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Membership and Volunteers

Objective

• To recruit new members to the National Trust and to strengthen existing membership involvement and support.

Key Strategies

• Develop and maintain programs that ensure membership growth that reflects the broad socio-economic, age, and cultural and geographic profile of Western Australians.
• Develop and maintain opportunities for members to become actively involved with heritage issues and the National Trust to the level they choose.
• Offer a wide range of incentives and benefits to members and volunteers actively involved with the National Trust.
• Create opportunities for the development of a broader membership base by linking programs with relevant people and organisations committed to the mission of the National Trust.
• Ensure the profile of the National Trust is contemporary to Western Australians.
• Develop and maintain an effective communication plan reflecting the Trust’s Corporate Plan for all members and stakeholders.

Performance Measures

• The number of new members and volunteers and community diversity of membership and volunteers
• The number of events and activities relevant to the interests of members and volunteers.
• The amount of Trust exposure to the community as per agreed standard
• The percentage of satisfaction of members and volunteers with Trust activities.

Features of the 2000 – 01 Program

Membership Numbers

Overall memberships for 2000/2001 were 8.8% ahead of the previous year a total of  1793 compared with 1648 in 1999/2000. Based on an agreed figure of 3.2 members per household membership, this translates into just over 5,400 members. In spite of hoof and mouth disease concerns in the first quarter of the year and an expected downturn in travel to the UK, new and renewal numbers remained constant or ahead of last year on a month by month basis.

Membership Displays

The Luisini Project display during the Festa di Rottnest was well received. Thanks are extended to all Council, staff and volunteers who assisted with the preparation of the display panels, video, photo albums, brochure and membership display. The Rottnest Island Authority has requested that the display remain in place for a further two months after the Festival, maximising exposure for the Trust and its programs.

Professional Development

The Manager of Membership and Volunteer Services presented two papers at the recent Museums Australia Conference in Canberra,  “Taming Technology: Using Tomorrow’s Tools to Support membership and Volunteer Programs” and “Heritage and Commemoration -The Future of Anzac Day”  at the Museums Australia Conference in April 2001.  He was also elected Vice President of the Museums Australia Special Interest Group – Membership, Friends and Volunteers.

Member’s Lounge

The Member’s Lounge has now returned to the Medcalf Room where Trust publications and magazines continue to be available for perusal in comfortable surroundings. Coffee and tea are always available to members and a revamped service has been established in the kitchen. The former reception area (Mt Eliza Room) has been re-designated the Daisy Rossi Room. The Daisy Rossi wildflower paintings have now been re-hung. Shirley Daffen a graduate student at the Research Institute for Cultural Heritage (RICH) at Curtin University, has prepared a series of interpretive panels discussing the artist and the collection.

Web Site

The National Trust of Australia (WA) web pages are now available at www.ntwa.com.au. The content has been progressively expanded as budget and volunteer input permitted. Volunteers have been identified to support the ongoing updating and expansion of these pages. The Proceedings of the National Forum were placed on line as papers were presented and were attracting over 6000 hits per day. This annual report will be available on line from 1 December 2001.

Trust News

Three publications were produced this year with the fourth issue being moved from June to July to better correspond to notification lead times for elections.  The magazine is now recognised as the key heritage publication in Western Australia, providing a broad range of articles and features reflecting the Trust’s holistic approach to heritage. Issues of the magazine have been used as a promotional tool for use in high-level and public meetings for the purpose of describing new projects of the Trust including the Golden Pipeline Project and the Luisini’s Winery Project.

Memo to Members

This magazine has undergone development from a wrap-around mailing sheet for the Trust News to a substantial booklet detailing administrative and activity information to Members.  The booklet is produced in-house by Trust staff to minimise Members' costs.   In it Members receive more specific information about Trust affairs with news from the Chief Executive Officer concerning Trust properties, forthcoming activities and announcements regarding other heritage organisations.    

New Initiatives

Volunteers’ Newsletter

The first issue of the Volunteer Newsletter was sent to Properties and Technical Committees in April 2001. This newsletter is a follow up to the Property Management Review Process as an means of enhancing communication with and support of volunteers.

National Membership Database

Progress continues to be made on the coordination of membership databases to promote standardisation and economies of scale. These initiatives are also related to the development of a national 1 800 number for new memberships, bulk mailing and membership benefits deriving from national sponsorships.

