Nature Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of our new volunteer program to help support our vital conservation work.

Nature Foundation has a long and proud history of volunteering, from the initial contribution of our founders (Dr Barbara Hardy AO, Warren Bonython AO, Mark Bonnin AO and David Cleland), our members and supporters who provide community participation at our planting days and other events, those who serve on our committees and contribute to conservation and nature-based tourism efforts on our reserves.

Since we began documenting formal volunteer hours in 2017, 21,654 hours of volunteer contribution have been recorded.

Over the past 18 months, Nature Foundation has undertaken an organisational review of activities against our ‘Toward 2030 Strategic Plan’, along with feedback from members and the public, industry-relevant research and exploring emerging opportunities in the carbon and nature-positive markets. Through this process, it became apparent that a new, consistent volunteer management approach was required across all seven nature reserves, providing more opportunities for interest-based participation and increasing our capacity to deliver gains for biodiversity and nature conservation.

While volunteering provides invaluable human resources for non-profit organisations like Nature Foundation, it also greatly benefits the individuals who volunteer their time. According to the General Social Survey undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2019-2020, almost one-third (29.5%) of people aged 15 years and over are involved in formal volunteering.

People’s motivations for volunteering vary. While the majority of those surveyed indicated their primary reason as helping others/the community (73%), other top reasons cited included:

• Personal satisfaction/to do something worthwhile (66.9%)
• Social contact (35.7%)
• To be active (32.9%)
• Use skills/experience (38.4%)
• To learn new skills/gain experience (20.8%)

“I love volunteering with Nature Foundation. It allows me to visit beautiful places and assist with conserving our Australian flora and fauna.” – Coral Johnston

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted volunteering, with an estimated two-thirds of Australian volunteers stopping volunteering altogether, many due to COVID restrictions. Thankfully, many have returned to volunteering since the initial impact, though the pandemic reinforced the importance of formal structures, systems, and communication methods to manage, support and protect volunteers.

Digital advances of the last decade have impacted all areas, including volunteering, with technology providing new opportunities for people to find a volunteering opportunity that suits their interests and circumstances and to volunteer in different ways, along with impacting the functional aspects of volunteering, such as sharing opportunity listings, online registrations, time tracking, shift scheduling, file sharing and more.

Global trends in volunteering policy and practice have also been recently identified, recognising the vital role of volunteering in building community, reciprocity, social solidarity and citizenship.

All these considerations led to Nature Foundation’s new volunteer framework based on the national standards for the engagement and management of volunteers provided by Volunteering Australia. The framework comprehensively covers all aspects of volunteer engagement, including role development, recruitment, induction, management, training, support, acknowledgement, recognition and reporting.

Carolyn Pickering has been appointed as the new Volunteer and Visitor Engagement Coordinator, who has further developed the new volunteer framework and established the required systems and processes to implement the new volunteer program.

Carolyn brings vast energy and experience to her role, having been a Physical Education and Outdoor Education Teacher and holding Volunteer Coordination positions with the Adelaide Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Zoos SA and Operation Flinders.

“Volunteering has opened doors in my own professional career. I have volunteered in various areas, including sport, conservation and the arts, and have used this experience to enhance the volunteer programs I manage, along with the experiences of the volunteers themselves,” said Carolyn.

The opportunity to join the new volunteer program is now open to passionate people with skills and expertise looking to provide a valuable contribution to activities aligned with Nature Foundation’s strategic goals. Volunteering opportunities include:

• Roles in conservation.
• Engaging with people.
• Building and maintaining our Nature Reserve infrastructure.
• Special projects assisting our business needs.

“I first learned about Nature Foundation through a working bee at Witchelina in 2010. It was a great experience, spending a few days helping around the Homestead and beyond with like-minded people. 

I was introduced to new native plant and animal species. Since then, I have spent many weeks on Nature Foundation reserves, helping with property maintenance, conservation projects and walking trail construction.

I always look forward to visiting the nature reserves and helping when I can. Seeing the reserves improve and land conservation in progress has been incredibly rewarding.” – John Ovenden

The volunteer program offers four areas of volunteering involvement that are connected to our strategic plan and help us achieve our goals:

1. Conservation volunteers
2. Tourism volunteers
3. Infrastructure volunteers, and
4. Project volunteers

All volunteers are supported through best practices in accordance with The Standards of Volunteer Involvement by Volunteering Australia, and recruitment begins with an expression of interest through our new online system.

With the ongoing work required to positively influence biodiversity and our natural environment, we are excited by the new volunteer program and its ability to allow us to support and scale our conservation efforts across South Australia and beyond.

Learn more about our Volunteer Program and register your interest here.

Explore other ways to support Nature Foundation and our conservation work here.

Photo: Nature Foundation volunteers at a recent fencing working bee at Watchalunga Nature Reserve.