Volunteering Australia Announces New President
5 June 2014 at 3:56 pm
Volunteering Australia has announced a new Board President amid ongoing uncertainty about the peak body’s future funding from the Federal Government.
Volunteering Australia CEO Brett Williamson says Tim Jackson, Chairman of Volunteering SA & NT, has been elected unanimously by the Board as the new President.
“Matt Rutter tendered his resignation from the VA President role due to his new job requirements and commitments to his young family,” Williamson said in a statement to stakeholders.
As well, the VA Board has appointed another independent director, lawyer Amit Jois.
“Amit Jois has been providing very useful input and observations on a range of VA issues for several months now, on a voluntary basis, so it was considered appropriate that he be invited to become a Director,” Williamson said.
“Amit joins current independent directors Kevin Thompson (Australian Sports Commission) who is also VA Deputy President and Andrew Coghlan (Red Cross).”
He said VA would be immediately embarking on “a process to secure another independent director with excellent financial/accounting expertise”.
On the issue of Commonwealth Government funding support, Williamson said VA was working very closely with State and Territory peaks to unpack and clarify future Government funding arrangements and opportunities.
After the Federal Budget in May, Williamson said the organisation was anxiously awaiting confirmation from the Department of Social Services about the specific details of an interim six-month extension of grant funding in the Budget to the majority of Not for Profit service providers, including Volunteer Resource Centres and National and State Volunteering peaks.
“VA and the State and Territory Peaks, through the CEO Network, is very focussed on this issue to ensure we can continue to support the invaluable contributions that the volunteering sector makes to civil society,” he said in his latest statement.
“The new DSS structure appears to be settled and VA enjoys a very positive and constructive relationship with relevant DSS personnel.
“Whilst considerable information about the new grants programs is available, it is noted that the release of DSS grant applications on 19 June is a critical time for all within the volunteering sector to fully understand the ‘detail’.”
