My Learnings about Volunteer Engagement from Australia’s Referendum Campaign

Volunteering is at the heart of most social change, and volunteers form a crucial part of electoral politics and campaigning. But imagine being co-leader of a local campaign group during a critical referendum to recognize the First Nations peoples in the Australian constitution and working to engage over 1,000 volunteers in this campaign – without any prior experience in community organizing or campaigning! In this very personal Voices, Lachlan Preston, CVA, a Volunteer Management professional, shares his experiences and what he learned doing just that when he became co-captain of the Macnamara for Yes campaign. Though never deeply involved in community organising or campaigning prior to this campaign, Preston now identifies many overlapping skillsets between volunteering and campaign management, and shares lessons learned from his experience for the Volunteer Engagement profession.