Key Statistics and Research

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State and national volunteering key statistics in one place. This data can assist with program development, funding applications and advocacy.

Volunteer Figures & Demographics

Explore key volunteering figures and findings from international, national and local research.

Motivators & Benefits of Volunteering

WA’s State of Volunteering Report

Published in 2024, Western Australia’s State of Volunteering Report is the result of the largest survey of volunteering ever conducted in Western Australia. It provides a comprehensive overview of the volunteering landscape in WA, offering insights across economic value, demographics, barriers and motivators for volunteering.

The Economic Value of Volunteering

See Section 2 of the Report (pages 14 – 21) for a comprehensive breakdown of the economic value of volunteering in WA.

  • Volunteering yields substantial social and economic benefits for WA.
  • There has been a significant increase in the benefits of volunteering in WA to $63.9 billion in 2023, from $39 billion in 2015.
  • 1.5 million individuals dedicate their time to volunteering in Western Australia, generating a substantial value of $63.9 billion for the state.
  • WA volunteers contribute 398.7 million hours of time and create $63.9 billion in economic value, every year.
  • The volunteering sector contributes significantly to the WA workforce and is the largest industry by employment (when measured by replacement cost).
  • For every $1 invested in volunteering, $4.70 is returned to the Western Australian community.
  • The annual contribution of volunteering to the Gross State Product is 1.3% ($4.8billion Gross Value Added), similar to the contribution of WA’s accommodation and food services sector of $4.7 billion.
  • Volunteering is identified as a pivotal contributor to community well-being, accounting for a noteworthy 14.7% increase in workplace productivity.

WA Volunteers

See Section 3 of the Report (pages 22 – 32) for a comprehensive breakdown of Volunteers in WA.

  • Nearly two thirds of WA residents aged 15 years and over (65.1%), or 1.5 million people, contributed to the community as volunteers.
  • Formal volunteers (as a percentage of population aged 15+), 32.2% (742,000 people).
  • Informal volunteers (as a percentage of population aged 15+), 42.3% (975,000 people).
  • On average, each volunteer contributed 22.6 hours monthly, culminating in a total of 398.7 million hours each year.
  • Volunteering rates tend to decrease with age, with a tendency to increase post-retirement.
  • A considerable portion of volunteer activities is undertaken by young people, with 78.2% of individuals under 25 involved in some form of volunteer work.
  • Volunteers are motivated by many factors, led by: 67.8% of volunteers did so to help others; 38.2% for enjoyment; 34% to be active; 33.8% for social and community connection; and 32.4% to use or develop skills and experience.

WA Volunteer Managers

See Section 4 of the Report (pages 34 – 47) for a comprehensive breakdown of Volunteer Managers in WA.

  • Of the 613 responses to the WA Volunteer Manager Survey, there was an almost equal split of paid and unpaid volunteer managers, with 3.8% reporting being in a role that was both paid and unpaid.
  • Almost 40% of all volunteer managers, manage more than 50 volunteers.
  • Paid volunteer managers are more likely to manage larger numbers of volunteers.
  • Volunteer managers indicated the rate of engagement from different cohorts within the organisation’s volunteer programs, included: People aged over 65 (75.2%); People aged under 25 (51.5%); People living with or caring for someone with a disability (34.6%); Culturally and linguistically diverse people (32.1%); and People volunteering online or remotely (15.3%).

Volunteer Involving Organisations

See Section 5 (pages 48 – 56) for a comprehensive breakdown of volunteer involving organisations in WA.

Data from this section is drawn from published reports completed as part of the National Strategy for Volunteering and reported from an organisational perspective. This Section provides further insight into the WA volunteering ecosystem from a whole of organisation perspective.

