Andrew Leigh

Here are eight ideas that have been proposed through the Reconnected forums. Would you like to road-test one of them in your organisation?

1. Provide more information to potential donors about the value-for-money of donating to your organisation (GiveWell)
2. Organise a volunteer event for singles (Greening Australia)
3. Provide people with a way of helping your organisation from home (DigiVol from the Australian Museum)
4. Be visible - create a ‘pop up’ event to attract new volunteers and energise your existing base (pop-up book depositories)
5. Reduce the amount of unwanted work that your volunteers have to do (Parkrun Darwin no longer asks volunteers to fundraise – now they just organise the Saturday morning runs)
6. Reach out to untapped communities (Pitt Street Uniting Church has focused on becoming an inclusive community for LGBTI people; the Sunday Assembly atheist churches are growing rapidly)
7. Use technology to make donation easier (GIVIT has established a ‘virtual warehouse’ for donating unwanted objects to charities)
8. Seek a partner – using the databases at acnc.gov.au or govolunteer.com.au, identify a group with a similar size or purpose as yours in a different area and start a relationship (undertake to correspond or communicate on a regular basis, ie monthly or quarterly).

If you are keen to trial a Reconnected idea, please email [email protected]. We’re keen to get your feedback as you implement it, and we want to know whether it succeeds or not for your community group.