The value of volunteering as an organisation New Zealand

05 July 2021

Every staff member at the Commission and our parent company InternetNZ is given one paid day to do volunteering activities in their local and online .nz communities. Is this something your organisation offers?

We challenge other New Zealand businesses to start a conversation with their employees to see how volunteering can help the health and well being of their workplaces and local communities. We reckon now is as good a time as ever to talk about volunteering in New Zealand as part of hybrid and flexible working arrangements in the new normal.

Our team firmly believe in building better online .nz and offline communities by giving up their time for others.

Volunteer Week, 20-26 June 2021

To celebrate this year's National Volunteer Week, InternetNZ and the Commission, with the support of Volunteer Wellington, put in place a year long program to better support staff with their volunteering ideas. The partnership will help to match staff to volunteering opportunities, remove barriers to accessing volunteering and build greater feelings of connectedness to the volunteering movement, if they choose.

We launched our partnership with Volunteer Wellington over an in person and virtual lunchtime session with staff. Over the course of the week we also had staff sharing their volunteering stories internally through our intranet and social media channels. We also teamed up again with Volunteer Wellington as the primary sponsor of the .nz Mahi Aroha Awards.

We know experience of volunteering can change our own lives and the lives of others for the better so we are fully committed to this initiative. For us, volunteering is not a choice, it’s a responsibility.

Thank you to the Commission's in-house staff volunteers:

Isobel Egerton, Assistant Commissioner, is Treasurer at St James Seascouts. “Through my volunteering experience I am realising my childhood dream of being an accountant. I have also learned a lot of transferable skills including chairing meetings and consensus building."

Dylan Connolly, Complaints and Compliance Manager, volunteers as a business mentor for Future Leaders in Technology (FLINT). “I feel I am a difference today and for generations to come”

Brent Carey, Commissioner, volunteers as director of Pablos Arts Studio which is a collective arts space supporting mental health through creativity. "I think volunteering and working go hand in hand for a better life. Life is short so you should do stuff that matters”.

If you are wondering where to start

We’d encourage you to check out the Volunteering NZ website. It has a bunch of useful resources and contacts to get you up and running.