State of the Decade of Volunteering

SOV Executive Summary MM

Overview

This report, State of the Decade of Volunteering: The Past, Present and Future of Volunteering, provides a comprehensive review of volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past ten years. Drawing on Volunteering New Zealand’s (VNZ) flagship State of Volunteering (SOV) reports from 2015 to 2024, alongside new data from the 2023 General Social Survey (March 2025 Update) and stakeholder focus groups conducted in July 2025, the report offers an analysis of trends, challenges, and transformations in the volunteering landscape.

First, the good news

Volunteering participation in New Zealand remains strong, with official statistics showing a small increase in recent years. However, the way people volunteer is changing – with people giving fewer hours and volunteering in more flexible, episodic ways.  

Volunteers, particularly younger people, are increasingly motivated by personal values, skills development and alignment with causes they care about.

Organisations that engage volunteers are improving their volunteer management approach. The data reflects a significant cultural shift in how volunteering is managed and valued. There is now a stronger emphasis on quality assurance, clear structures, and leadership capability.

Many are adopting structured onboarding, training and development of volunteers. Volunteering New Zealand’s Best Practice Guidelines (introduced June 2023) provide the framework of a volunteer lifecycle that many organisations have found helpful.  

Then, the challenges

Community organisations face significant challenges in engaging volunteers, including time constraints and cost-of-living pressures faced by potential volunteers, an ageing volunteer workforce, and administrative and regulatory demands.

Almost all respondents across the last decade report a noted decline in volunteer activity. People in organisations may be experiencing the decline in formal volunteering, and increasing casualisation. Another reason for the noted lack of volunteers is the needs the sector must respond to are now even greater. Therefore, community organisations perceive that there are not enough volunteers to fulfil organisations’ core activities, given that these needs are ever increasing. There may also be disparities in organisations’ abilities to attract volunteers, and some are better able to adapt their volunteer roles to suit the volunteers’ needs.

The report finds that technology adoption remains limited, and many organisations have insufficient funding to meet their needs.

Some organisations are striving to implement good diversity and inclusion practices, but this is inconsistent across the sector.  

Transformation and resilience

The past decade has been one of transformation for volunteering in New Zealand. While the sector faces significant challenges – particularly around time pressures, ageing demographics, and administrative burdens – it also demonstrates remarkable resilience, adaptability, and commitment to community wellbeing. The average sector health rating across the whole decade (the State of Volunteering ranking) remains a solid 6.5/10, reflecting a sector that, despite challenges, continues to thrive.

To ensure the sustainability and vibrancy of volunteering into the next decade, the sector must continue to evolve – embracing flexibility, investing in digital infrastructure, supporting diverse participation, and advocating for greater recognition from external parties such as Government, funders, and business.