Volunteering

Training calendar for volunteers and community organisations

Council offers a range of free or subsidised training for volunteers to support our volunteer community organisations such as sporting clubs, neighbourhood houses, community asset committees and many more.

Register now to attend an upcoming session:

Running a successful community group

Date: Wednesday 5th March 2025

Time: 6pm - 8:30pm

Location: Council Chambers, Cardinia Shire Council Civic Centre, 20 Siding Avenue, Officer (in person attendance preferred however option to attend online is also available)

Register to attend 

Are you a new community group, or been around for a while and are wanting tips for how you can improve your committee’s effectiveness? For a committee to be successful they need to function cohesively, be accountable for their direction, the way they function, and for achieving their short and long-term goals.

This session will help community groups to understand the role of a committee, their responsibilities, and what structures they need to have in place that provides the foundations for a successful community group.

Identifying and managing risks

Date: Wednesday 2nd April 2025

Time: 6pm - 8:30pm

Location: Council Chambers, Cardinia Shire Council Civic Centre, 20 Siding Avenue, Officer (in person attendance preferred however option to attend online is also available)

Register to attend

Management of risk involves stepping outside a level of understanding about your organisation and looking at it with a different lens. OH&S and fraud risk are important but there are many other risks not-for-profit committees should also have in their sights. This training will help groups understand and determine actions to reduce risk levels and uncertainty which has the effect of improving decision making, reducing down time, reducing costly ‘surprises’, lowering insurance and avoiding potential legal action. It’s a step-by-step practical approach to identifying, assessing, monitoring and managing current and future risk in a community not-for-profit organisation.

Understanding financials for committee members

Date: Wednesday 7th May 2025

Time: 6pm - 8:30pm

Location: Council Chambers, Cardinia Shire Council Civic Centre, 20 Siding Avenue, Officer (in person attendance preferred however option to attend online is also available)

Register to attend 

Committee or board members of not-for-profit organisations come to the table with a mix of skills and experiences which makes their contribution special. Many don’t have an in-depth knowledge of accounting or a head for numbers, yet most committees are now aware of their individual responsibility to ensure the group is solvent and the importance of being able to read the financial reports. Learning how to read and understand the facts and figures presented in financial reports

Creating promotional materials using Canva

Date: Wednesday 4th June 2025

Time: 6pm - 8:30pm

Location: Council Chambers, Cardinia Shire Council Civic Centre, 20 Siding Avenue, Officer 

Register to attend

Ever wondered how community groups make their flyers and social media posts look so good?

It’s easy, with Canva everyone can create professional looking promotional materials! Canva is a design platform that can help you to create professional, eye-catching graphics, flyers, newsletters, videos, presentations, social media posts (plus much more) for your community group.

This session will walk you through the basics of using Canva and how not for profits can make the most of this online design tool. It will help your group to create, download and share beautiful designs that grab people’s attention, adding to the visibility of your group and the effectiveness of your communications. This is a hands-on course, so please bring a laptop or tablet/ iPad to use during the session.

Recruit volunteers for your organisation

• If your not-for-profit organisation is looking for support from volunteers, please submit the role and we will post it in our volunteering opportunities directory. 
• The directory is a free service to not-for-profit organisations based in Cardinia Shire, or that service Cardinia Shire residents.

Submit a volunteer opportunity

Subsidised training for volunteers

We offer a volunteer training program each term, which is offered by local neighbourhood houses, community centres and Universities of the Third Age (U3A) at a subsidised rate (conditions apply).

The following courses will be available throughout the year:

• food handling
• basic bookkeeping
• first aid and CPR
• various computer courses.

For details of available programs and fees and to apply for a subsidised place, please contact the relevant training provider directly.

• Beaconsfield Neighbourhood Centre
• Moy-Yan Neighbourhood House (formally Bunyip & Ditsrict Community House) 
• Cockatoo Neighbourhood House
• Lang Lang Community Centre
• Living and Learning Pakenham
• Outlook Community Centre
• Upper Beaconsfield Community Centre

Free training videos for volunteers

Non Profit Training produced a series of free educational volunteer training videos designed to educate and empower nonprofit organisations. 

These engaging resources provide essential skills and knowledge, helping volunteers maximise their impact and enhance their contributions to the community. 

Watch the training videos

Annual event for volunteer organisations

• More than 500 volunteer organisations work to make Cardinia Shire a great place to live, so in May every year we celebrate our volunteers through a volunteer reception at Cardinia Cultural Centre.
• Each year, invitations to attend the volunteer reception are sent to 2 representatives from not-for-profit groups. To ensure representatives from your organisation are invited, please confirm your organisation's contact details are correct in our community directory.
• We hold the volunteer reception in May, to coincide with National Volunteer Week