City of Melbourne, one of our member organisations, is the local government area for the central city area of Melbourne. The organisation has a range of volunteering opportunities for the older community, arts, tourism, events and libraries.

Jane Lawson, the Volunteer Programs lead at City of Melbourne, says the organisation is lucky to have a centralised volunteer management system through which they have stayed connected with volunteers. Different volunteer teams – Visitor Services and Gardens for Wildlife – are also utilising Zoom to stay catch-up, develop resources and plan for the months ahead.

To manage volunteers in high-risk categories, City of Melbourne have enabled a number of programs to “go virtual”. This has enabled older volunteers to remain in their homes and continue volunteering. Many City of Melbourne volunteers are over 65 meaning they are unable to volunteer in person at this time due to health and safety reasons.

Regular contact with volunteers has enabled City of Melbourne to retain volunteers, while adapting to the new online environment. Many volunteers are eager to get back to it and have been appreciative of the regular connection. The Gardens for Wildlife program has been incredibly successful in retaining volunteers who are creating online resources for the community and conducting online garden assessments.

City of Melbourne have also incorporated various creative methods to keep volunteers engaged. During National Volunteer Week they asked volunteers to send a “selfie” where they received almost 300. The organisation has also asked volunteers to be a part of a review panel to provide feedback on a new volunteer induction process. These new and innovative processes are crucial for City of Melbourne in lowering volunteer attrition.

A post-COVID-19 environment will present opportunities for agility and flexibility for City of Melbourne. The organisation will look to continue developing their virtual volunteering, to foster many of their volunteers new embracing of technology.

By Ruby Jacobs, volunteer writer for Volunteering Victoria