Australians are increasingly bypassing volunteering for established organisations such as charities or sporting groups, instead opting for more flexible or informal arrangements.
Celebrating National Volunteer Week, peak body Volunteering Australia is recovering from a dramatic reduction in active participation during COVID-19.
It said the number of people giving their time to an organisation or group had dropped from 36 per cent of the population in late 2019 to fewer than one in four Australians by April 2021.
And while engagement figures have only partially bounced back there is evidence that volunteers are instead looking for more flexible arrangements or are opting for casual offers of help promoted informally or through social media.
"Over the past three years, obviously because of COVID, volunteering has significantly changed," chief executive for the New South Wales Centre for Volunteering Gemma Rygate said.
"We've seen a shift from the more formal type of volunteering, those more traditional roles that people were taking, into more informal volunteering.
"I like to call it 'unconscious' volunteering, where people are seeing a need and simply getting out and filling that need in their local community."
Adapting to stay afloat
Wollongong surf lifesaving club has adapted to the drop in volunteers by changing the way it organises its roster to offer more flexibility and choice.
"Since the pandemic, people have been quite hesitant to take up a volunteer role at frontline organisations where risks are involved," club captain Shannon Fox said.
The club turned to a flexible rostering system to address the problem.
"With a patrol roster, it's very regimented and structured. You need a certain number of qualifications by a certain number of members to patrol a certain number of hours on the beach over the summer period," she said.
"We use recruiters, past members and full qualified life savers who perhaps don't have the capacity for frequent contributions.
"We allow them to pick and choose their availability, whether that's six to eight days a season or half shifts.
"Our member retention has remained steady, and we are looking to use it again next season."
"I think that comes with making sure your members are happy, valued and rewarded."
When you don't think you're volunteering, but you are
While a commitment to formalised volunteering has waned, the popularity of social media-based campaigns has grown.
When young Kiama mother Amber Church was diagnosed with breast cancer, her friend Jenny Miles created an online calender so family and friends could schedule in a time to prepare a cooked meal for Ms Church and her family.
"The Church family's 'meal train' has been the easiest to set up thanks to facebook," Ms Miles said.
"Before that, we were doing excel spreadsheets and I oversaw everyone so people would call me and tell me what they are making.
"People want to help out, so providing a fresh, nutritious meal is easy. It makes you feel good helping someone in need too."
Thinking locally
Ms Church says that in a community town like Kiama people tend to rally around local causes.
"In Kiama and lots of smaller towns people feel like they want to help in a way. It's really set up so they don't have to knock on the door.
"You pick a time where you can deliver these meals. There is an esky out the front, people know not to knock on the door."
Amber Church said she was very grateful for the support.
"At first I was like, 'don't worry about it, we're fine, we don't need it we're OK'," she said.
Once the message was spread via facebook people came forward to donate their time.
"The things people are making are like a good $50 meal," Ms Church said.
"They're spending their money, their time and let alone cooking for their family as well as ours."
"I don't know what to say. I can't be grateful enough I guess.
