“When this is over I will be volunteering much more, the bushfires devastated this country and now this. There are many organisations out there that need help. I am very willing to participate in volunteering in the future.”
“Virtual and skilled volunteering opportunities have risen.”
“Since all volunteering has ceased, we have increased social media, newsletters, welfare phone calls to volunteers for reassurance that we need them back once restrictions are lifted.”
“Before it was for my resume... now I want to help out my community through a difficult time.”
“So much has changed, I can't list it all, we're still waiting to see the full impact on our community. Mental health crises are more common, so we're promoting self-care a lot more.”
“As I'm over 70, with health issues, I have not been allowed to participate as I usually do, attending a craft group as a volunteer helper, and driving elderly and disabled clients to appointments”
“People are more socially conscious and want to be associated with our organisation. We have had an increase of diverse volunteers over the past 3 years as we have a very flexible onboarding approach – especially for groups working with volunteers with disabilities.”
“I'm more interested in increasing my volunteering for my local community and communities I care about.”
“I started volunteering again because of the bushfires. I couldn't see all that was happening and not get involved to do something to try and help! This got me in contact with a lot of people and it was awesome to feel like I was giving something back to this country that received me so well. Hoping to do more in the near future.”
“People self-identify as having mental health issues. This can mean an extra layer of support is required for healthy and happy outcomes.”
“People are wanting a mix of regular and fixed hours as well as opportunity for occasional. Less people are wanting to commit for the long term. People sometimes struggle with the process and level of scrutiny.”
“More background checks and paperwork has resulted in some volunteers leaving their roles. Also, as we have moved to more web-based information, updates and logging service hours some of our (older) volunteers have struggled to adapt. Some volunteers (around 10%) do not use email.”
