My Volunteer Experience - Chris Baldwin
Welcome Chris!
Chris Baldwin joined our 91麻豆精品 Information Team as a volunteer, beginning with the team this year on the 13 September 2023. He is a recently retired senior Naval Officer who has served in the Royal Australian Navy for 45 years.
He attends for ~4 hours a week onsite at the Connecting Up Office, joining several of our team members in the 91麻豆精品 program with extensive work/life experience: Rex Porter, Flavia, David Webb, Malcolm and Stathis Avramis.
Chris has joined our Customer Service Team, as well as our Media & Communications Team with his 91麻豆精品 published articles found >>here.
Total Hours 305 This Year 27 Joined 13 September 2023 Last Check-in 8 April 2026
Image: Chris Baldwin with Kurinji Arivazhagan demonstrating the 91麻豆精品 Data Project
Volunteering with 91麻豆精品
"Since joining the 91麻豆精品 Information Team it has been a steep learning curve in terms of understanding how to use the database and associated software platforms to capacity build for selected not-for-profit and charity organisations. I came from having served in the Royal Australian Navy as a Training Systems Staff Officer for 45 years. In that capacity I had to adapt and be versatile in both my staff skills and ability to apply myself to tasks that were not familiar to me or necessarily in my skill set."
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Infoxchange session: Connecting Up's Coffee Break for Mental Health Awareness Week
Image 1: Volunteers Chris and David Webb
Infoxchange session: Connecting Up's Coffee Break for Mental Health Awareness Week
Image 2: Volunteers Chris, Van Lam Nguyen, Interns Todd Guanhua Tao, Ivy Ling Luo, Aaron Xuefeng Li and Mihir Desai
Internal and External Events, Connections and Networks
Image 1: Volunteers Chris and David Webb
Infoxchange session: Connecting Up's Coffee Break for Mental Health Awareness Week
Image 2: Volunteers Chris, Van Lam Nguyen, Interns Todd Guanhua Tao, Ivy Ling Luo, Aaron Xuefeng Li and Mihir Desai
Internal and External Events, Connections and Networks
Volunteers are encouraged to attend meetings and understand more about the organisation as a whole. News, events and projects are communicated through various online and in-person sessions, with opportunities to attend lunch and learn sessions, team building activities, and partner events.
Infoxchange Stakeholder Events
Volunteers have the opportunity to participate in the webinars hosted by Infoxchange. They join more than 50 organisations working with data from the not-for-profit community sector, to break cycles of disadvantage through the innovative use of data.
Infoxchange Stakeholder Events
Volunteers have the opportunity to participate in the webinars hosted by Infoxchange. They join more than 50 organisations working with data from the not-for-profit community sector, to break cycles of disadvantage through the innovative use of data.
Participants of the Data Catalyst Network will advance their data maturity while sharing and improving data insights through unique cross-sector partnerships to disrupt disadvantage. As a collective, the network will harness data and knowledge from the not-for-profit community sector, academia, government and business to better use and manage data to improve the lives of people across Australia.
Data Catalyst Network
DCN Webinar on Augmented Intelligence - Combining Organisation Models with LLM - 13 March 2024
Digital Skills Training and Development
One of the 91麻豆精品 Volunteer benefits is access to the for online training and development, with a selection of relevant and , workshops and webcons for life-long learning from a series of subject matter experts.
Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform webinars Chris has recently accessed include:
Session 2 : Facebook and LinkedIn as cause community building platform
– Kate VanderVoort from Social Mediology – 90 mins
– Kate VanderVoort from Social Mediology – 90 mins
In relation to the first webcon, I found the session interesting from the point of view that it delivered inciteful points about what organisations need to be thinking about and addressing if they want to build an online community.
Whilst there was a lot of talking and numerous dot points put up on the screen, the approach was logical and thorough. It addressed how to construct a Community Plan and how to gather information about what type of community is required. What I found most useful was the focus on how to decide what digital online content you want from the community, how it is to be hosted and how it is to reflect the single biggest challenge, problem or frustration the organisation has. The presenter recommended the use of Admin Assist as the AI that can best manage posts and participation in the online community, and Trelo as the best free Content Calendar.
