How to Join Landcare Victoria Inc.

Joining Landcare Victoria as a Member Group comes with access to the many services we offer. One of the key benefits is access to our insurance package which is tailored to cover environmental volunteer organisations' highest needs, to give groups peace of mind when conducting landcare activities.

Landcare Victoria’s insurance package, which covers all financial Member Groups in 2023/24, consists of three policies:

• Public and Products Liability cover
• Voluntary Workers Personal Accident cover
• Association Liability cover

In addition to insurance, we also offer advice, governance support, grant and asset management auspice support, access to our fundraising facility, training and development opportunities, useful resources, and more! Learn more here.

All registration applications must be approved by the Landcare Victoria Inc Board and must comply with our Rules of Association.

Applicant organisations must:

• Operate as a not-for-profit (and if the organisation has a governing document such as a Constitution or Rules, this should be noted within)
• Have at least 5 members
• Have documented purposes (for example, a Statement of Purpose, or if incorporated, Rules of Association containing the organisation's purposes) which are in alignment with the purposes of Landcare Victoria Inc (see Landcare Victoria Inc. Rules).
• Conduct activities similar to "normal Landcare activities" which are therefore coverable by our insurance package

No. Member Groups may be Landcare Groups, Landcare Networks, 'Friends of' Groups, Conservation Management Networks, Land Management Groups, Sustainability Groups, Coastcare Groups, Farm Tree Groups, or many other types of environmental volunteer organisation. The main thing is that your organisation meets our membership requirements, as described in the question above.

No. Member Groups may be unincorporated associations, incorporated associations, or other formal legal structures, provided they are operating as a not-for-profit.

We recommend that unincorporated groups should incorporate when they are able to, as this makes the group a legal entity that stays the same even if its members change. More information about independently incorporating may be found here.

You will find our current fee schedule on the Registration Form (available to download near the top of this page). Membership and insurance fees are levied on a tier system, with the group's reported annual expenditure determining which of the 5 tiers the group will be assigned to each year.

We do not charge fees pro rata. Please note, even if a group joins part-way through a membership year, they are given insurance cover for any claims arising from their entire membership period.

For the first half of any membership year (between July and December), an annual subscription is the only option to register (providing membership and insurance from 1 July to 30 June). From January to June, a 6-month subscription is also available (providing membership and insurance cover from 1 January to 30 June). All memberships then renew annually on 1 July.

Normal landcare activities include holding meetings, weed & pest control, planting/revegetation, giving land management advice, holding workshops/field days/walking tours, and much more. You will be asked to declare your group's activities on the Registration Form.

Other activities are not necessarily problematic, but please be sure to note any additional activities when you register - these may require additional risk management processes or a one-off insurance extension (sometimes incurring additional costs), upon notification to our insurer.

All applicant groups must submit their purposes in some form. If your organisation is incorporated, it will have adopted Rules of Association which include a section describing the purpose(s) of the group. In this case, submitting a copy of your rules satisfies the need for the Board to sight your organisation's documented purposes (to ensure they are in alignment with our own).

However, if your group is unincorporated, it may not have adopted Rules or a constitution. Instead, you should submit the organisation's Statement of Purpose.

One of the first things a group should do after forming is to document the reason(s) for the group's existence - what will your group do/what do you hope to achieve? This is your Statement of Purpose, and it should be the driving force behind the actions your group takes to achieve its goals. This document may take many forms - for some groups it is a single paragraph, others may have a list of dot-points - the main thing is that it outlines the intended purpose(s) of your organisation (for example, to protect and enhance the natural environment in your region, to educate the local community on sustainable land management practices, etc.).

Yes! Please submit the rules document your group adopted. Even if you used the Model Rules template, your group will have added details such as the group name, the group's purposes and your financial year. Our Board must sight these details before it can approve your application.

Yes! Our Board must sight these details to confirm your organisation has the minimum number of members to join Landcare Victoria. Please be assured, member contact information is not shared with any third parties - please see our Privacy Policy for more information.

Please note, the membership list supplied must include at minimum the full name, join date (an estimate will suffice for members who joined your organisation pre-2012 or where this detail was otherwise not recorded), and an address for notice (postal or email address) for each member with voting rights and each employee of your group. Also include any positions held by members within the group, such as office bearer/committee roles (President, Secretary, Committee member, etc.) and paid positions (Project Officer, Facilitator, etc.).

Please do not include associate members without voting rights and children 15 years of age or under.

If your organisation is a network, please include all individual members (such as your committee and staff) as above, plus a list of each independent subgroup in the network (just the group names, not all members of those groups). An independent subgroup is an organisation (such as a Landcare Group or Friends group) which is a member of your network, and which operates in some way independently of the network (for example, it has a committee which makes decisions independently of your network committee, it manages its own membership applications and fees, it has its own bank account or ABN, etc.). If you're unsure whether the subgroups in your network should be considered independent or not, please contact us to discuss.