In March and April, Fiona Versey from the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion, was devoting several hours during her regular work week to helping the Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS) launch a new fundraising initiative.
This was made possible with UTS’s Social Justice Leave, a policy introduced in 2019 giving professional and academic staff five days of personal leave per year allocated to volunteer work.
‘RACS put out the call for a volunteer event coordinator – and of course it’s hard to find someone with the time and skills who can take on a project in a certain time frame,’ says Fiona,
‘When I explained that I was going to do this while working full time, I think they were a little dubious, as it was a big commitment. But when I told them that UTS would pay for my time – they were absolutely chuffed.
RACS Book Club promotional image designed by Fiona.
‘It means a lot to be able to help an organisation like RACS. Both for them and for me. That just wouldn’t have been possible without the social justice leave.’
Skills-based volunteering is a growing area. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement that enables businesses and large organisations to authentically contribute to society. This kind of volunteering usually involves applying a job-related expertise to a volunteer placement – for example in marketing, project management, IT or – as in Fiona’s case – event management.
It not only benefits the community organisation, but it also enhances volunteers’ skills and performance.
While several trends – from growing demands on people’s time, and the current backdrop of COVID-19 – are causing a decline in volunteering, at the same time interest in corporate volunteering is growing in Australia.
Volunteering should no longer be seen only as transactional – with people who have the leisure time giving beneficent assistance to the needy – but rather as a transformative act for all involved, making a difference and addressing key social issues.
‘The event itself was the launch of the RACS book club, highlighting books written by people of refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds or from their communities. This is a new initiative for them, which they’ll do twice a year now, so they’ll be able to recreate this again and again,’ says Fiona.
UTS alumni Mark Isaacs speaking at the RACS Book Club launch, online via Zoom.
‘Working on a brand-new project is always exciting. And it was very rewarding to see it in action – they had a brilliant line-up with Maryam Zahid, Arif Hussein, and two UTS alumni – Mark Isaacs and Jan Fran.
‘I enjoyed that I got to help shape the event, offer strategic guidance, help train up some of their other volunteer staff and generally share the benefit of my experience.
‘It’s gratifying to put my skills to use where they were really needed. And it’s important that UTS not only recognises the value of that but is willing to invest in enabling its workforce to get out into community and make a contribution there.’