E-089 · A 90-day try-out

A club plan for Volunteer Recruitment Night

Use this as a starting point. Cross out what does not fit, add what is missing and make it your club's own.

Where this idea came from

Playbook entry: E-089 · Volunteer Recruitment Night
Theme: Theme 2: Engagement & Belonging · Subtheme 5: Member Roles & Purpose
Source material: Current playbook index title and category plus an internally authored detailed-guide draft

Initiative-specific development wave

How this draft was developed

These sources support general principles for Rotary community participation, meaningful volunteer involvement and local safety duties; they are not an endorsement of the named Volunteer Recruitment Night initiative or this locally designed delivery model.

Primary references consulted

Our Clubs (Rotary International)
Used for: Rotary clubs offer ways for people to connect and take action in their communities.
National Standards for Volunteer Involvement (Volunteering Australia)
Used for: Volunteer recruitment should lead into meaningful, inclusive, safe, supported and well-managed involvement.
Work health and safety duties (Safe Work Australia)
Used for: Applicable local safety duties remain relevant when people are recruited into volunteer work.

Candidate District material consulted

These records remain draft evidence and still need a human source decision.

Club Playbook - Theme 2
Candidate record 52 Project Reverse Pitches and record 55 One Role This Year Campaign provide related concepts for presenting roles and inviting participation. Neither is a literal current-title match or supplies external-audience, membership-boundary, role-clearance, screening, response-capacity, privacy or induction controls.

Theme 2 source-assurance wave

What has been checked

3 current primary pages used by this guide were reopened on 9 August 2026.
3 attributed source claim(s) were mapped to their bounded use in this initiative.
Candidate District material remains separate and does not establish this result.

See each source's scope and limit

Our Clubs
Supports: The 21 attributed Theme 2 claims attached to this source, limited to the implementation elements and supporting documents named in each initiative-level claim mapping.
Does not establish: That the initiative is endorsed by Rotary International or District 9510, that it is permitted by the club's governing documents, that members want it, that it suits the local club, or that it will achieve the intended outcome.
National Standards for Volunteer Involvement
Supports: The 32 attributed Theme 2 claims attached to this source, limited to the implementation elements and supporting documents named in each initiative-level claim mapping.
Does not establish: The club's local need, legal position, capability, cost, safety, accessibility, suitability, likely effectiveness, authority to act or approval of the initiative.
Volunteers - WHS duties
Supports: The need to identify the organisation's actual WHS position and manage volunteer physical and psychological safety proportionately during renewal activity.
Does not establish: Whether WHS law applies to a particular club, who holds a duty, which jurisdictional rule applies or whether a proposed control is sufficient.

What still needs a person to confirm

Confirm the member, prospective-member, past-member and community needs, preferences and consent that the local design assumes.
Confirm which privacy, safeguarding, incorporated-association, charity, work health and safety, food, liquor, copyright, licensing, screening and other duties apply to the club and the activity.
Test accessibility, cultural safety, belonging, language and alternative participation routes with affected people and recognise First Nations cultural authority rather than inferring suitability from the guide.
Confirm every local fact, starting point, cost, role, current service contact, measure, stopping condition and platform capability before the club decides to proceed.
Confirm the authority and current scope of each primary source, resolve login-gated or moved-page references and keep any candidate District material attributed and unapproved until its source decision is made.

The source-verification release gate remains closed.

Checks still on hold

The club must approve the audience, opportunities, host briefing, information handling, response capacity and membership boundary before promotion.
Recruitment cannot waive partner authority, safety, screening, safeguarding, financial, eligibility, election or appointment requirements.
Enquiries must be voluntary and private and may not affect member standing or be repurposed for membership marketing without a separate choice.
Every enquiry must receive a response and unnecessary personal information must be deleted.

Still an internal draft: source interpretation, local suitability, accessibility, governance and editorial approval remain open checks.

1. Is this worth trying here?

What we hope will change: Use Volunteer Recruitment Night to connect members' strengths and interests with worthwhile roles that have clear boundaries.

What is happening in our club or community now?What is the smallest useful version we could try? What will we leave out?

