CEO Reflections | Tricky + Difficult = Trifficult

My 7-year-old asks hard questions.

Tricky + difficult = Trifficult ones, as he likes to call them.

“Mum, who’s the best? Me or my sister?”

He’s learnt to ask hard questions from me.

“Well, what do you mean by best?”

That’s the question we at Volunteer West as a new team have been working through as we plan for the new financial year: what are we best at – and can be best at – to create enduring impact for the communities we serve?

Our answer: convening, championing and collaborating to build a volunteer movement in Melbourne’s West.

What does this look like?

We are convening a regional inter-local government area network of local councils centred on cross boundary collaborations, and pertinently during government reviews of the volunteering sector, advocating for imaginative and proportionate investment in volunteering in the West.

We kicked off our refreshed Volunteer Managers Network monthly meetings and training events. To set the tone, Marijke, our Partnerships Programs Manager, focused on the theme of connection – with our peers, with our communities, and with ourselves.

In development, our cross-sector business leaders’ platform to invigorate dialogues about volunteering innovations that extend beyond corporate volunteering.

We continue to champion the stories of our Western communities and the emerging inventiveness of people – volunteer – power. Our Board and team are already planning a Thank You Volunteers event for International Volunteers Day in December. And watch this space, we have a project, code named VoltAge to launch in due course.

We are in the midst of conversations with government departments and community leaders on collaborative projects to play our part in supporting COVID community responses and recovery projects.

My answer to my son was shorter:

If you mean best at being a brother, you. And if you mean best at being a sister, your sister.