Volunteer Managers & Leaders Report 2024
Volunteer Managers and Leaders were surveyed in June 2024 about their roles, what training they had received, and what support they need.
Volunteer Managers are getting more support, compared to 2022, through online tools, VNZ website, and professional networks.
It was part of a broader evaluation of our Mentoring and Peer support programmes by Allen & Clarke.
State of Volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand 2024
Published in September 2024, the State of Volunteering report marks the sixth edition in Volunteering New Zealand’s ongoing series.
Read the full SOV report
SOV Key findings at a glance
- The state of volunteering is fairly positive, though the recent Covid-19 pandemic, and the emerging cost-of-living situation, cast a long shadow over some aspects of volunteering.
- Volunteers are re-evaluating their priorities and expect volunteering to be values-driven.
- Most volunteers enjoy their volunteering work and are treated fairly and respectfully, although there are some disparities across age and ethnic groups.
- Key motivations for volunteering include a desire to give back to the community, to make friends or form social connections, to learn new skills, and for mental health and wellbeing.
- Key barriers to volunteering include being time poor and needing to prioritise paid employment, health and safety concerns, onerous training requirements, and lack of reimbursement and recognition.
- Regional variations in volunteering statistics persist, with different turnover rates and challenges experienced across the regions.
Read SOV Key findings
State of Volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022
The 2022 State of Volunteering report published in December 2022 is the fifth in Volunteering New Zealand’s series.
These flagship reports provide an overview of the state of volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand and recommendations for improvement.
State of Volunteering Regional Report 2023
Volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand remains strong, yet the volunteering experience can differ across regions. This report provides a finer-grained account of how volunteering practices and challenges differ across regions.
It focuses on key parameters in volunteering, including turnover rates, attitudes to the state of volunteering and volunteers’ subjective experience ratings (among other indicators), and how these differ across regions.
The Contributions of Tūao Māori report
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.
Grouped around five themes, the report has recommendations for organisations engaging with Māori, and commitments for Volunteering New Zealand to advocate for support for Tūao Māori.
Read the Executive Summary
Read the whole report.
State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2022
The 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report has been just released. As countries and regions faced enormous challenges during 2021, the 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR) hights the vital role of partnerships to address the most pressing challenges. The SWVR explores how volunteers collaborate with state authorities, and how volunteers play a significant and diverse role in decision making, producing services, and developing innovative solutions. The report sheds light on the new ground of volunteerism and provides insights on volunteerism are linked to human rights.
Time to shine, time to take stock, time to shape our future
A survey of Aotearoa New Zealand’s community sector on the impacts of COVID‐19
During the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in April – May 2020, we collated information on the impact of COVID-19 on volunteer organisations and volunteers in a series of reports:
- Download the Infographic
- Download the Summary Report
- Download the Full Report
- Download the Presentation Slides
This report details the findings of a survey of Aotearoa New Zealand’s tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector in May-June 2020 on the impacts of COVID-19 (as recorded in Levels 2 and 1 of lockdown 2020).
COVID-19 hauora/ wellbeing survey 2021
Just before Aotearoa went into its second nationwide lockdown in August 2021, we checked in with more than 600 tangata whenua, community and voluntary organisations to see how they were coping. Here’s what we found.
Community organisations are running on empty after 18 months of pandemic pressures, new research from Volunteering New Zealand and Hui E! Community Aotearoa shows.
The survey showed the sector is experiencing increased demand for its services from stressed communities. But the demand has not been met with increased funding from government and the philanthropic sector, and the challenges are starting to wear down workers and volunteers.
It was a follow-up of a 2020 survey which showed similar trends, and included focus groups with organisations caring for Māori, Pasifika, migrant and refugee-background, and disabled communities.
- Read the press release, November 29, 2021
- Read the summary report (PDF, 690kb)
- Read the full report (PDF, 2MB)
State of Volunteering in New Zealand Report 2020
The 2020 State of Volunteering Survey published in June 2020 is the fourth in VNZ’s series of regular surveys.
These surveys are designed to capture a snapshot of the state of volunteering in New Zealand.
State of Volunteering in New Zealand Report 2017
The 2017 State of Volunteering Survey published in 2018 is the third in VNZ’s series of regular surveys.
State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018
The thread that binds – volunteerism and community resilience: This report explores how governments and development actors can best engage with volunteerism to nurture its most beneficial characteristics, while mitigating against potential harms to the most vulnerable. In doing so, the report provides an important contribution to the evidence base on inclusive, citizen-led approaches to resilience-building.
Overview Paper on the State of Volunteering
This important contribution to the New Zealand literature on volunteering is a report written by a Volunteering New Zealand reference group, with the support of the Department of Internal Affairs
The report contains:
- Recommendations
- Issues affecting volunteering in New Zealand
- Issues/barriers for volunteer-involving organisations and volunteers
- Looking to the future: possibilities for support, and other opportunities
State of Volunteering in New Zealand Report 2016
The second State of Volunteering in New Zealand report, released in early 2017, provides telling insights from 1260 registered charities in New Zealand and an update on overall findings for the volunteering sector in New Zealand.
Charity Viewpoint 2016
Organisations often talk about the importance of collaboration; a new publication demonstrates this collaboration in action.
Charity Viewpoint 2016: Perspectives on sustainability in the community sector is a report published by Volunteering New Zealand, the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand and Philanthropy New Zealand. It identifies and explores issues in governance, fundraising, volunteering and corporate/charity relations and how to achieve sustainability in the community and voluntary sector.
Charity Viewpoint 2016 reflects our views at this point in time. Our aim is to inspire and inform and to provide food for thought for those working in the community sector.
State of The World’s Volunteerism Report 2016
This summary report represents VNZ’s interpretation of the key points of the United Nations’ State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (2015), and focuses on key points relevant to the New Zealand volunteering context. It is not written to replace or otherwise substitute the UN report, which readers are encouraged to engage with independently of this report.
State of Volunteering in New Zealand Report 2015
The first State of Volunteering in New Zealand report was released in early 2016. This is the first report of its kind in New Zealand, and with responses from 1500 registered charities, insights from this survey are telling, including that recruiting volunteers remains challenging. Download the Report.