Winners of the 2007 NAB Volunteer Awards share $200,000 windfall

Twenty four community groups across Australia who exemplify first class volunteering practice are sharing a $200,000 windfall today, after being honoured in the 2007 NAB Volunteer Awards.

NAB’s support for rewarding best practice in volunteering spans a 10 year period with over 500 groups sharing $2.6 million to date.

Ahmed Fahour, National Australia Bank’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Australia said that with over 70 percent of Australians’ rating volunteering as one of their biggest goals in life, alongside owning a home and traveling, recognising and rewarding the community groups who look after their volunteer workforce is as important and inspiring as ever.

“This year’s nominations continue to show an impressively high level of best practice and an understanding about the needs of volunteers and the important role that they play in the community,” he said.

“The Awards show that community groups of all sizes can implement outstanding, practical and engaging volunteering programs.”

Julie Pollard, Chief Executive Officer of Volunteering Australia, the national peak body working to advance volunteering in the community and NAB’s partner in the Awards, said the recognition of best practice in volunteer management was a great reward for the community groups, and a wonderful recruitment tool.

“Over a third of Australians do some form of voluntary work, on average dedicating over 50 hours per year each, making a significant contribution to their communities. Volunteering Australia helps provide the necessary resources to enable them to be well supported in their volunteering.”

The 24 winning organisations were chosen from 818 nominations across the states and will share the $200,000 prize money from NAB. The national winners will each receive $20,000 at a ceremony at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Restaurant in Melbourne in October. State winners will receive $10,000 each and 12 runners up will each collect $5,000.

The Awards are judged independently by Volunteering Australia and a selection of community leaders.

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To see the full list of winners, you can view or download this PDF.