- Home
- Programmes
- People
- Volunteer management
- Volunteer Management Learning Lab
Volunteer Management Learning Lab
The NCSS Volunteer Management Learning Lab is a Learning Series where volunteer managers collaborate to share best practices and develop practical resources for the sector.
On this page

Overview
The NCSS Volunteer Management Learning Lab is a collaborative learning platform where volunteer managers from across the social service sector come together to learn from one another, share proven best practices, and develop practical resources. Through the sessions and meaningful exchanges, participants work together to address emerging challenges and strengthen volunteer management capabilities across the sector.
Session highlights
2025
Building Successful Volunteerism Partnerships for Service Delivery
(March 2025)
Delve into approaches for effective volunteerism partnerships and insights that foster stronger collaborations among organisations, volunteers, and communities.
View graphics recording I Download learning report on all 3 sessions
Unleashing the Strategic Value of Volunteer Segmentation
(March 2025)
Are you ready to transform how your organisation engages volunteers? Want to learn proven strategies for recruiting and retaining both youth and senior volunteers?
To maximise the impact of volunteers, Social Service Agencies (SSAs) need to strategically engage and deploy volunteers based on their skills, interests, and availability. This VMN session explores how segmenting volunteers based on demographics brings about opportunities to engage volunteers in more targeted ways to reduce barriers and encourage participation.
Harnessing Technology and Data to Optimise Volunteer Programmes
(February 2025)
Looking to enhance your organisation’s SSA's volunteer management capabilities? Want to learn how technology can optimise your volunteer programmes?
The evolving needs of our social service agencies (SSAs) and service users require SSAs to effectively and efficiently tap on volunteer resources to enhance manpower capacity. This VMN session seeks to understand how technology can be effectively leveraged to optimise volunteer management efforts for SSAs.
Measuring Volunteers’ Impact to Enrich Impact Narratives
(February 2025)
Discover how volunteer impact can be measured through collaborative approaches and frameworks, guided by the Volunteer Impact Measurement Kit, to develop effective strategies to capture and communicate volunteer value.
View graphics recording I Download learning report on all 3 sessions
Redesigning Volunteer Roles to Support Service Delivery
(February 2025)
Explore innovative approaches to redesigning volunteer roles and co-create service delivery models that contribute to a Volunteer Roles Library that benefits the sector.
View graphics recording I Download learning report on all 3 sessions
Building a Robust Volunteer Pipeline: Sustainable Approaches to Increase Overall Manpower Capacity
(January 2025)
How can social service agencies (SSAs) effectively leverage volunteer resources to meet their evolving needs? What considerations should SSAs keep in mind when building a sustainable volunteer pipeline?
The evolving needs of our SSAs and service users require efficient utilisation of volunteer resources to enhance manpower capacity. This session seeks to share insights on strategic and operational considerations when leveraging volunteers to strengthen service delivery and enhance organisational development.
2024
Sustainable Volunteerism: Create, Enhance, and Measure Volunteer Impact
(November 2024)
What is sustainable volunteerism? How can volunteer managers strengthen volunteer partnerships and showcase the impact of volunteering?
Coinciding with International Volunteer Managers Day, this session explored strategic volunteer management for sustainable growth and the pivotal role of volunteer managers in driving long-term volunteerism.
Participants were introduced to the new Volunteer Impact Measurement Kit—a structured framework with resource libraries and templates to support volunteer impact assessment and volunteer partnerships.
Develop your Volunteer Strategy
(July 2024)
Explore approaches to developing volunteer strategies aligned with organisational missions, strengthening programme planning, implementation, and measurement across organisations.
Download learning report.
Formation of a Volunteer Management Sub-Committee
(July 2024)
Explore approaches to forming and structuring volunteer management committees that strengthen governance and advisory practices in social service agencies.
Download learning report.
Managing and Mitigating Risks for Volunteers and Volunteer Managers
(July 2024)
Explore strategies for identifying and managing risks in volunteer programmes, as well as practical insights that strengthen ethical decision-making and safety practices across the sector.
Download learning report.
Strategic volunteer deployment: Integrating volunteers effectively within service models
(March 2024)
Are organisations maximising the impact of volunteers by effectively integrating them within service models? Can volunteers help to increase quality of services and extend outreach to more service users? And maybe even allow the organisation to move towards more upstream preventive work? Within service models, how can we strike a balance between what volunteers can do versus what staff can do to enhance service delivery to benefit service users better in the long run?
In this session, participants learned more about effective volunteer deployment models and how to harness potential of volunteers to increase their organisation’s manpower capacity.
Effective risk management for Volunteer Managers: Identify, assess, control & review
(January 2024)
Risk management for Volunteer Managers involves the process of identification and assessment of potential threats and uncertainties that could impact organisation; developing strategies & processes to prevent, control or minimise these risks or their adverse impact.
In this session, participants heard from the speakers and learned more about the principles of Risk Management and how to develop strategies to identity, assess, control, and review these risks arising from volunteer activities for their organisation.
2023
How to conceptualise and formulate your volunteer strategy
(November 2023)
Developing your organisation’s volunteer strategy involves an understanding of where your organisation is at now, where it wants to be and how to get there through the power of Volunteers. Learn how to develop a volunteer strategy that will effectively utilise your organisation to secure whole-of-organisation’s outcomes to achieve greater impact.
Enhancing volunteer experience for stronger retention
(September 2023)
Volunteers are critical resources for non-profit organisations. They help to sustain and scale up programmes, and increase outreach efforts to individuals and families in need. It is important that organisations design a meaningful and impactful volunteer experience to engage and retain volunteers better.
2022
Developing your volunteers for growth and progression
(March 2022)
Keeping volunteers interested and invested in the organisation's work is a key to volunteer retention and this can be achieved through an effective and customised volunteer progression and development journey co-created with your volunteers.
This session focused on volunteers' growth and development and the importance of defining and developing the role of volunteers.
Engaging volunteers with strategic marketing lenses
(January 2022)
One of the common challenges faced by Volunteer Management Practitioners today is to attract and market for more volunteers that fit their needs. To engage and retain volunteers, there is a need for organisations to have good strategic marketing lenses to communicate the requirements and seek out the right people for the volunteering roles.