About volunteering
More than one million New Zealanders are involved in some form of voluntary work in their communities. They make a huge contribution to New Zealand society in almost every type of activity: from sports, recreation, arts, culture and heritage to emergency and social services, health, education, conservation and the environment. Volunteers are vital if we are to maintain and develop sustainable and participatory communities.
On this page:
Why volunteering is important
Volunteering and government
Ongoing support for volunteering
Recognition of volunteers
Are there any statistics about volunteering in New Zealand?
Why volunteering is important
Volunteers enhance:
- Strong communities and civil society
Volunteers strengthen communities by building networks of trust, reciprocity, and shared values. Many community and voluntary organisations and government agencies in New Zealand rely on the goodwill and efforts of volunteers in order to carry out their work. - Culture
Volunteers organise and support culture and heritage events and activities that foster and maintain cultural identity. - New Zealand’s economy
Volunteers provide many services and goods that contribute to New Zealand’s economy. - Individual wellbeing
Volunteers can gain a sense of contributing and belonging, which in turn strengthens communities. Volunteers can learn new skills and knowledge, which are transferable to other paid or unpaid positions. Most importantly, volunteers meet new people and have fun. - Family and whanau development
Volunteers provide wide-ranging services to families. - Environment
Volunteers help to maintain and improve New Zealand ’s ecology, including natural bush areas, parks, reserves, wildlife, waterways, walkways, urban and rural landscape.
As well as the highly trained experts in areas like emergency services, the voluntary sector includes regular volunteers with formal roles and responsibilities – the administration workers, the committee members, the drivers and sports coaches. In addition to this, there is also a whole realm of “informal” volunteering. This term describes those of us who help our elderly neighbours clean out their guttering, or take our neighbour who can’t drive to the supermarket.
There is also ‘spontaneous volunteering’ – the farmers who pitch in with their tractors, or the individuals who rally round during floods and other catastrophes.
Volunteers contribute to the incredible diversity in our community and voluntary sector. Many Maori, Pacific and other peoples contribute to their wider family and community life in ways that they may not consider to be volunteering, but which demonstrate a commitment to their cultures and communities.
Whatever the volunteers do, we need them, and we need to let them know we value what they do.
Volunteering and government
The OCVS promotes the Government Policy on Volunteering, which strives towards “a society with a high level of volunteering, where the many contributions people make to the common good through volunteering and fulfilment of cultural obligations are actively supported and valued.”
» Download the Government Policy on Volunteering Word - 24kb | PDF - 84kb
In response to the Government Policy on Volunteering, significant work was done within government between 2002-2008 as part of the Government Volunteering Work Programme.
» Read about the Government Volunteering Work programme.
Ongoing support for volunteering
Volunteering New Zealand, the Department of Internal Affairs and the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector work collaboratively to help promote International Volunteer Day (5 December) and Volunteer Awareness Week (15-21 June 2008).
» To find out more about these activities visit www.volunteeringnz.org.nz
Various community and voluntary organisations and government agencies provide ongoing support and resources for volunteers and volunteer managers.
» For more information go to 'Links to sector organisations’ page.
Recognition of volunteers
Initiatives to recognise the contributions of volunteers include:
The New Zealand Royal Honours System
These awards are given for service to the community or nation, and on merit and achievement, in whatever field, going beyond the normal requirements of duty or office.
» For more information go to Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website.- Sport and Recreation New Zealand’s (SPARC) “Wattie's Baked Beans Volunteer Coach of the Year”
Volunteer coaches make a huge contribution to sport in New Zealand by sharing their passion, enthusiasm and wisdom with their athletes.To recognise this valuable role, SPARC and Wattie’s make an annual award.
» For more information go to the SPARC website. - The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM)
To illustrate the importance of volunteering, what the volunteers get out of the experience and to give the volunteers the credit they deserve, the MCDEM publishes ‘Volunteer Stories’ on its websites.
» To read the volunteer stories, go to the MCDEM website.
Are there any statistics about volunteering in New Zealand?
A study of the non-profit sector is currently underway as a collaborative project between government, the voluntary sector and academic representatives, to measure the size and scope of New Zealand’s non-profit sector and the number of people engaged in
formal
volunteering activities.
» For more information go to 'Study of the non-profit sector' page
Information already available includes:
- Gender and unpaid work: findings from the Time Use Survey
Based on the findings of New Zealand’s first national Time Use Survey, this article looks at unpaid work and how it varies for different groups. In particular, examines differences in participation in unpaid work between men and women.
» To view the article go to Statistics New Zealand website - Measuring unpaid work in New Zealand from the Time Use survey
The economic statistics of work and production are used in developing public policy and in business decisions. So it is very important which activities define and measure as ‘work’ and ‘leisure’ because the reporting on the measured ‘variables’ actually affects our lives through practical government and business decisions.
» To view the article go to Statistics New Zealand website - Research into sports volunteers
Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) have published Volunteers which contains facts and figures about how active and inactive volunteers are in their leisure time and how active they want to be.
» To view Volunteers document, go to SPARC website -
2006 Census: Work – status report
This includes information on the unpaid activities of New Zealand’s population
» Go to Statistics New Zealand website
» For comparison, see 2001 Census tables 45 to 50A - Counting for Something: Value Added by Voluntary Agencies (VAVA)
In 2004, the New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations (NZFVW) and PricewaterhouseCoopers completed a project to help to quantify the economic value of the work of voluntary agencies. This ‘Counting for Something: Value Added by Voluntary Agencies (VAVA)’ produced a report, which provides an overview of the voluntary inputs of ten major social services organisations over a one-year period.
» Download the Counting for Something: Value Added by Voluntary Agencies (VAVA) Project report PDF - 390kb - Various Facts and Figures on Volunteering in New Zealand - Word - 200kb
- Volunteering Research
OCVS and Volunteering New Zealand undertook an inventory of all New Zealand research that looks at volunteering activities. It may result in a volunteering research forum to identify gaps and priorities in the research areas. Please advise us if you know of any research that we can add to it.
» Download the draft inventory - Word - 140kb | PDF - 180kb