Publications and resources

Publications

Young people volunteering: Removing the barriers

New Queensland Family and Child Commission report

Published by the Queensland Family and Child Commission, the report looks at how young people's participation in voluntary work in Queensland can be increased.

The report highlights the benefits of young people's participation in volunteering and considers how the barriers to more widespread participation could be addressed.

In particular, it discusses findings from a recent survey that, although many young people thought that volunteering was a good way to improve future employment prospects and to give back to the community, they were often prevented from doing so due to their age.

Download the Young People Volunteering report (PDF 5.7 MB)

Volunteering in South Australia survey

The Volunteering in South Australia in 2018 survey report (PDF 2.5 MB) was conducted by Harrison Research and involved more than 1,500 respondents aged 15 years or over.

In the last year, more than 900,000+ South Australians have dedicated their time and energy to volunteer work, contributing roughly 1.73 million volunteer hours per week.

Key findings of the research

• approximately 45% of respondents volunteer formally with local community organisations or groups, and 46% volunteer informally, such as by helping community members with yard and home maintenance, or childminding
• formal volunteers are most commonly aged between 35 and 54
• 56% of formal volunteers live in regional SA
• 38% of volunteers are with sport and recreation groups, followed by 23% with welfare and community groups, 20% with education and training groups, and 13% with religious groups
• common reasons for volunteering include ‘helping others or the community’ (31%) and ‘to give something back’ (13%)
• personal benefits to formal volunteering included ‘personal satisfaction’ (48%), ‘friendship’ (33%), and ‘feeling part of the community’ (22%).

Economic contribution of volunteering

The Economic Value of Volunteering in South Australia 2011 (PDF 370.1 KB) report shows that the economic value of volunteering has maintained its high value in South Australia over the years.

Resources

The links below lead to various sources of useful information for volunteer-involving organisations

• About school students as volunteers – information for volunteer-involving organisations
• Access to government facilities
• Becoming an incorporated association
• Computer access and training
• ConnectingUP – helping not-for-profits build stronger communities through technology
• Cultural Atlas – comprehensive cultural information for working with South Australia’s migrant communities
• Involving young volunteers (PDF 1.03MB)
• Legal advice
• Managing volunteers
• Risk management and insurance
• SafeWork Australia – work, health and safety for volunteers: guidelines and resources
• Schools as community hubs
• Screening checks for volunteers
• Training for community organisations and volunteers
• Volunteer rights and protections
• WeDo - how to volunteer

For more information

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