Celebrating local leaders

Hannah Cunningham from Volunteer Marlborough

Today is International Volunteer Managers Day! This day is celebrated annually on 5th November by Volunteer Marlborough, the other volunteer centres around the country, and Volunteering New Zealand. This year marks the 21st year that IVMDay has been celebrated internationally.⁠
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The theme this year is "What's Next?" which will allow us to focus on what volunteer management will look like in a post Covid-19 world.⁠
New Zealanders are encouraged to reflect on this as we celebrate the importance of management of volunteers. It is a challenge to us all to consider: ⁠
- How we think volunteer leadership is positioned⁠
- How new volunteering roles might look⁠
- The challenges of returning to volunteering during Covid-19 recovery⁠
- How we look at our own well-being in order to be better leaders⁠

International Volunteer Managers Day is an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the work of managers and leaders of volunteers. Their ability to lead, motivate, and organise volunteers to make a difference in communities across the globe is inspiring.⁠

While volunteering can be described as the backbone of society, the efforts of volunteers would not happen as efficiently and effectively as they do if it wasn't for the volunteer managers who lead them. They support volunteers by finding and fulfilling their passion across countless organisations each year.⁠

This is a day not only to celebrate their successes, but to set goals for the future - building productive teams where people with responsibility for volunteering have a key strategic voice. A strong dynamic volunteer programme needs a well-supported manager and the engagement of the whole organisation.⁠