Standardisation of Membership Cards

Steps are underway to replace the current national Trust of Australia (WA) membership card with a more durable plastic card once the stocks of the current card are exhausted. The new card will be aligned with the nationally agreed design criteria as part of broader corporate branding and recognition programs being progressively implemented across all state based Trusts.

Events Program

The National Trust Heritage Events list is currently distributed electronically to over 350 members and organizations each month as well as being published quarterly in Memo to members. Two organisations have requested permission to reproduce the events list on their site. Volunteers are currently developing a web enabled version of the events list which can be updated as required.

Volunteer Awards 2000 - 2001

In the International Year of Volunteers, the Council of the National Trust, on behalf of all members acknowledges the ongoing support of volunteers without which the many programs of the Trust could not effectively operate. Congratulations are extended to those volunteers being honoured through the presentation of service awards.

‘Taking Care of the Bush’ - National Forum on Nature Conservation on Private Land

A major milestone for the environment was reached this year with a national forum held in Perth, Western Australia on March 21^st to 23^rd.  The forum was hosted by the National Trust of Australia (WA) and brought together 250 people from across the country to discuss current and future actions to encourage and support private land conservation.

Delegates at the Forum included landholders, university students, volunteers, representatives of community groups and non-profit organisations and local, state and federal governments.

The Forum covered several broad topics including:

• Philanthropy
• Non-government Trusts, revolving funds and sale of bushland
• Bushland protection
• Community based networks and initiatives
• Conservation of indigenous land and values
• Working with landholders
• Landholder and local government perspectives

Each topic area involved individual speakers and a workshop to draw out specific questions and challenges.  Papers and summaries were placed on the National Trust website immediately after each presentation resulting in over 6,000 hits during the three day event.

The Forum was opened by National Trust of Australia (WA) Chairman, Michal Lewi and Nyoongar elder, Marie Taylor, who welcomed the delegates to traditional lands.  Tony Howarth, Chief Executive Officer of Challenge Bank (WA) and Carl Binning, CSIRO (QLD), set the scene for the Forum by talking about partnerships which bring together a greater range of skills and opportunities, and the need to think outside the square when we consider what is possible in nature conservation.

Speakers of particular interest included Keith Bradby who looked at the options for people wanting to market their bushland as a conservation property.  Jill Turton of Stocker Preston Cowaramup (WA) then gave a real estate agent's perspective.

Landholders from three states addressed the Forum participants.  They each described their vision for their land and outlined the process and their experiences with support programs.  This session was well received by participants who valued the opportunity to listen to some of the champions of private land conservation.

Indigenous perspectives were well represented with talks by Aboriginal Police Liaison Officer (WA), Joe Northover and Senior Ranger and landowner (NT), Nanikiya Munungurritj and a workshop on Incorporating Indigenous Interests by Maxine Chi.  These sessions of the Forum was enthusiastically received by the delegates.

On a broad level, the Forum identified the need for effective partnerships between the different groups and the need to share decision-making based on mutual respect for the unique contribution that each can offer.

The Forum also identified major considerations for the future of nature conservation including:

• The need for cultural translators, and for all perspectives to be heard and considered
• A real need for diversity in programs, including flexible approaches and incentives
• Support for the champions
• Expanding the markets for sale of bushland as bushland, for ecosystem services, and for philanthropy and corporate investment in conservation
• Extending the scope for private land conservation to cover the whole continent, and consideration on a landscape scale, linking up plots, paddocks and properties.

From these points, a number of challenges were set for the year ahead:

• Build genuine indigenous involvement, this may require cultural learning
• Build extensive networks to learn from and share experience
• Explore new markets for conservation, i.e.: ecosystem services, salinity credits etc
• Develop effective accountability and reporting of progress
• Engage with local government and expand their role and capabilities

The summation presented by Dr Judy Lambert of Community Solutions (NSW) concluded with a recommendation for all participants to reconvene in 2002 to assess progress arising from the Forum and to map out the next stages.

The response to the Forum, whether verbal, via email, letters or cards has been overwhelming, both as positive feedback to the Trust and to all the presenters and volunteers involved with the Forum.  The increased level of commitment and enthusiasm that participants are taking back into their work and their lives is clearly evident.

The National Forum was supported by Environment Australia, the Natural Heritage Trust, Land & Water Australia, the Lotteries Commission of WA, Ministry for Planning, the Department of Conservation and Land Management, the WA Landcare Trust, and Paruna and Karakamia Sanctuaries.

Presentations, abstracts and speakers’ biographies are available on the National Trust of Australia (WA) web site at www.ntwa.com.au.

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