The Office for Volunteers regularly stumbles upon a range of research undertaken by other Government bodies or by private organisations. New links will be added to this page as research becomes available.

• Community Building Through Intergenerational Exchange Programs (external link)
  Commissioned by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (external link), the research explores the concept of intergenerational exchange as a vehicle for community building, particularly within Australia.
  
  
• Corporate Volunteering Report (abstract)— (340 kb PDF)
  Commissioned by Philanthropy Australia (external link), this report looks into the experience of corporate volunteering, with input from co-ordinators of volunteering programs from both corporate and not for profit organisations. Hayley Hext, a Masters of Community Management student at UTS, interviewed participants and wrote the report. You can view the entire report on the Philanthropy Australia website (external link).
  
  
• Costs of Volunteering (external link)
  This new report from Volunteering Australia (external link) looks at the issue of costs incurred by volunteers.
  
  
• The Economic Value of Volunteering in Queensland (external link)
  Commissioned by the Queensland Department of Communities and prepared by Dr Ironmonger, this report concludes the value of volunteering to be worth $16 billion to the Queensland economy in 2004.
  
  
• The Economic Value of Volunteering in Western Australia (external link)
  Commissioned by the Western Australian Department of Communities and prepared by Dr Ironmonger, this report concludes the value of volunteering to be worth $6.6 billion to the Western Australian economy in 2006.
  View the fact sheet (external link) here!
  
  
• Pathways to community participation (external link)
  Prepared by The Benevolent Society, New South Wales, for the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, Australia, this paper examines the benefits of community participation for children, families and communities and explores the challenges associated with encouraging participation in communities experiencing social exclusion. The paper provides best practice principles for service providers on building pathways to community participation.
  
  
• Sustaining effective social partnerships (external link)
  Undertaken by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, Australia, this report reveals the formation and maintenance of social partnerships depends on five key principles relating to: purposes and goals; relations with partners; capacity for partnership work; governance and leadership; and trust and trustworthiness. Using four case studies, this report assesses how these principles and practices can be used to develop strong social partnerships.
  
  
• Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits (external link)
  Written by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, USA, this book says the secret to creating social change lies in how great organisations mobilise every sector of society – government, business, nonprofits, and the public – to be a force for good.
  
  
• The Index of Global Philanthropy 2008 (external link)
  Prepared by Hudson Institute's Centre for Global Prosperity, USA, this index highlights how the greatest difference being made in poverty-stricken countries comes from individuals, communities and organisations, rather than governments. It provides an overview of social entrepreneurship – showing the numerous and increasingly creative ways that poverty throughout the world is being tackled. Order a hard copy from Hudson's Bookstore (external link).

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• The Power of Giving – How Giving Back Enriches Us All (external link)
  Written by Azim Jamal & Harvey McKinnon, Canada, this book features information about how the simple act of giving can improve many parts of your life.
  
  
• It’s More Than Talk…Listen, Learn and Act. A New Model for Public Engagement (external link)
  Released at a national Canadian conference in May 2008, this final report of the Public Engagement Initiative (PEI) outlines why a new ‘views-deliberation-action’ model is needed and describes how governments can apply it to achieve the right type of dialogue on different issues. The model identifies a range of roles for government, including convenor, facilitator, participant, enabler, and partner. Read more about public participation processes in New Zealand on the Good Practice Participate website (external link).
  
  
• Communities in Control: real people, real power - White Paper (external link)
  Launched on 9 July 2008 by the Department for Communities and Local Government, United Kingdom, this paper tells the story of power, influence and control and how everyone in local communities can use existing and new tools to access it.
  
  
• Public Service & the Third Sector: Rhetoric & Reality (external link)
  Released by the UK Public Administration Select Committee, this first ever House of Commons Select Committee report into the third sector, specifically looks at the policy of commissioning public service delivery from organisations in the third sector. The UK Public Administration Select Committee wanted to assess the impact on government, the third sector and, most importantly, 'the effect on service users and the public at large'. Read various reactions to the report here (external link), here (external link), and here (external link).
  
  
• Making the Most of Volunteers (external link)
  Written by Jean Baldwin Grossman and Kathryn Furano, this analysis discovered that three functions - screening, training and ongoing management - are key to maximising volunteer value and minimising damage.

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