteers. Recruitment of volunteers was seen to be important but of secondary importance and would come as a by product of celebrating the pivotal role of volunteers in society.
2008 will see the shift in focus from recruitment, to celebration and thanks.
The peak organisation says the theme ‘Volunteers change our world’ speaks to the critical motivation for most volunteers which is the wish to ‘make a difference’, to help others or do something worthwhile and a ‘public declaration’ of the significance of the work of volunteers in Australian society and the wider world.
Volunteering Australia says it is not a clever play on words, not a pun, but a simple statement of fact: volunteers change our world.
The theme is intended to be celebratory and triumphant. It is not arrogant or exclusive.
VA’s research demonstrated that this theme was perceived as more than just a ‘volunteers help people’ message. It has the potential to work on a number of different levels, and could apply to both the global and local context.
