Volunteering is an important contributor to social capital, a measure of connectedness and wellbeing of communities. Volunteers play a crucial role in Australian society in sport health and welfare services, arts and culture, the environment, education, emergency services, politics and advocacy. Apart from the tangible value of providing services, their participation enriches the quality of life for both individual volunteers and society at large.
Snapshot 2004: Volunteering Report Card was produced by was produced by Volunteering Australia in partnership with AMP Foundation in 2004. It brings together research, data and reflects on the progress Australia has made towards meeting the objectives set out in the National Agenda on Volunteering: Beyond the International Year.
Key findings:
- There is a clear upward trend in volunteering rates in Australia,
- By 2002, more than a third of all Australians volunteered through an organisation over the year.
10.4 per cent more Australians over the age of 18 were volunteers in 2002 than in 1995.
- Time spent on volunteering for an organisation increased by 18 minutes per week from nearly half an hour (27 mins) in 1987 to three quarters of an hour per week in 1997.
- Australian volunteers donated 510 million hours to community organisations in 1997. By 2000 this had risen to 704 million hours per year.
- According to the 1997 Australian time-use survey, the hours purported to be spent on informal volunteering is nearly three times as large as formal organised volunteering.
- Based on current indications, close to 40 per cent of people over 18 years in Australia will volunteer their time, energy and skills to an organisations by 2005.
- The practice of volunteering is strongly valued in Australian communities. Almost eight in ten (78 per cent) of respondents believe volunteering is more important for the community now than it was five years ago.
- Almost 429,000 Western Australians, around one-third of the population are volunteers
- In WA volunteers contribute over 70 million hours a year, worth an estimated $800 million dollars
- Rural Western Australian recorded the highest volunteering rate in Australia with 45% of the population involved in volunteering
- Although baby boomers (35-54 years) account for 40% of the WA adult population, they account for almost half the number of volunteers in 2000.
- Volunteer rates are highest for people who are working. Of these, managers and administrators are the most likely to volunteer (56%), followed by professionals (46%).
- The most common reason for Western Australians first becoming involved in volunteering was they ‘knew someone involved’ (32%).
- Almost half (48%) of all Western Australian volunteers had been volunteering for more than 10 years.
- In both 1995 and 2000 the most common reason West Australians gave for being a volunteer was to ‘help others/community’ (49% in 2000 and 41% in 1995). The next most common reason was ‘personal satisfaction’ (41%)
- People volunteer for a variety of reason and frequently for more than one reason.
- In general similar numbers of men and women volunteer in WA.
- Although baby boomers (those aged 35 to 54 years old) account for 40% of the WA adult population (over 18 years old), they account for almost half the number of volunteers in 2000 (201,000 people). According to a 2001 research project, the proportion of volunteers in this age group will increase in the near future. Baby boomers also had the highest volunteering rate (37%).
- Volunteer rates are highest for those working (36% for those working part-time and 35% for those working full-time). People looking for work and those not in the work force were equally likely to be volunteers (27%). In 2000, the highest volunteer rate was for women working part-time (38%).
- Over half of those who first became involved in voluntary work in the last 10 years were either asked to volunteer by someone (32%) or they knew someone involved (29%).
- Volunteers were rarely recruited through the media; only 4% became involved in volunteering in response to a media report or an advertisement.
- Almost two thirds (63%) of volunteers worked for one organisation only and one in seven (14%) volunteer for three or more organisations.
- Sport/recreation organisations had the highest volunteer involvement rate in Western Australia in 2000 (39%).
Western Australia’s Volunteers Topic Sheet No.1 (2004)
Volunteering Topic Sheet 1 (PDF, 286kb)