May, 2026

The COVID-19 impact research program aimed to understand how COVID-19 affected volunteering and provided evidence for our Reinvigorating Volunteering advocacy campaign.

  • The experience of volunteers during COVID-19 research briefing
    May, 2020. Volunteering Australia commissioned the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Social Research and Methods to undertake analysis of the experience of volunteers during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their analysis draws on the ANUpoll which involves a regular survey of around 3000 Australians that produces nationally representative results.
  • Re-engaging volunteers and COVID-19 report

    February, 2021. Volunteering Australia reached out to the volunteering sector at the end of 2020 to understand how well organisations had adapted to living with COVID-19. The survey received almost 600 responses. This report summarises the findings and highlights policy and practice implications.

  • Volunteering and the early impact of COVID-19 factsheet

    May, 2020. This factsheet includes data from various sources to describe the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volunteering. More data was published in Volunteering and the ongoing impact of COVID-19 in March 2021.

  • Volunteering and the ongoing impact of COVID-19 factsheet

    May, 2021. This factsheet provides analysis of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volunteering, using data collected at the end of 2020/early 2021 and March 2021. It complements an earlier factsheet – Volunteering and the early impact of COVID-19 – published in 2020.

  • Volunteering during the first year of COVID-19 research briefing

    May, 2021. Volunteering Australia has been working in partnership with the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods (CSRM) to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volunteering. New data suggests that voluntary work has been impacted harder by the COVID-19 recession than paid work. Research shows a much greater decrease in the proportion of Australians who undertook volunteering than the decline in the proportion of Australians in paid work.

  • Continuity and change: volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic report

    December, 2021. A research paper from Volunteering Australia that aims to provide a more detailed portrayal of the volunteering experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound implications for the volunteering ecosystem as we have witnessed a dramatic decline in volunteering. Whilst this data is without doubt cause for concern, it is not the full story.

  • Volunteering and gender: changes during the COVID-19 pandemic factsheet

    March, 2022. This fact sheet provides key statistics about volunteering in Australia by gender. The main source of data is the General Social Survey (GSS) which includes a series of questions about volunteering.