Board contactPerson leading the workPerson checking what happened

2. Our 90-day try-out

What our club will do for Volunteer Recruitment Night
Step	What we will do	Who could lead it	Our date	How we will know it is done
1	Confirm the audience and recruitment need, audit role design and remove opportunities whose authority, workload, safety, screening or support cannot be explained and delivered.	Club board delegate and role sponsors	Eight weeks before the night	A decision-ready opportunity set
2	Prepare common role cards and a host briefing that separates volunteering, membership, screening and appointment and prohibits exaggerated claims or public commitments.	Recruitment lead and governance contact	Six weeks before the night	Comparable role information and safe hosting guidance
3	Invite the intended audience through accessible channels with complete conditions and a private way to ask questions or express interest without attending.	Communications and access leads	Three weeks before the night	An informed and inclusive invitation
4	Run a welcoming overview and role conversations, manage questions fairly and collect only the opportunity, contact and adjustment details needed for follow-up.	Independent host and role sponsors	During the night	Informed private enquiries
5	Acknowledge every enquiry and complete a role-specific fit, eligibility and conditions conversation before any screening, induction or trial begins.	Role sponsor	Within seven days	Fair responses and governed handoffs
6	Close all enquiries, delete unneeded data and review which roles, audiences, access routes and messages produced supported involvement or exposed a design problem.	Recruitment lead	Within six weeks	A privacy closeout and recruitment improvement report

3. Checks before we start

Things our club needs to check
Question	What it means for us	Who will check	Done?
Check the idea with the people affected and confirm its purpose, owner and practical limits before putting it into use.
Protect member choice and privacy, make participation accessible, and do not infer belonging or satisfaction from attendance alone.
Confirm venue, accessibility, safety, incident, cancellation and follow-up arrangements for the actual audience and setting.
Enthusiasm and event energy create public or uninformed commitments. — Use private enquiries, a reflection period and a fresh role conversation before agreement.
External participants believe volunteering requires membership or leads automatically to it. — Separate service and membership information, prohibit conversion pressure and record individual follow-up choices.
The club recruits faster than it can screen, induct, supervise or respond. — Set capacity limits, response owners and service standards and pause promotion when the pathway is full.
Role cards omit cost, workload, safety, access or partner conditions. — Require common cleared cards and provide the full brief before an expression of interest becomes a role agreement.
The club must approve the audience, opportunities, host briefing, information handling, response capacity and membership boundary before promotion.
Recruitment cannot waive partner authority, safety, screening, safeguarding, financial, eligibility, election or appointment requirements.
Enquiries must be voluntary and private and may not affect member standing or be repurposed for membership marketing without a separate choice.

4. What changed?

What we will keep an eye on
What matters	Where we are now	What we hope to see	How we will check	Who
After 90 days, review Volunteer Recruitment Night. Look for roles being filled by choice, responsibilities being understood and useful work being completed without avoidable overload.
Advertised roles meeting the complete information, approval and support standard.
Attendees and remote enquirers receiving equivalent information and private choices.
Every enquiry acknowledged and closed within the promised timetable.
Volunteers starting only after appropriate fit, screening, induction and supervision, with no membership pressure recorded.

After 30 days

Is it reaching the right people? Is anything unsafe, unfair or harder than expected?

After 60 days

Make one useful change based on what people have told you.

After 90 days

Compare with where you started. Decide whether to change it, continue it or stop.

Made for this initiative

Tailored supporting documents

These working documents use the decisions, safeguards and evidence needs of this initiative. Complete them with the people affected and keep the agreed version with the club's project record.

Volunteer Recruitment Night Brief

Plan the audience, opportunity set, access and no-pressure boundary.

Open supporting document

Volunteer Role Information Card

Give every potential volunteer complete, comparable conditions.

Open supporting document

Volunteer Enquiry, Screening Handoff and Closeout

Move a voluntary enquiry into the correct process and ensure a response.

Open supporting document

Before your club says yes

Does the idea fit?

Talk with the people it is meant to serve and check that the need is real.

We have checked this

Who can say yes?

Name the person or group that can approve the work, spending and any safety arrangements.

We have checked this

Are people protected?

Check privacy, consent and safety. Collect only the information you genuinely need.

We have checked this

Can everyone take part?

Check the language, format, place, technology and cost for barriers.

We have checked this

Are the facts and permissions right?

Check names, claims, images, quotations, partner references and Rotary branding.

We have checked this

How will we learn?

Note where things stand now, check in at 30, 60 and 90 days, and decide what to do next.

We have checked this

Worksheets for your club

Open them online, print them or change them to suit the way your club works.

Event brief

Use this worksheet to plan who the session is for, when it will happen, how people can take part and what happens afterwards.

Open worksheet

Registration and follow-up log

Use this worksheet to map each step and keep only the information the club genuinely needs.

Open worksheet

Feedback form

Use this worksheet to hear what people experienced and decide what to change next.

Open worksheet