About the program

Paws4Kids supports our Paw Pals education program, using therapy dogs to support kids who’ve experienced abuse, neglect or other childhood trauma to heal and learn again. You can help children and young people to get the best start in life by re-engaging with education. To keep this essential program going, and to help many more vulnerable children, we need your help! This program is 100% community funded with a lot of work going into the funding campaign beforehand. You can volunteer to support us with administrative and organisational tasks in this endeavour

Possible tasks

Volunteer responsibilities may include but are not limited to the following:

• sourcing print and merchandise quotes,
• outreach to cafés and other local businesses,
• Interview staff to share outcomes of the program
• desktop research on ambassadors,
• stuffing envelopes (i.e., Paws4Kids donation receipt letters),
• packing and sending marketing kits,
• assisting with staff engagement activities on the matched giving day (Thurs 27 April)

Key selection criteria

The Marketing Volunteer will need:

• An interest or experience in fundraising and or marketing
• knowledge about social media;
• writing skills;
• the ability to build positive relationships;
• a non-judgmental approach;
• a commitment to supporting people in difficult circumstances;
• patience, empathy and listening skills;
• teamworking skills

Our main goals

The first Paws4Kids campaign in 2019 enabled MacKillop Education to pilot the Paw Pals program with one educator and their therapy dog. All thanks to the generous support of the community who truly embraced the campaign, more than $1.3m has been raised to date and we now have 9 educators and 11 therapy dogs working with students who have disengaged or are at risk of disengaging with education across Victoria. Raising additional funds will allow us to hire more staff, train more dogs and reach more kids.

You will be required to

• Sign and actively abide by MacKillop’s Code of Conduct
• Observe and actively support MacKillop’s P.8 People and Workplace Policy
• Attend mandatory and other training as required
• Participate in and promote continuous quality improvement processes
• Promote an environment that is culturally safe and strengths focussed
• Abide by principles and commitments of the Sanctuary Framework
• Undergo all relevant checks (eg. WWCC, Police check, etc.)