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HOW CAN WE BOLSTER AUSTRALIA’S DEPLETED ARMY OF VOLUNTEERS TO MATCH THE SOARING
DEMAND FOR THEIR SERVICES?

17/05/2023 | 3 mins

This article by Professor Amanda Davies, Head of School at The University of
Western Australia's School of Social Sciences originally appeared in The
Conversation on May 17.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit volunteering very hard. By June 2021, volunteer
numbers in Australia had fallen by 37% from the start of the pandemic.

In the first two years of the pandemic, around 1.86 million people left
volunteering, according to Volunteering Australia. Last year, 26.7% of the
population did formal volunteer work. That’s well down from the pre-COVID level
of 36% in 2019.

Many depleted volunteer services are now feeling the strain of increasing demand
due to the cost-of-living crisis. They are also facing the compounding effects
of an ageing population, the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, unaffordable housing
and the mental health epidemic.

To try to rebuild the ranks of volunteers, Volunteering Australia recently
released a government-funded national strategy. It outlines 11 strategic
objectives for the next ten years to secure the future of volunteering in
Australian communities.

The strategy is based on input from across the volunteering sector. Some 83% of
organisations reported they need more volunteers. As the strategy observes,
volunteering in Australia is facing a sustainability crisis.


COVID ACCELERATED A LONG-TERM DECLINE

Australia’s most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, have suffered
the biggest declines in volunteering. This is likely linked to the extent of
disruptions by COVID lockdowns in those states.

Volunteering rates in rural Australia remain higher than in metropolitan areas.
Research shows this is likely driven by need. Rural areas often have no
alternative to the services volunteers provide.

Work and family commitments are the most common reasons for not volunteering.
For those who had left volunteering, perceived over-regulation – the “red tape”
– had caused many to step away.

Volunteers are also having to re-assess if they can afford to continue. Many
have to cover out-of-pocket expenses, such as travel costs, meals, training and,
increasingly, specialist software for their volunteering activities.
Volunteering Victoria has found the costs per volunteer average $1,500 a year.

Those volunteers face a difficult choice. Most of them gain great personal
satisfaction from volunteering and helping others.

It’s also a critical social outlet. Volunteering is a way to engage with people
who share common interests and values.

The national strategy also identifies a significant mismatch between the
volunteering opportunities being offered and what non‑volunteers are interested
in. This applies to both the types of organisations and the types of roles.


INFORMAL VOLUNTEERING IS ON THE RISE

While more and more people are moving away from volunteering in formal
organisations, research has shown informal volunteering is increasing. The
strategy reports just under half the population (46.5%) took part in informal
volunteering in 2022.

This form of volunteering is not associated with a volunteer organisation.
Informal volunteering can include anything from organising local garden
clean-ups and running a street library to helping out neighbours, updating
Wikipedia pages and running community “buy nothing” pages on Facebook.

Informal volunteering may take as much time as formal volunteering. However, its
informal nature allows people to be more flexible about when they offer their
time. They are also able to pick and choose activities that best suit their
interests and skills.

Informal and local-scale volunteering is not new, of course. But the COVID
pandemic did result in an increase in informal volunteering. Up to half of all
Australians did it in some form.

Throughout the pandemic stories emerged of local communities rallying together
to support each other. There were ad-hoc social events, community choirs, food
drives and other local initiatives. Philanthropic funding helped support these
informal local efforts.

The growth of informal volunteering is a “good news” story. More people are
getting involved in a more diverse range of activities, in ways that fit with
their busy lives.

However, the need to curb the decline in formal volunteering remains pressing.
Formal volunteering underpins essential services such as emergency work and
social care and support. Sporting and cultural events also rely on regular,
volunteer-provided services.


SO WHAT CAN VOLUNTEER ORGANISATIONS DO?

It is not a lack of goodwill that is driving the decline in formal volunteering;
the growth of informal volunteering clearly attests to this.

To reverse the decline, researchers argue the sector has to innovate to improve
its diversity and inclusiveness.

More flexible models of volunteerism are needed too. Organisations should make
greater use of remote engagement via the internet and hybrid collaboration. For
example, having meetings online enables participation by volunteers who are not
necessarily located in the same place.

The National Strategy for Volunteering 2023-2033 makes clear the quality of
volunteers’ experience of this work is critical to attracting and retaining more
volunteers. To improve this experience, volunteering organisations need to
develop avenues for engaging diverse cohorts and provide opportunities for
ad-hoc and alternative modes of volunteering.

Volunteering Australia also highlights that volunteers are not looking to
replicate the experience of paid work. While they might draw on knowledge and
skills from their workplace, volunteering is about more than simply the labour
they are providing.

To sustain volunteering in Australia, it is essential to recognise and value the
intrinsic desire that volunteers have to make a difference. It’s equally
essential to make it easier for people to undertake diverse forms of
volunteering. These options will better enable them to balance family, work and
volunteering commitments.

The growth of informal volunteering shows Australians are still willing to
volunteer, if volunteering can fit in with the other demands of their busy
lives.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons
license. Read the original article.

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