Golden Gurus are Mature Age people, over 50 years of age who have been nominated by their Golden Guru Member Organisation to participate in the Golden Gurus Program.

The role of a Golden Guru is completely voluntary and will vary depending on the Golden Guru Member Organisation.

Some Member Organisations connect a Golden Guru with a volunteering role that allows them to use their skills and experience to support a Community Organisation. This could involve:

• the Golden Guru using their business skills to build the capacity of the Community Organisation, or
  
• the Golden Guru working with a client of that Community Organisation (for example, a student, a young parent or a person with disability) to transfer their skills and experience.

The focus is on supporting the community. For the purposes of the Golden Gurus Program, this type of role is called Skilled Volunteering.

Other Member Organisations focus on creating opportunities for Golden Gurus to use their skills and experience to support Small Business owners. This could include:

• new Small Business owners who have established their business by completing the Government’s New Enterprise Incentive Scheme.

For the purposes of the Golden Gurus Program, this type of role is called Small Business Mentoring.

Golden Gurus empower another person to make their own decisions, and their role may include:

• helping someone think through decisions, explore new ideas and see things from a different perspective
• listening to (and being a sounding board for) a person’s ideas, hopes, goals and problems
  
• sharing examples of life experiences, empathising with another person and showing encouragement and support
  
• assisting another person to identify areas for self-development, skills improvement and appropriate training
  
• helping a person to find information that will help them achieve their goals including information about training / learning opportunities, government programs, or community supports
  
• helping someone with motivation and confidence
  
• helping a Small Business owner identify / review opportunities for business improvement
  
• exploring strategies that could be useful in addressing barriers to success
  
• assisting a Small Business owner to network
  
• helping a Small Business owner find out about appropriate government and
  non-government services, incentives and supports
  
• sharing with a Small Business owner relevant business experiences and providing examples of how a situation could be approached.

Becoming a Golden Guru

To be eligible to become a Golden Guru, a volunteer must:

• be aged 50 years or over 
  
• be assessed by a Golden Guru Member Organisation as being suitable for the Program
  
• have completed the ‘Introduction to Golden Gurus’ training (or the Golden Guru Member Organisation’s equivalent pre-approved induction and / or training)
  
• have been successfully connected to a suitable Golden Gurus opportunity.

Golden Gurus receive a Golden Gurus certificate and gold membership card.

To find out more about becoming a Golden Guru, contact GoldenGurus@deewr.gov.au  or your local Member Organisation.