The nature of volunteering within organisations in WA:

  • Ongoing roles performed regularly (e.g. weekly, fortnightly) – 92.4%
  • For specific events or activities that occur once or infrequently – 63.7%
  • In governance / board / committee roles – 58.2%
  • Skills-based volunteering – 48.3%
  • Short-term project roles – 40.2%
  • Micro-volunteering – 29.8%
  • Other – 2.9%.
Report: WA’s State of Volunteering Easy-Read Summary

WA Research Networks

Recognising the vital contribution that research makes in informing evidence-based policy and supporting best-practice in the sector, Volunteering WA facilitates a Research Advisory Committee; and supports research projects through grant funding.

Advisory & Network Members Subscribe for Research News & Forums

Current Research Projects

Volunteering WA supports research into volunteering-related issues to help inform evidence-based decision-making and good practice.

  • University of Western Australia

    This project will provide the WA volunteering sector with evidence-based guidance to: make informed technology investment decisions in a rapidly evolving AI landscape; help organisations implement AI responsibly and build stakeholder trust; investigate effective approaches to building AI literacy and capabilities within Volunteering WA and member organisations.

    The project includes 35+ in depth Volunteering WA member interviews to be completed in Phase 1 and 400+ Volunteering WA member surveys to be completed in Phase 2.

    Project deliverables include an Industry Best Practice Guide, an interim and a final Knowledge Exchange seminar and a Final AI Adoption Roadmap Report.

    Term: July 2025-December 2026

    Chief Investigator Dr Ronnie Das, Associate Professor, Management and Organisations, UWA Business Schoo
    Co-Project Lead Prof. Sanjit Roy, Vice chancellor’s Professorial Research Fellow AI Adoption in Service industry, Edith Cowan University.

    The project team includes three Associate Researchers from the UWA Business School, Dr Tristan Reed, Dr Miguel Loyola and Dr Mubashar Hassan, and four International Academic Advisors: Professor Mariann Hardey, Human-Ai Interaction, Durham University, UK; Dr Wasim Ahmed, Digital Transformation, University of Hull, UK; Dr Jose Moreno AI Development and Large Language Models, Audenia Business School, France; and Associate Professor Kshtij Sharma, AI & Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

  • Curtin University, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre

    This project will utilise data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to: profile volunteering patterns among WA families; apply rigorous statistical methods to examine how exposure to volunteering by family members influences an individual’s likelihood and intensity of volunteering later in life; examine the drivers and barriers to volunteering within families and across: generations of the same family; demographic groups and geographic areas.

    The 12 month research project commencing 1 July 2025 will be the first to address the dynamics of volunteering within families and across generations of the same family in WA. The project will provide Volunteering WA with a data-driven evidence base to better understand how volunteering behaviours are shaped within families and across generations. Understanding how early exposure to volunteering within families fosters lifelong engagement will help to inform practical, on-the-ground initiatives to boost participation, particularly among young people. Recommendations from this research will support Volunteering WA in shaping its strategies to build sustainable volunteer networks in WA and strengthen its advocacy with government and community agencies.

    To ensure effective communication and dissemination of research findings, the team will produce policy briefs, host a stakeholder workshop, and provide accessible, solutions-oriented project summaries and briefing notes for the Volunteering WA website

    Term: July 2025-June 2026
    Lead researcher – Dr Lili Loan Vu, Research Fellow
    Professors Alan Duncan and Kirsten Holmes are advising the research team which includes Senior Industry Fellow Chris Twomey and Senior Research Fellow Dr Abebe Hailemariam.

  • Volunteering within Western Australia spans the ‘spectrum of participation’ with volunteers engaging in activities that have informal, formal, and hybrid features. Informal volunteering is extensive and more engaged in than formal volunteering yet it is not deeply understood, and it is an understudied area.

    Murdoch University is partnering with Chorus Australia in this VWA funded research project, to develop an understanding of the role informal volunteering plays in different communities and chart its character and contribution. This pilot study will likely provide information for a broader externally-funded research proposal.

