Partnerships

Volunteer South seeks to empower the community through volunteering and one of the ways we do this is by partnering with other organisations that support the work being done in the Southern region.

Volunteer Awards - SBS Bank

The Volunteer Awards were established in 2021 as dedicated awards for recognising the enormous work that is done in the Ōtepoti community with volunteering.

This year, SBS Bank, Volunteer South, and Otago Community Trust have come together in partnership to meaningfully celebrate tūao | volunteers, volunteering and volunteer-involving organisations and community groups across Ōtepoti.

The Volunteer Awards 2022 took place in September. Please follow this link to see a summary of the ceremony.

For more details, head to volunteerawards.nz.

Citizens Advice Bureau - Invercargill

Our southernmost office is run in proud partnership with the team at Citizens Advice Bureau Invercargill.

With no Volunteer Centre present in Invercargill prior to our partnership, there was a gap to be filled and with both the CAB and Volunteer South teams looking to establish a centre in the deep South, we pulled together our resources, strengths and knowledge to work together to establish Volunteer South - Invercargill.

Established in 2020 the CAB is the natural base for the hub, where volunteers can go to seek advice and information about how they can connect to their community through volunteering. Our partnership with the CAB in Invercargill enables vital services to be delivered to the organisations and volunteers in the lower South Island, with Volunteer South bringing their processes, procedures and knowledge around volunteer engagement and best practice, and the CAB bringing their local knowledge, experience and relationships.

If you're keen to see how the Invercargill team can support you as an organisation or volunteer feel free to drop in to the office on Don Street to say hello or email Raewyn on invercargill@volunteersouth.org.nz

Social Impact Studio | UniCrew Volunteers

Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South and UniCrew volunteers at the University of Otago have worked together to support volunteering in Ōtepoti | Dunedin city since 2015. In 2020, the two volunteer | social impact centres have renewed their working relationship in better ways to ensure the community gets the support it needs through volunteering. We've increased the level of support we offer volunteer-involving organisations as well as more communication, more volunteer opportunities and high-level community support around emergencies.

• If you're promoting your volunteer role with Volunteer South, you'll automatically start promoting it with UniCrew volunteers as well. It's that easy! If you don''t want this to happen, all you need to do is let us know. N.B. All new members will get to check this box at the time of application.
• We're working together to increase the awareness of volunteering in the community which means double the visibility! Your roles can be featured in communications from both organisations - all you have to do is let us know.
• Emergencies get a more cohesive community-wide response through Volunteer Souths emergency volunteering capability: we'll be working together in an emergency and supporting the spontaneous volunteer response.

The best thing about our new partnership is that it costs exactly $0 for this wider support across our community. On behalf of Volunteer South and Social Impact Studio, we thank you for your support, because without you, this partnership would never have happened. Thanks team!

For more information about UniCrew volunteers, check out their website here. For Social Impact Studio, check out this information on the University of Otago's website here.

Otago Civil Defence Emergency Management

Working together across the Otago region since 2018, Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South, Social Impact Studio (through their partnership and MOU with Volunteer South) and Otago Civil Defence officially detailed how each agency would support each other in response to a community emergency situation.

During the 2020 Covid-19 nationwide lockdown, Volunteer South in Central Lakes was quickly activated to support the Queenstown Lakes area, followed by Dunedin, Central Otago and Waitaki in the following days. Named as the lead agency for volunteer coordination, Volunteer South helped to promote safe ways of volunteering as well as funneling volunteers into areas of need during the initial - and longer - welfare response. This unusual activity helped to create processes and systems that has led to the Emergency Volunteering database at Volunteer South.

In an emergency, Volunteer South will be able to support Civil Defence by being the central agency for spontaneous volunteers. This will enable emergency response teams to be able to respond without the need to manage the well meaning community members who do not have the skills or equipment to help. These spontaneous, emergent or community volunteers are funneled through to Volunteer South who then sends these volunteers to the appropriate agencies. In Dunedin, Social Impact Studio and Volunteer South ensure this is done in a coordinated way so that our university students are also well supported.

