Experienced Business Operations & Administration Volunteer – Animal Welfare

About us

The Australian Pet Welfare Foundation (APWF) is a research, education and advocacy organisation working to improve the wellbeing of pets, people and their environments. We create new knowledge through research, translate evidence into practical solutions and advocate for changes that improve animal welfare and save lives.

About the role

We are looking for an organised, capable and proactive volunteer to provide business operations and administrative support to our Business Manager.

This is a varied office-based role supporting a small charity across administration, fundraising, donor communications, finance, governance, research, digital systems and special projects. It would suit someone with experience in administration, business support, executive assistance, office management, finance administration or governance/company secretarial work.

This is primarily an administrative and business support role rather than a hands-on animal care role.

What you might help with

Depending on your skills and experience:

• General administration for APWF programs, research projects and business operations.
• Preparing documents, reports, presentations, spreadsheets and correspondence.
• Data entry, spreadsheet management, record checking and electronic filing.
• Donor/supporter enquiries, inbox management and CRM updates.
• Fundraising and finance administration, including donor records, invoices, receipts and reconciliation documentation.
• Website, newsletter, social media and digital content updates.
• Research administration, literature searches, referencing, data organisation or basic analysis.
• Maintaining trackers, deadlines, project records and follow-up actions.
• Developing templates, procedures and simple SOPs.
• Volunteer onboarding, office administration and special projects.

Board and governance support

Experience in Board administration, governance or company secretarial support would be a significant advantage. Depending on experience, you may assist with Board agendas and papers, minutes, action registers, meeting schedules, governance records, policy/compliance registers and our Board portal.

Minimum skills and experience

Applicants should have:

• Previous experience in administration, secretarial/business support, executive assistance, finance administration or a similar office-based role.
• Strong organisational and written communication skills.
• Good Microsoft Word and Excel skills and confidence with spreadsheets and online systems.
• High attention to detail and accurate record keeping.
• Ability to work independently, use initiative, take ownership of tasks and know when to escalate an issue.
• A professional approach when handling organisational, donor or supporter information.
• A genuine interest in animal welfare and evidence-based research.

Highly regarded experience

Experience in any of the following would be valuable: Board/governance or company secretarial support; not-for-profit administration; executive support; CRM/donor databases; fundraising or grants; finance/Xero; website management; newsletters/social media; data or research administration; SOP/policy development; process improvement; AI/automation; or R/data analysis.

Technology

APWF uses Microsoft 365, Excel, Google Drive/Sheets, Dropbox, Keela CRM, Raisely, Framer, Zapier, ChatGPT, Canva, Meta Business Suite, Adobe, Xero, R and Our Cat Herder Board Portal.

You do not need experience with every system. Similar software experience and the ability to learn new platforms quickly are equally valuable. Please tell us which systems you have used and your level of experience.

Training and benefits

We provide orientation, role-specific training, clear priorities, regular support from the Business Manager and opportunities to gain experience across not-for-profit operations, animal welfare research, fundraising, governance and digital systems.

Location and commitment

Location: APWF office, Kenmore, Brisbane
Days: Tuesday, Wednesday and/or Friday
Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week
Minimum commitment: Ideally 2–3 months following training
Start: As soon as possible
Reporting to: Business Manager

How to apply

Please submit:

1. Your current CV/resumé; and
2. A short note outlining your relevant experience, software/system experience, availability and how long you are able to volunteer.

A current CV is required for all applications.

Due to the size of our team and our need to fill this role quickly, we can only consider applications that include a CV and demonstrate the minimum skills and experience above. We are unable to follow up individually to request missing information, so please ensure your application is complete when submitted.