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Volunteering does not ‘just happen’. It is one of the most agile and innovative forms of work and participation in modern day Australia, and it requires strategic consideration and investment to ensure its sustainability.
Volunteering is critical to Government priorities
Volunteers play an essential role in many Australian Government priorities and we continue to provide comprehensive, evidence-based advice and support to Government in these priority areas. The ongoing work of Volunteering Australia and the state and territory Volunteering Peak Bodies is diverse and significant and supports the case for foundational investment in the volunteering ecosystem and its infrastructure.
Pre-Budget Submission
Our Pre-Budget Submission, drafted in partnership with the state and territory Volunteering Peak Bodies, sets out the investment needed in the 2025-26 Budget for volunteering to thrive. It demonstrates how targeted, strategic investment in volunteering will enable the Australian Government to meet key priorities.
Priority Recommendations:
1. Provide volunteering cost-of-living relief through an expanded volunteer grants program
Investment: increase to $6.5million per annum
To help address cost-of-living pressures, the Australian Government should adapt and expand eligibility for the Volunteer Grants program to reach the broader community, better reflecting the true costs of volunteering and the barrier to participation they impose. It is recommended that the next round of Volunteer Grants is expedited, allocating increased funding to directly target the cost-of-living burden felt by volunteers and volunteer involving organisations.
2. Continue and expand funding for the Volunteer Management Activity
Investment: increase to $7.2million plus indexation per annum
The 2025-26 Budget should continue and increase funding for the Volunteer Management Activity with indexation into the forward estimates. We recommend that the Australian Government continues to fund, expand and support the Volunteer Management Activity, with a commitment to a further five-year program.
3. Invest in coordination and monitoring of the National Strategy for Volunteering
Investment: $2million to fund initiatives over the first 3-year action plan.
Funding is sought for the coordination and monitoring of the National Strategy for Volunteering. This would support delivery of initiatives in the first three-year Action Plan, continued coordination of the strategy and assessment of the National Strategy’s progress and outcomes.
4. Invest in national peak body funding
Investment: $350k per annum per key portfolio partner
The Australian Government should invest in national peak body funding for volunteering. This requires broadening the funding base for Volunteering Australia beyond the Department of Social Services, which has Commonwealth responsibility for volunteering, to other portfolios where intense advocacy, stakeholder access, evidence and advice at the national level are required to progress major reforms, sometimes over periods of months and years.
5. Develop a national volunteer passport
Investment: $800K per annum to support the volunteering ecosystem to engage and coordinate
The Australian Government should fund the development of a national volunteer passport. This platform would aim to increase volunteer mobility and enable better planning through improved data collection. It should build on other initiatives at the national and state/territory level, using a scalable approach.
6. Invest in child safe volunteering
Investment: $1.5million over three years
The Australian Government should invest in the roll-out of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations across the volunteering ecosystem; and list child safe volunteering in its next three-year action plan.
7. Establish a climate change volunteering capacity building program
Investment: a development fund of $0.5million in 2025-26
The Australian Government should invest in foundational work to establish a national program which builds and connects environmental and climate change volunteering capacity.
Volunteering in Australia
Volunteering is vital to the nation’s wellbeing but faces ongoing challenges. Australia’s communities and lifestyle are underpinned by the contributions of volunteers. Volunteers are an essential workforce, spanning major sectors, including aged care and disability care; community welfare; sports and the arts; crisis preparedness, response, and recovery; and environmental sustainability and protection. More than six million people in Australia volunteer through organisations across the nation. Millions more volunteer informally in their local communities, helping neighbours and strangers, especially in times of crisis and adversity.
However, a myriad of factors continues to critically impact the ability of Australians to volunteer. The COVID-19 pandemic hit formal volunteering (volunteering undertaken through an organisation or group) especially hard, and it has yet to fully recover. Volunteering is not free, and the current cost-of-living pressures are adding significant barriers for participation. Over the long-term, formal volunteering has been in decline in Australia. As recently noted by the Productivity Commission, the formal volunteering rate fell from 36 per cent in 2010 to 25 per cent in 2020 and has yet to recover from the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Strategy for Volunteering (2023-2033)
The Australian Government is a key enabling partner in the implementation of the National Strategy for Volunteering. The National Strategy for Volunteering was designed and is owned by all members of the volunteering ecosystem. Launched in February 2023, the National Strategy provides a blueprint for a reimagined future for volunteering in Australia. It provides strategic direction for volunteering to be effective, inclusive and, importantly, sustainable.