    This pilot study will explore three broad research questions:

    1. What is the nature and extent of informal and formal volunteering in local communities?
    2. What is informal volunteering’s potential relationship with more formal volunteering activities and volunteer involving organisations?
    3. Which practices, platforms and people facilitate informal volunteering in a local community, and what are the practice and policy implications?

    Term: August 2024 – March 2026
    Lead Investigator: Dr Anne Peachery Murdoch University,
    Co-investigators:
    Dr Jo-Anne Kestel
    Dr Megan Paull
    Dr Moira Watson

    In partnership with Chorus Australia’s CEO, Dan Minchin, and staff.

  • Volunteering WA is pleased to be a partner in this Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage project which aims to investigate the challenges affecting rural volunteering in Australia.

    Conducting a national analysis of volunteering demand and supply, this project expects to generate new interdisciplinary knowledge of the structural, demographic, organisational and personal factors affecting the sustainability of rural volunteering.

    Expected outcomes of this project include a world-first index of volunteering vulnerabilities and a spatial map of volunteering unevenness, leading to the development of an evidence-based National Rural Volunteering Roadmap (2025-2035). The Roadmap will support volunteering peak body partners, governments and rural communities to plan for and support rural volunteering over the longer-term.

    Volunteering WA aims to build stronger and more connected communities through volunteering and provides a range of resources, services, programs and support so that the people of Western Australia are made aware of, and understand, the nature, value and scope of volunteering activity in the State.

    We will support the project through contributions of staff time, participation as experts and in focus groups, the provision of available data, facilitating linkages to VIOs and networks, and work to co-create the Roadmap document.

    The project will run from 2021 to 2025 and more information on opportunities to be involved will be promoted to our members and the community. To register your interest in receiving updates on this project, please email us at ruralvolunteers@volunteeringwa.org.au.

    Project Team
    • Project Lead – Associate Professor Leonie Lockstone-Binney, Griffith University
    • Professor Kirsten Holmes, Curtin University
    • Professor Amanda Davies, University of Western Australia
    • Professor Melanie Oppenheimer, Australian National University
    • PhD student, Griffith University – to be appointed
    • Research Associates, Griffith University, Curtin University, UWA, ANU – to be appointed

    Partner Organisations

    • Volunteering Western Australia
    • Volunteering Queensland
    • Volunteering Victoria
    • Volunteering SA&NT
    • Volunteering Australia

Past Research Projects

  • While volunteers are a known resource within a healthcare setting, there is limited understanding of what good dementia care volunteering management practice looks like. This report outlines a project involving a series of interviews and research workshops (held in person and online) over several months in 2023 and 2024 by the Project Team from Murdoch University. The study makes 7 key findings in relation to managing volunteering in dementia care settings in Western Australia in the areas of: Communications; Complexity; Compliance; Organisational Policies; Managing at a distance; First Language; and Training.

    The Executive Summary includes useful resources which may assist in the development of programs in dementia care settings.

    The Report also identifies potential opportunities for future research.

    Lead Investigator: Dr Megan Paull
    Co-Investigators: Dr Ana Rita Sequeira; Dr Anne Peachey; Dr Andrea Steele; Dr Ingrid O’Brien; Dr Sally Paulin.

    Read the Final Report, published March 2025.

  • Funded through Volunteering WA’s annual volunteer grant program with the support of the Volunteering WA Research Committee.

    Volunteering WA congratulates the WA Council of State School Organisations Inc. (WACSSO) as the recipient of the 2022-23 Research Grant Program. Their project will examine the question of “Volunteer Engagement – Building Parent Participation in P&Cs across WA”.

    Western Australian Council of State School Organisations (WACSSO) is the peak body representing parents of public school students in WA. They provide representation at state and national levels and guidance and support to over 650 Parent and Citizen Associations (P&Cs).

    In 2021 P&Cs in WA provided over $17 million to school communities. Recruiting parent volunteers is an ongoing challenge due to natural turnover as children progress in their schooling, and made more difficult by COVID-19.

