Do you place your volunteers in positions of trust? If you ask your volunteers to do important work, if they are in direct contact with clients or confidential information, or if they have any fiscal responsibility, managing risk is an important issue for you and your organisation.

Risk management is an essential component of good, responsible management that ultimately generates better, more effective, higher quality services which should be every organisation's goal. There are risks involved in all service delivery and all organizations - with paid and unpaid staff. Risk management, therefore, applies equally importantly to the volunteer programme as the other aspects of the organisation’s operation.

Internationally acknowledged specialist and educator in the voluntary sector Linda Graff will be presenting a series of workshops on how to manage risk in your volunteer programme.  Whether you are new to volunteer management or an expert in the field, you will find this workshop revealing, practical, and directly applicable to your programme. You will learn how to reduce liabilities through the implementation of a risk management system, establish clear boundaries, and ensure greater safety for volunteers, clients, and staff.

Linda Graff, a Canadian, has been working and consulting in the not-for-profit sector since 1980. She is an impassioned advocate for the field of volunteer program management, and a dynamic and popular trainer.

Linda was the Director of the Volunteer Bureau for the Social Planning and Research Council in Hamilton, Ontario for six years, and the Executive Director of the Voluntary Action Centre in Hamilton from 1986 to 1989. In these positions, she worked extensively with leadership volunteers, and delivered workshops and papers on volunteer program management to thousands of participants with a particular specialty in volunteer/paid staff/union relations.

Linda now works as a private consultant, specialising in volunteerism and non-profit management. She was a certified trainer in the Provincial Training Program in Volunteer Management and her training and workshop experience includes presentations to groups ranging in size from five to five hundred across North America and into Europe and Asia and now to New Zealand and Australia.

After a decade of international training on risk management, in 2002 Linda published her book called “Better Safe... Risk Management In Volunteer Programs & Community Service”.

Over the years, Linda has produced several other manuals, audio resources, and countless articles in the field of volunteer program management. She is an internationally acclaimed speaker and trainer who specialises in the "tougher" topics such as risk management, policy development, screening, discipline and dismissal, board responsibilities and liabilities, and volunteer-paid staff relations.

Regional Workshops

The planned centres and dates for the workshops are:

National Workshop

A special national workshop for more senior and/or experienced volunteer managers will be presented by Linda Graff in Wellington on 1 August 2006. Volunteering NZ is co-hosting this workshop with the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector (OCVS). Government staff members involved or interested in volunteer services are also expected to attend.

Two subjects will be covered in the day and, subject to final confirmation, they will be:

“It’s a Privilege to Volunteer Here! Volunteer Position Design for Success” and

“When Volunteers Cost More Than They Return”.

A description of what will be covered can be found on Linda Graff’s website at http://www.lindagraff.ca/training.html

For more information about the Regional or the National Workshops or to register for the workshops please contact Tim Burns at Volunteering New Zealand on 04 384 3636 or email ed@volunteeringnz.org.nz .