National Volunteer Week honours the collective energies and mana of volunteers in Aotearoa. Otago Community Trust provides grants to so many different community groups that support and rely on volunteers. We understand first hand how volunteer's grow our people, open minds, open hearts and create joy. National Volunteer Week for 2021 runs from June 20th to 26th, we encourage you to get involved if you can.

National Volunteer Week's theme this year is Recognise, Connect, Reimagine.   Volunteer South is a proud supporter and advocate for this amazing week so we encourage you to join them across Otago this National Volunteer Week to celebrate how communities are stronger when working together!

Volunteer New Zealand have a great website with resources available to help organisations and community groups promote National Volunteer Week - posters, social media banners & more. Click across to their site HERE

The team have even developed a list of 15 ways to celebrate National Volunteer Week 2021. These ideas have been inspired by national and international National Volunteer Week campaigns. They provide a great start to celebrating the mana of our volunteers. 

15 ways to celebrate National Volunteer Week 2021

1. NVW2021 – Firstly, check out nationalvolunteerweek.nz for everything you need to know about NVW2021. You can download all NVW copy and resources there. Don’t forget to use #NVW2021 in your promotion!
2. Recognise, connect, reimagine is this year’s theme – wherever possible, use the NVW2021 theme as the basis for all your activities and celebrations.
3. Collaborate – connect with local community groups to create a combined NVW2021 campaign (shared effort, more impact!).
4. Morning Tea – share the same cupcake recipe with your team, so you can all share the same morning tea! Try for coloured icing in the NVW2021 branding.
5. Thank you cards for your volunteers – even better if they’re handmade.
6. Be the chalk of the town – create NVW hearts and quotes all over the pavements. You could ask your volunteers for quotes about why they volunteer and who they volunteer for – help inspire others to consider volunteering!
7. NVW hearts over your windows – print the NVW hearts and stick them all over your windows at home, so people can see them from the street. You can download the hearts on the NVW website.
8. Certificate of recognition – Use NVW as an opportunity to formally acknowledge your volunteers.
9. Create thank you videos for your volunteers – interview people online in your community and ask them to share what your volunteers mean to them and the impact they’ve had.
10. Poems for volunteers – create virtual poems acknowledging their impact! We were inspired by this whakataukī: ‘He aroha whakatō, He aroha puta mai’,‘If kindness is sown, then kindness you shall receive.’
11. Good news stories – contact local and national media with stories about your volunteers (even better when they’re told from the perspective of your volunteers).
12. Ask your volunteers – if you want to really do something your volunteers will appreciate, give volunteers options to choose from regarding how they’d like to be acknowledged.
13. Share your volunteer stories with VNZ – VNZ love receiving good news stories about volunteers and they can be shared on social media, VNZ’s blog or volunteering stories page.
14. Contact your local Volunteer Centre – Your local Volunteer Centre is the best place to start for learning about what online events and activities are happening in your region for NVW2021.
15. Use NVW2021 to encourage regular interactions between your whole team – If you’re a volunteer involving organisation, consider how regular team interactions between volunteers and paid-staff help strengthen relationships. Create a team to enter online quiz nights or other community activities.