For more information about Emergency Volunteering, head to our page here. For more information on Otago Civil Defence Emergency Management, head to their website here.

Otago Access Radio

Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South and Otago Access Radio in Dunedin have been working together for 5 years to provide community connections and volunteer opportunities across the wider Dunedin space. As organisational neighbours, Volunteer South is proud to support Otago Access Radio with volunteering resources and Otago Access Radio has generously been hosting the Volunteer South Hotspot showcasing volunteer-involving organisations and community groups (VIO) in Dunedin.

The Volunteer South Hotspot is a 15 minute spot on the OARsome morning show every Friday at 8.40AM for the Dunedin area. It is an opportunity for those organisations or community groups that involve volunteers to share with the community the work that they do and the awesome power of their tūao | volunteers. There is no need to be a member of Volunteer South to access this opportunity and the Volunteer South Hotspot runs for 48 weeks of the year so if you're needing a bit of a boost in volunteers, contact the Volunteer South team by emailing office@volunteersouth.org.nz.

Volunteer South has also launched their first dedicated radio show, aiming at upskilling our youth in the community called the Youth Impact. You can find out more about this podcast and listen to them every Friday, at 4.30PM by heading to their website here.

South Dunedin Community Network

In June 2020, Kaitūao o te Taitonga - Ōtepoti | Volunteer South - Dunedin proudly opened a volunteering hub located in Mosgiel with the aim of reducing barriers for the Mosgiel community to volunteering within their own community. Now, in 2021, Volunteer South is proud to announce the partnership with South Dunedin Community Network to offer the same hub in the South Dunedin community!

Every Tuesday, from 9:30AM to 12:30PM, a member of our Volunteer South team will be joining the SDCN in their space at 278A King Edward Street. People looking for volunteer roles can pop in and have a chat with Volunteer South about any volunteering opportunities that they would like to do. If they're unable to see us at that time, the SDCN team can take your details for us to follow up with. It's easy - and that's what the partnership is all about! Making connections in the South Dunedin community has never been easier!

To check out the great work being done by the groovy people at South Dunedin Community Network, check out their Facebook page here or their website here.

Southern Health

Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South and Southern Health have partnered up to support mental health awareness in the wider Otago community. While the partnership started during Mental Health Awareness Week 2020, the collaboration has continued past the important week to increase the messaging around mental wellbeing and provide options of where to seek help if needed.

Volunteers from around Otago have been walking around their communities to deliver card stackers full to the brim with useful information that people can pick up and slip into their pocket should they be seeking to improve their mental wellbeing. Places that are encouraged to display the card stackers or posters are everyday businesses like cafes and banks as well as libraries, community hubs, schools and charities.

If you're wanting to give some love back to the community and support mental wellbeing by displaying a cardstacker, get in touch with the fantastic team at Volunteer South at info@volunteersouth.org.nz. Check out the All Right? campaign here.

Wakatipu High School Give Time

We are pleased to be able to share with you Give Time. Developed by a group of Year 10 students from Wakatipu High School, Give Time is a student focused mobile friendly website that helps students find appropriate volunteer opportunities in their community. Give Time was created by students, for students to help them connect with organisations to give their time to.

The team at Volunteer South have partnered with the students to ensure host organisations are best placed to offer young volunteers a safe and rewarding experience and are helping them administer the site.

Students that volunteer benefit in so many ways - making new connections and friends, gaining new skills and experience, boosting their CV, improving their health and well-being, learning more about themselves and getting a huge boost of the warm fuzzies from having fun and giving back to their community. If you are a Wakatipu High School student keen to view roles, or an organisation keen to host students head to Give Time and take a look!

If you have any questions about Give Time, please don’t hesitate to contact the team at Volunteer South or view a short film here about how their idea came about and evolved into Give Time.