Research

Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector, 2007. This document looks at the relationship between the fulfillment of cultural obligations and volunteering for Māori. It also discusses ideas of whanaungatanga and Mahi Aroha (work performed out of love, sympathy or caring and through a sense of duty). Finally, it describes the range of Mahi Aroha activities undertaken by Māori and the motives for doing so.

Cram, Fiona. (2021) Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, Volume 16, No. 2. 356-370. This paper uses the concept of Mahi Aroha (work done out of love and duty to the people) to understand how Māori volunteers responded to the Canterbury earthquakes and the Covid-19 pandemic. Cram details how these social arrangements helped promote Māori culture, identity and wellbeing and mitigate further impact of these disasters.

Yanay-Ventura, Galit, Voluntas (Manchester, England), vol. 30, no. 1, 2018, pp. 147–63, Viewing disability as a form of social capital, this paper examines the unique contribution of volunteers with disabilities and the meaning that volunteering holds for them.

Nowland-Foreman, Garth. Centre for Not for Profit Leadership (Auckland), 2016. This paper suggests there are both practical and conceptual problems relying on an Outcomes approach, including counter-productive incentives, and perverse threats to an organisations actual learning and on-going improvement. The paper concludes with what, instead, might be useful and realistic for both funders and community & voluntary organisations to do in the face of these increasing demands for an Outcomes focus.

This report captures Pacific peoples’ insights on volunteering and unpaid productive work. Guided by Pacific research principles and methodologies, data was collected through focus groups, talanoa – discussion – and a survey..

Social Service Providers Aotearoa, 2019. In April 2019, Social Service Providers Aotearoa (SSPA) commissioned MartinJenkins to conduct research and economic analysis to quantify the funding gap faced by social service providers (providers) and offer recommendations on how to bridge it.

Volunteers are a valuable resource in the play, active recreation, and sport sector. We need to hold onto these amazing people to ensure their continued involvement. Our resources aim to help organisations understand volunteers’ motivations for becoming involved and keep them at the heart of the sector. Read more information, insights and ideas to assist your organisation to find and look after volunteers who can help to deliver your sport or activity.

Department of Internal Affairs, June 2022. Based on information from 30 government agencies whose work involves volunteering as well as international data, the report identifies opportunities to improve government support to volunteering both in the short and long term, as well as opportunities for further research and exploration.

Samaritans Ireland. [No date] This guide is written for volunteers to support them in providing a confidential, non-judgmental listening service to LGBT+ callers. It aims to advance their understanding of the circumstances and experiences of LGBT+ people in Ireland so that they may better understand the issues callers may be dealing with. In addition to the general reasons for someone calling, there are specific issues that LGBT+ callers may be facing.

Heathrose Research Ltd. Women in Leadership Aotearoa (Wellington), 2013. The purpose of this report is to rectify the lack of information about how women in Aotearoa New Zealand are represented across the Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS), given that the sector’s voluntary and paid workforce is heavily dominated by women.

Māori are amongst the highest likely to volunteer yet their contributions are under-represented in volunteering research. This gap has been filled by this important work stemming from focus group and surveys of volunteers as part of the State of Volunteering research 2021-22.

Student Volunteer Army commissioned independent research to understand how the SVA Service Award benefits and impacts young people through volunteering and service. The research showcases a range of positive, experienced impacts including; increased leadership skills, empathy, community connections, work readiness, and overall improved sense of self-worth and pride through volunteering and service.

What Works Wellbeing 2020 Comprehensive report which reviewed existing literature – 158 international studies about the subject of the well-being impacts of volunteering were reviewed to explore the effects of formal volunteering on subjective well-being for different population groups and different types and levels of volunteering.

McLeod, John. JBWere, March 2017. This report covers two main areas: first, the bigger picture of what the not-for-profit sector is, where it fits in a New Zealand and global context, and more significantly, the changes seen over the last decade and the implications of this into the future; secondly, a close look at the individual charity sub sectors. One of the most important aspects of the report is to demonstrate how important the not-for-profit sector is to New Zealand society.

Kulik, Liat. International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organisations, 2017. This study examines the differences in self-esteem between volunteers with physical disabilities and their counterparts who do not volunteer; additionally, examining the contribution of the characteristics of the volunteering experience (motives for volunteering, satisfaction with the rewards of volunteering, and the quality of relationships with beneficiaries) to explain self-esteem among volunteers with physical disabilities.

Davies, John; Dobbs, Joy; Hornung, Lisa; Jochum, Veronique; McGarvey, Amy. National Council for Voluntary Organisations, January 2019. This report analyses the findings of a nation-wide survey on volunteering, conducted in the UK, of more than 10,000 people, by YouGov for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). “It provides the most detailed analysis of volunteering for a decade.”