Overview
The National Standards for Volunteer Involvement are a best practice framework to guide volunteer involvement. They are an essential resource for all organisations and groups that engage volunteers.
The Standards are flexible and recognise that volunteering takes place in highly diverse settings and ways.
Who are they for?
The National Standards are for any organisation, group, club, or association that involves volunteers. They have been designed to help:
- Improve the volunteer experience
- Ensure the wellbeing of volunteers is supported and their contributions are valued
- Provide best practice guidance for organisations to attract, manage and retain volunteers
- Support effective risk and safety practices
What are the National Standards?
Designed for organisations that strive for best practice, the National Standards offer simple, practical criteria that can be applied to a broad range of volunteering scenarios. They are scalable to organisation size and available resources.
There are 8 standards designed to support safe, effective and inclusive volunteering:
- Volunteering is embedded in leadership, governance and culture.
- Volunteer participation is championed and modelled.
- Volunteer roles are meaningful and tailored.
- Recruitment is equitable and diversity is valued.
- Volunteers are supported and developed.
- Volunteer safety and wellbeing is protected.
- Volunteers are recognised.
- Policies and practices are continuously improved.
Each standard is accompanied by specific criteria and examples of evidence that indicate whether they have been met.
Refresh
The National Standards were refreshed in 2024 to ensure they are contemporary and inclusive of the diversity of volunteering and volunteers.
The refresh was informed by a sector wide consultation process conducted across each state and territory in 2023.
Using the Standards
Volunteering Victoria offers workshops to provide guidance in implementing the refreshed National Standards:
Introductory Training
3 hour workshop
An introduction and overview of the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement
Implementation Training
2 hour workshop
A practical follow-up offering additional support and guidance for implementing the National Standards
Please note: As the owners of the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement, Volunteering Australia has endorsed the State and Territory Peak Bodies for Volunteering as the sole providers of training and resources on these standards.
Resources
Volunteering Victoria offers a variety of tools and resources to assist organisations to assess and demonstrate their compliance with the Standards. See the links below to help with your planning:
Implementation Guide
The National Standards Implementation Guide contains the steps, activities, policy considerations, tips, tools and advice to help when implementing the National Standards.
Evidence Guide
The National Standards Evidence Guide identifies the practices, processes, policies and documentation that can be used to show that an organisation has implemented the National Standards.
Review the Evidence Guide to see what implementing the National Standards looks like in practice.
Gap Analysis Tool
Use the Gap Analysis Tool for a high-level self-assessment to check whether your programs meet the National Standards.
This tool comes in a variety of formats.
Volunteer Experience Checklist
The Volunteer Experience Checklist is a tool for volunteer managers and senior leaders to understand the National Standards from a volunteer perspective. It can be used as a tool to compare current practices against best practices.
Case Studies
Explore examples of how other organisations have successfully implemented the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement. These case studies offer reflections and practical guidance to help you enhance your own volunteer program.
