Volunteering Australia is committed to excellence in research and evidence-informed leadership and only using sources that meet this test. For example, robust national surveys by Australian Bureau of Statistics and the ANUpoll have been critical for our understanding of trends in volunteering participation in Australia. This work is critical for informing Volunteering Australia’s priorities, decisions, policies, and activities.

We aim to ensure that our current policy and advocacy work is informed by robust data and research evidence, to support the implementation of the National Strategy for Volunteering, and to lay the foundations for future research.

Like any wide social policy area, the data and research landscape is expansive and highly varied in its quality with many flawed reports and sources. Volunteering Australia selects data and research findings to inform policy that are both fit for purpose and robust in both methodology, design and with critical examination of implications drawn by third parties.

Our research project work

Volunteering Australia actively engages in interpreting and synthesising local and international scholarly and non-scholarly research and information which relate to volunteering.

This work has informed the development of research documents including summaries, evidence reviews, and snapshots to help inform our policy and advocacy work, as well as the work of the wider volunteering sector.

Our research outputs

Below are examples of contemporary research projects and reports that Volunteering Australia have developed and supported.