    This project focussed on three questions:

    1. What works and does not work to recruit and retain parent volunteers to P&Cs across WA
    2. What can be done to increase participation in P&C activities?
    3. How can P&Cs support the participation and inclusion of a more diverse range of parents?

    The WACSSO will work in partnership with Murdoch University to deliver the project, under the leadership of Dr Kath Sugars.

    Research team:
    Dr Kath Sugars, Early Career Researcher, Murdoch University
    Dr Megan Paull, Senior Lecturer, Murdoch University.

    Read the Final Report, published February 2025.
    Read the practical resource for P&Cs, which was synthesised from the research findings.

  • University students’ experiences of volunteering: A qualitative case study (2023)
    Funded through Volunteering WA’s annual volunteer grant program with the support of the Volunteering WA Research Committee.

    Lead researcher: Dr Olivia Gallagher, Edith Cowan University

    This project was undertaken to explore the research question “What are the experiences of university health professional students volunteering in Western Australia”?.

    The objectives of the study were to: 1. Describe the motivation and perceptions of the university health professional student volunteers and the relevance to learning and future practice. 2. Explore the experiences of university health professional students volunteering. 3. Explore the barriers and facilitators to volunteering among university health professional students.

    This qualitative case study was undertaken through interviews with students volunteering in a clinical (hospital) setting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Read the final report.

  • In 2024, Volunteering WA released the richest data set on volunteering in Western Australia in over a decade.

    Western Australia’s State of Volunteering Report is the result of the largest survey of volunteers and volunteer managers ever conducted in Western Australia. This report is for everyone involved in the volunteering ecosystem in WA and across Australia. As the peak body for volunteering, we are committed to sharing the latest volunteering trends with members and stakeholders.

    It provides information to answer four main questions from our unique, Western Australian, perspective:

    1. Looking back, what has been our recent experience with volunteering?
    2. What is our experience of volunteering today?
    3. What is the economic value of volunteering in WA today?
    4. Looking forward, what is the outlook for the sector?

      The work is an independent report led by Volunteering WA and based on work commissioned from the Institute of Project Management and Curtin University. The work by Curtin University draws from work completed by Volunteering Australia as part of the development of the National Strategy for Volunteering.

    Read the State of Volunteering Report.

  • Funded through Volunteering WA’s annual volunteer grant program with the support of the Volunteering WA Research Committee.

    Lead researcher: Dr Fazlul Rabbanee, Curtin University

    The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on all volunteering activities in Australia, particularly as traditional in-person volunteering was severely curtailed due to lockdowns, social isolation, and physical distancing requirements. Due to a dearth of existing research on how and to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic impacted university student volunteering, this research addresses four key objectives: (i) identifying the challenges experienced by university student volunteers due to COVID-19, (ii) examining the impact of the pandemic on university student volunteers’ wellbeing and resilience influencing their future intention to volunteer, (iii) exploring the emerging trends of university students’ volunteering in WA, and (iv) identifying the influence of COVID-19 on virtual and informal volunteering among university students in WA

    Read the University Students’ Volunteering During the COVID-19 Pandemic Report, Published April 2023.

  • Volunteering WA has released the final report on Volunteering in Aged Care Settings in Western Australia – Good Practice During COVID-19 and Beyond, authored by Dr Megan Paull and Dr Sally Paulin, Murdoch Business School + Centre for Healthy Ageing.

    The project was funded by a Lotterywest grant to Volunteering WA and supplemented by contributions from Volunteering WA and Murdoch University.

    The project was designed to facilitate knowledge sharing from those actively involved in volunteering and volunteer management in aged care settings in WA during this COVID-19 period, with a particular focus on residential aged care and the Community Visitors Scheme.

    Download the complete report and compendium of guides.

    Download the two-page summary.

Funding & Grant Opportunities

Volunteering WA administers several grant funding opportunities throughout the year with support from our partners. Research Grants typically open in July each year.
Volunteering Grants