This week is National Volunteer Week (21-27 June) and all across Aotearoa organisations are celebrating meaningful stories of people who give back to their community, simply out of love.

For the converted, the benefits of engaging in mahi aroha or volunteering speak for themselves: whanaungatanga, new skills, and a sense of purpose and fulfilment that brings a warm feeling to your wairua that’s hard to describe unless you’ve felt it yourself.

I’ve felt it in conversations with elderly women with dementia, in handing out coffees to grieving whānau, in welcoming people of all backgrounds to multicultural celebrations, and in holding the hands of grown men who yet again drank too much and were ashamed of the IV hooked up to their arm in their curtained emergency room cubicle.

For me, fulfilment has always come from listening to the stories of those that others may not hear. My purpose lies in engaging diverse communities and amplifying marginalised voices; in driving social change through ensuring these messages and stories get heard. Volunteering has always drawn me in. It just feels right, and I think that feeling comes from centring my mahi aroha around my purpose and values. I feel aligned and so I feel fulfilled.

However, for some people I’ve spoken to this week, their experience of volunteering has been anything but fulfilling or meaningful. For many, their first experience has come from the workplace as an activity imposed on them, rather than grown out of an inner desire to give back to the community. I’ve experienced this myself during ‘must-attend’ team tree planting days that don't extend to embedded sustainable practices within the organisation. I’ve experienced the ‘day off’ to give back to a charitable organisation that felt more like somewhat of a tick-box community support PR exercise.

It appears I am not alone in these experiences, and I believe organisations across Aotearoa are stepping up for their communities. However, I think the business sector could be doing more to create truly meaningful methods of giving back that align with their purpose and values, offer opportunity to their teams, and meet real needs in their community.

Questions to guide purposeful community impact and volunteering

To not only grow volunteering in Aotearoa, but also grow the scale and depth of the impact it creates, I believe every organisation needs clear direction behind their desire to make a difference.

Here are some reflective questions your organisation could work through as a team to maximise the benefit of your community impact:

What is our vision for Aotearoa as an organisation?
What is our purpose as an organisation? How do we actively work towards our vision?
What are our values as an organisation? And what do our team and stakeholders value? Are these aligned?
What are the needs in our community? How could we consult with community groups to find out how we can best make an impact for the people and environment in our local area? Are we meeting a wider need, for example contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals?
How can we give back as an organisation in a way that aligns with our vision, purpose, values and the needs of our community? Have we engaged staff and stakeholders in brainstorming what this could look like?
How can we give back through our everyday operations so that we are creating sustainable long-term impact, rather than just one off benefits for our community?
How can we encourage mahi aroha, volunteering and community contribution within our organisation?
How will we know we’ve made an impact? How can we measure the benefits for our community and teams in a way that goes beyond just numbers?
How can we inspire others by sharing our journey?

Imagine the outcomes we could collectively create in our communities if every organisation embedded volunteering and impact into their everyday operations and tied this to a local need? Imagine the sense of purpose that would grow within teams if they were part of the impact design process and able to contribute in a way that not only tied to their organisation’s purpose and values, but also their own. Imagine how stakeholders would feel about their relationships with organisations if they could be involved with tangible, sustainable and long-term impact.

As we move forward post-rāhui, we all have a chance to contribute to building a better world. National Volunteer Week gives us a chance to reflect on how we can each contribute to change that will bring positive social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits for our regions and Aotearoa.

My wero to you is to hit pause and create some space for you and your teams to reflect this week. How would your organisation answer these questions? What other questions do you feel we need to explore as organisations with a desire to create a lasting impact?

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Questions to guide purposeful community impact and volunteering