Myth: Volunteering Has a Recruitment Problem
Walk into almost any conversation about volunteering in an organisation and it won’t be long before you hear it: we need more volunteers. The solution that follows is almost always some variation of the same thing — we need better marketing, simplify the registration form, a social media push, a recruitment drive.
But what if recruitment isn’t actually the problem?
Volunteering Victoria’s 2025 State of Volunteering Report tells an interesting story. Since 2020, the proportion of people volunteering exclusively in formal organisational settings has dropped sharply — from 39.9% to 22.1%. At the same time, informal community volunteering has surged, from 15.6% to 47.5%. This is not just something we’re seeing in Victoria.
People aren’t withdrawing from community. They’re withdrawing from our systems.
That’s an important distinction — and it changes everything about how we should respond.
The report points to the realities of modern life: work pressures, study, family, competing priorities. On the surface that can look like people caring less. But those of us who work in volunteer engagement know better. The willingness is there. What’s often missing is fit. Connection. A genuine sense that showing up will mean something — and that the process of doing so won’t cost more than people have to give.
So, when volunteer numbers drop, the instinct to recruit harder is understandable. But it’s a bit like turning up the volume when the signal is the problem.
What I see more often than a recruitment problem is a system design problem:
Roles that were designed for a different era.
Built around organisational convenience rather than what people can actually offer. Rigid time commitments, narrow role descriptions, little room for the contribution someone actually wants to make.
Marketing that hasn’t kept up.
The language we use to invite people into volunteering often centres the organisation’s need rather than the volunteer’s experience. “We need you” is a different proposition to “here’s what this could mean for you”.
Processes that say no before anyone’s even asked a question.
Long applications, extensive screening requirements, multi-week inductions before anyone has even had a conversation — these may be well-intentioned, but for someone weighing up whether it’s worth it, they tip the balance.
Cultures that don’t reflect the community.
If the experience a volunteer encounters doesn’t feel welcoming, representative of their community, or aligned with their values, no amount of recruitment will create retention.
Leaders of volunteer engagement often know this. They can see the friction in their own systems. What they’re frequently navigating is how to name it in a way that gets heard — and how to make change when they’re not the ones with final sign-off.
That’s not a recruitment problem either. That’s a leadership and influence challenge. And it’s one worth taking seriously.
Because the volunteers are out there. The question is whether our systems are ready for them.
Tracey O’Neill
Tracey O’Neill Consulting
Tracey O’Neill is a volunteer engagement consultant who specialises in helping organisations understand and demonstrate the real value of volunteering — and uncover what is preventing it from reaching its potential. She works with leaders at every level to build the evidence needed to influence decisions where it matters most.
Sign up to her newsletter at www.traceyoneillconsulting.com.au and find her podcast Making a Ruckus: Rethinking Volunteer Engagement on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you prefer to listen.
About Voices of Volunteering
This is a space for members of the volunteering sector to share their experiences, reflections and insights from their work building and strengthening communities across Victoria.
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