Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report

Transcription

1 Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report Introduction Surf Life Saving (SLS) is Australia s major coastal water safety, drowning prevention and rescue authority and the largest volunteer movement of its kind in Australia and the world. Known as active citizenship, Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) volunteering activities serve a wider societal purpose that ripple far beyond immediate program outputs. For example, a life saved on the beach is a direct outcome of SLSA programs, yet the wider benefits of this program may be the skills the lifesaver learns through their volunteer service that they take with them even while they are not saving lives. Volunteer work should not be undervalued as free, nor can the active citizenship it produces be assigned a dollar amount. People who are active citizens, through volunteering, support and create flourishing communities. They are the invisible hands of social prosperity. The Australian Productivity Commission cited SLSA as an exemplar for its reporting of social contribution in the Allen report (2005) that was later replicated by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) (2011). These reports valued the direct replacement cost of its beach patrol activities. An economic value of $3.6 billion has been placed on the hours volunteered, the lives saved, and that spent on gear and equipment. In addition to this we know that SLSA volunteers develop and implement solutions to address vital social issues such as safety on the beach, emergency services, care for the elderly and less able, and mentoring youth to become active citizens. SLSA has a long and rich tradition of developing skills for life and building community networks for all Australians through a healthy lifestyle on the beach. These aspects of the social contribution SLSA makes are typical of the impacts that are easily misunderstood or undervalued because they are not easily monetised, have long term rather than short term effects, are multi-layered, and may vary in each local community context. The challenge for SLSA has been to evidence such social impact. A partnership research project between SLSA and the Centre for Cosmopolitan Civil Societies at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), has for the first time ever attempted to make visible the invisible contributions SLSA volunteers and their local clubs make every day in communities Australia-wide. Findings The research findings demonstrate very clearly that SLSA provides far more than a safe beach environment. It provides a nurturing environment within club membership; builds a sense of belonging and acceptance and the basis for developing core citizenship values and life skills; develops bonds similar to a large extended family that extends to the homes and workplaces of members, instils a valuing of volunteer actions for the wider public good and is embedded in wider community networks, engaged in reciprocal aid and support of them and their activities. A Ripple model was devised to make visible all the contributions SLSA makes rippling out from the individual and club to wider networks of people and organisations and society itself. It describes how SLSA can create a sense of belonging to develop social, human and cultural capital that will ultimately lead to the spread of voluntary effects in the wider community. It shows the benefits members experience from being part of their local surf club, including feeling welcome and valued, developing a network, and gaining skills for use in other aspects of their lives. Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report Page 1 of 5

2 (In the Ripple model the forward arrows represent a flow on relationship between one type of impact to another. The numbers on the lines indicate the strength of that relationship with the larger numbers and darker lines being more significant. The red arrows represent those relationships where the reverse effect was significant). In the first instance, the strongest theme was one of Belonging, which is developing a strong sense of identity based on club activities. This initial identity leads to potentially strong personal development, including the development of citizenship values and a sense of the importance of serving others, working in a team and administering and organising club activities. Strong internal networks of mutual support suggest the development of strong bonding social capital. The club programs in turn produced increasing levels of human capital in the form of increased skills and knowledge base. This growing stock of human capital was then made available in various forms to the wider community, thus increasing the human and social benefit to that wider community. Finally, the club developed a variety of bridging links within the wider community, both at an individual an organisational level, suggesting the development of bridging social capital within the local community and beyond. All of these outcomes represent a form of social impact. As suggested by the model, the process begins at an individual and club level. Strong networks of mutual support and the immediate practices of lifesaving and team work then generate broader impacts for the individual and the club. Ultimately, the benefits of these values and practices extend outwards to embrace the wider community. However, these developments should not be seen as following a linear causal path. For further information on factors included in this model please see Appendix A The Ripple model reveals several significant findings regarding the role of SLSA in providing the conditions to enhance positive effects of social impact. Most significantly there is a distinction between individual and organisational social impact. The organisation matters: Organisational impacts are at the commencement of the pathways regardless if it be individual or organisational. That is the individual impacts can only be felt by being part of a welcoming organisation and part of the collective action. Through the organisation, individuals are more likely to give willingly if they feel a sense of belonging and support and have developed social values: Within the organisation, there is a flow on effect of impacts for individuals that starts with a sense of belonging, leading to sharing of values and development of skills and networks and then to the individual contributions to the broader community. Individual development of social values is important for developing individuals willing contributions: Individual contributions most likely flow from organisation action and a sense of belonging that develops social values. Individual skills are an important flow on from organisational action and belonging but they do not lead directly to individual contributions. For individual contributions, there is no direct flow on from skills development to individual contribution. Although skills development does flow on to individual social values. Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report Page 2 of 5

