Administrative requirements
The administrative procedures you have in place are dependent upon your legal requirements outlined under federal, or state and territory laws. For everything you need to know about these matters head to the Justice Connect website which provides legal support for non-profits.
‘Compliance requirements can be a major turnoff for multicultural volunteers BEFORE they have commenced volunteering.’
It is up to your organisation to make this process as simple as possible. There are several things you can do to ensure this:
Bear the cost of any administrative processes like police checks.
Set time aside to go through administration tasks with the volunteer. Guide them through the process and if necessary use a translation service to assist (TIS National is a Federal Government run service).
Be patient. Checks can take longer for multicultural volunteers. Maintain regular contact while you wait and assure the volunteer that the role will be waiting for them when the process is over.
Help volunteers find suitable referees.
If a volunteer is not a permanent resident or Australian Citizen, they may have certain visa requirements that stipulate the conditions under which they can volunteer. Ask your volunteer what visa they are on, check the conditions with the Department of Home Affairs, and adapt the volunteer’s role accordingly.
This part of the volunteer experience can be daunting for multicultural volunteers so be mindful of the information in the Practicing Cultural Inclusion module to help support volunteers through administrative processes.