Volunteering Australia released today the results of its national survey on volunteering issues 2009 to coincide with International Volunteers Day tomorrow, December 5th.

3,700 responded to this year's survey and Volunteering Australia is thankful to all who participated.

Some key findings of the report are - 

* More than one third (36%) of volunteers reported they had not had any recognition for their good work in the last month of their volunteering.

* 'Knowing that my contribution would make a difference' is most important to volunteers in their decision to volunteer (selected by 80% of volunteer respondents).

* 'Being accepted as a valuable team member', 'personal thank you' and 'feedback about my contribution' are the most significant methods of recognition that volunteer respondents reported made them feel valued as a volunteer.

* 30% of organisations surveyed have not been able to access adequate information about the protection of volunteers under occupational health and safety legislation.

The report also found that costs of volunteering remains a significant impost with 44% of volunteers who flagged this concern reporting that out of pocket expenses affected their ability or desire to volunteer. The most common cost problems were fuel (84.6%) and telephone charges (65.4%). Only 17% of volunteers reported that their organisation offered full reimbursement of their out of pocket expenses. 27% of organisations said that out of pocket expenses had a negative impact on their ability to attract, recruit, train and retain volunteers.

The full report is available for download from Volunteering Australia's website.