3 In both individual and organisational, values flow onto networks, but only in the case of individual networks is that relationship reversed. Diversity impacts flow on from organisational values, with only a small flow on from individual networks. This means the organisational values in terms of diversity are essential in contributing towards an inclusive organisation. The strongest contributor to organisational contribution is diversity, followed by values and then networks. By far the majority (95%) of respondents were positive about the social contribution of SLSA, although a very small minority (5%) expressed some concerns with cliques or exclusivity within their clubs, which included powerful, long-term members who encourage a culture of elitism and control. Some also raised concern that the increased commercialisation and competitiveness of certain clubs was occurring at the detriment to the civic and community focus of the clubs in previous years. Conclusion The results of this study capture some of the spill-over effects that go far beyond the immediate organisational objective. The organisation imbues a sense of responsibility towards fellow members and the community at large, and in so doing, generates a much broader sense of social connectedness and civic mindedness. It also generates significant increases in human capital, in particular the skills required, not only for saving lives, but also for working in a team situation and developing leadership skills. This growing stock of human capital clearly benefits both the individual member and the community at large and these social impacts appear to operate much like the ripple effect of a stone dropped in a pond. From a core central state of belonging, other impacts develop in consecutive rings of wider social impact moving from the immediate club to the wider community. This does suggest also that charity begins at home, that is, that a strong welcoming culture is the essential precursor to wider social impact. Future Implications The research has presented much learning for SLSA that needs to be considered in the development and direction of its future policies, practices and programs to ensure the right environment is being created to continue to develop greater social impact. The following areas will be considered: Organisational values, culture & policy Diversity and inclusion Recruitment & retention Citizenship values Youth Marketing and communication Individual vs organisational effects Project Team University of Technology Sydney: Professor Jenny Onyx, Dr Melissa Edwards, Paul Bullen, Hazel Maxwell, Associate Professor Simon Darcy Surf Life Saving Australia: Rhiannon Wright, Barbara Brighton, Vanessa Brown, Dr Shauna Sherker Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report Page 3 of 5

4 Appendix A Social Impact Factors included in the Ripple Model Organisational action Health and fitness Sporting competition Club activities Travel opportunities Welcoming organisation All generations working together Welcoming young through older people/welcoming all ages Welcoming all ethnic groups Safe space for meeting people Belonging Everyone is equally welcome Like a large extended family Trustworthy people Easy to make new friends Organisational social values Involvement in local environmental projects Encourages the development of mentoring General public education to make the community safer Develops community service values Individual social values Become a role model to others Gained satisfaction of working together Community respect because of my contributions Greater respect for the natural environment Cultural diversity Celebrates the cultural diversity of its members Working with people from other cultural backgrounds Develops projects which bring in new people from other communities Organisational networks Directly connected to other non-profit organisations Part of helping in other community activities Contributing economically through community events Networks with local schools Individuals networks Done a personal favour for someone I have met Received useful personal recommendations Made useful contacts Help for personal problems has been received Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report Page 4 of 5

5 Skills Gained confidence through taking responsibility Developed my communication and goal setting skills Developed training skills Helped out in my local community using the skills I have learnt Organisational contributions Facilities of this organisation provide a venue for others Club is used by other community groups Supports opportunities for fundraising for other local voluntary organizations Supports fundraising and charity events proposed by members Individuals contributions Members put something back into the community Members are happy to volunteer their time Factor Values Factor Relationship Descriptions 0.8 Individual Skills impacting Individual Social Values AND Vice Versa 0.67 Individual Social Values impacting Individual Networks AND Vice Versa 0.66 Organisational Social Values impacting Diversity 0.64 Welcoming Organisation impacting Organisational Social Values 0.58 Organisational Action impacting Organisational Social Values 0.5 Welcoming Organisation impacting Individual Belonging 0.45 Organisational Diversity impacting Organisational Contributions 0.45 Individual Belonging impacting Individual Skills 0.43 Individual Belonging impacting Individual Contributions 0.41 Individuals Social Values impacting Individuals Contributions 0.38 Organisational Diversity impacting Organisational Contributions 0.38 Organisational Social Values impacting Organisational Networks 0.29 Organisational Social Values impacting Organisational Contributions AND Vice Versa 0.27 Individual Belonging impacting Individuals Social Values 0.25 Organisational Social Values impacting Individual Belonging 0.22 Individual Belonging impacting Individual Networks 0.19 Individual Networks impacting Organisational Diversity AND Vice Versa 0.19 Organisational Action impacting Individual Skills 0.17 Organisational Action impacting Individual Belonging 0.16 Organisational Networks impacting Organisational Contributions AND Vice Versa 0.14 Organisational Action impacting Organisational Networks Priceless: The Social Contribution of Surf Life Saving Australia Summary Report Page 5 of 5