Purpose

The purpose of the Girl Guides Australia Adult Good Service Awards and Membership Recognition are to:

• Recognise the contribution of adult members and non-member volunteers to Australian Girl Guiding, its members and the community, utilising a system that is equitable, credible, relevant and resourced and which can be applied consistently across the organisations and between individuals.
• Encourage the proactive and timely recognition of members and supporters of Guiding and ensure the organisation’s gratitude is continuously communicated.

Context

Girl Guides Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that involves volunteers at all levels of its operations who must demonstrate a commitment to the Promise and Law and the Code of Conduct. The Organisation is committed to providing a high quality volunteering experience aligned to the National Standards for Volunteer Involvement in Not-for-profit Organisations. The Girl Guides Australia Adult Good Service Awards and Membership Recognition System is one of the ways we recognise and reward individual effort, contribution and service to our Organisation.

Strategic Alignment and Value

The Girl Guides Australia Adult Good Service Awards and Membership Recognition System supports the successful realisation of our strategic plan goal “To deliver high quality volunteer experiences to the Australian community”.

A well understood, communicated and utilised awards system is a key retention and reward strategy for Girl Guides Australia and the State Girl Guide Organisations and plays a significant role in growing our Organisation.

Most importantly the Organisation appreciates the significant role volunteers play in Girl Guiding. We want our volunteers to feel valued and acknowledged for the contributions they make and the positive impact they have within the Organisation and in the community.

Adult Good Service and Membership Award System

The Awards System has three categories

Good Service

This category represents all awards for meritorious service and contribution to Guiding in Australia whether the involvement is at a local, state, national or international level.

Membership

This category recognises commitment to Guiding in terms of the number of years of membership and has one Award, namely “Years of Membership”.

Gallantry

This set of Awards recognises acts of courage across the membership of Australian Girl Guides.

Structures and Mechanisms

To achieve the vision put forward in this policy and deliver an equitable, credible and relevant Adult Good Service Awards and Membership Recognition System, Girl Guides Australia and SGGO’s will support permanent structures and mechanisms which include:

A Network of Adult Award Committees

To strive to keep consistency throughout the organization by adhering to the Charter of the GGA Adult Good Service Awards Committee and the Adult Good Service Awards and Membership Recognition System.

Consistent Resources, Material and Collateral

A commitment by the National and SGGO Committees to share and use common resources, materials and practice for Adult Good Service Awards and Membership Recognition.

Opportunity for Education

To provide relevant development and learning opportunities to the members of the Australian Adult Awards Committees network that supports their continuous improvement of evaluation and validation and creates positive succession planning opportunities.

Definitions and Abbreviations