Whilst there was a lot of talking and numerous dot points put up on the screen, the approach was logical and thorough. It addressed how to construct a Community Plan and how to gather information about what type of community is required. What I found most useful was the focus on how to decide what digital online content you want from the community, how it is to be hosted and how it is to reflect the single biggest challenge, problem or frustration the organisation has. The presenter recommended the use of Admin Assist as the AI that can best manage posts and participation in the online community, and Trelo as the best free Content Calendar.
Session 3 : Learn how to design with Canva
– Yvette Adams from Creative Collective - 60 mins
– Yvette Adams from Creative Collective - 60 mins
The second webcon, on use of Canva, was informative, but there was a lot of presenter talking and demonstrating the use of Canva to design. This was done in such a way that you would have difficulty following the presenter unless you already had a good idea as to how to use the tools on Canva. The presenter assumed you were already proficient in managing and manipulating such software.
The presenter covered quite thoroughly how to open Canva and start using it, as well as the key considerations when you are seeking to design, categorise and file data and images that you use. The Design Criteria were covered well and a key point was that the Premium edition of Canva, with all its additional features and tools, is free to all NFP organisations. A couple of features discussed, due to time contraints/access, can be investigated by users.
- 21 February 2024
Basics of generative AI, explores examples used to evaluate and improve an organisation's impact and efficiencies, includes ethical considerations, use cases, prompt engineering
- 28 February 2024
Introduces the foundations of AI and its diverse applications in digital marketing, productivity, human resources, and more
- 6 March 2024
Addresses what AI is and suggestions on where AI can benefit nonprofits based on some of the common challenges nonprofits have today.
Microsoft 365 Copilot quickstart training for not-for-profit organisations - 13 March 2024
- 1 May 2024
Learning about Office 365, key features, answers to most frequently asked questions, and how to acquire and administer Microsoft Cloud licences through Connecting Up.
- 8 May 2024
Covers generative AI tools for content creation; AI algorithms to evaluate impact; Enhanced accessibility and inclusivity; And automating routine tasks for increased productivity
Volunteers: Rex Porter, David Webb, Alexander Bull, Chris Baldwin, Anubhav Dattagupta, Jason Chun Kwan Lam and Van Lam Nguyen
- 21 February 2024
Basics of generative AI, explores examples used to evaluate and improve an organisation's impact and efficiencies, includes ethical considerations, use cases, prompt engineering
- 28 February 2024
Introduces the foundations of AI and its diverse applications in digital marketing, productivity, human resources, and more
- 6 March 2024
Addresses what AI is and suggestions on where AI can benefit nonprofits based on some of the common challenges nonprofits have today.
Microsoft 365 Copilot quickstart training for not-for-profit organisations - 13 March 2024
- 1 May 2024
Learning about Office 365, key features, answers to most frequently asked questions, and how to acquire and administer Microsoft Cloud licences through Connecting Up.
- 8 May 2024
Covers generative AI tools for content creation; AI algorithms to evaluate impact; Enhanced accessibility and inclusivity; And automating routine tasks for increased productivity
- 3 July 2024
An overview of cyber security threats currently impacting the not-for-profit sector, with findings from their global threat intelligence team which researches and tracks the activities of cyber criminals and threat actor groups to understand their motivations and methods.
- 4 February 2025
5 March 2025
Learn how to identify and differentiate between various types of AI tools and their core functionalities. We’ll introduce the SIMPLE framework—a practical decision-making tool—to help you evaluate which AI solutions are best suited to your specific role or needs. You’ll also explore the pros and cons of free versus paid tools, ensuring you can make informed choices without breaking the budget.
- 23 July 2025
- 25 June 2025
91麻豆精品 Wednesday Team 11 December 2024An overview of cyber security threats currently impacting the not-for-profit sector, with findings from their global threat intelligence team which researches and tracks the activities of cyber criminals and threat actor groups to understand their motivations and methods.
- 4 February 2025
5 March 2025
Learn how to identify and differentiate between various types of AI tools and their core functionalities. We’ll introduce the SIMPLE framework—a practical decision-making tool—to help you evaluate which AI solutions are best suited to your specific role or needs. You’ll also explore the pros and cons of free versus paid tools, ensuring you can make informed choices without breaking the budget.
- 23 July 2025
- 25 June 2025
- 8 April 2026
- 8 April 2026
- 8 April 2026
Volunteers: Rex Porter, David Webb, Alexander Bull, Chris Baldwin, Anubhav Dattagupta, Jason Chun Kwan Lam and Van Lam Nguyen
This page reflects the author’s personal experience as a volunteer
