Resources

Find resources for students, looking to volunteer, already volunteering or schools, unis or organisations want to help facilitate volunteering.

Articles about NSVW

National Student Volunteer Week wonderful op for young people to ‘Give. Grow. Belong.’ - EducationHQ News
National student volunteer week: Volunteering in aged care - Inside Ageing
Give. Grow. Belong – Celebrating National Student Volunteer Week - Benevolent Society Blog
National Student Volunteer Week: Volunteering with the NSW State Emergency Service - Charles Sturt University Charlie
The Raine Study celebrates National Student Volunteer Week 2023 - Raine Study
A gold star to student volunteers! - Department of Human Services: Government of South Australia
National Student Volunteer Week 2023 - Edith Cowan University News
League's inspired student volunteers stepping up - QRL Community News

Schools and Educators:

Volunteering and the Australian Curriculum - Volunteering Australia
Student Volunteering - Department of Education, South Australia

Research and Reports

Teens volunteering protects against poor mental health - Report by Growing Up in Australia
A new report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has found that if a child is involved in volunteering before the age of 13, the odds of having poor mental health are reduced by around 28%.

Millennials' attitudes to volunteering, uncovered - Seek Market Insights
"Younger volunteers are well and truly pulling their weight and they plan on continuing, despite a common misconception that charities and other not-for-profits are forced to rely on older workers, research by SEEK Volunteer has found.
The SEEK Volunteer survey found roughly equal numbers of volunteers in all age groups, representing a total of about one-third of all adults.
A total of 32% of those aged 18 to 34, the so-called ‘millennials’, have volunteered in the past year and 30% intended to volunteer in the next 12 months."

Impact of COVID-19 on University Students’ Volunteering – Emerging Trends and Way Forward
Funded through Volunteering WA's annual volunteer grant program with the support of the Volunteering WA Research Committee.
Lead researcher: Dr Fazlul Rabbanee, Curtin University
Read the University Students' Volunteering During the COVID-19 Pandemic Report, Published April 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on all volunteering activities in Australia, particularly as traditional in-person volunteering was severely curtailed due to lockdowns, social isolation, and physical distancing requirements. Due to a dearth of existing research on how and to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic impacted university student volunteering, this research addresses four key objectives: (i) identifying the challenges experienced by university student volunteers due to COVID-19, (ii) examining the impact of the pandemic on university student volunteers' wellbeing and resilience influencing their future intention to volunteer, (iii) exploring the emerging trends of university students' volunteering in WA, and (iv) identifying the influence of COVID-19 on virtual and informal volunteering among university students in WA

A Continuum of University Student Volunteer Program Models - Published August, 2020
Funded by Australia Government Office for Learning and Teaching
Lead researcher: Kirsten Holmes, Curtin University

This paper examines the different ways in which university student volunteering is organised at universities and how this reflects the ways in which universities use and promote volunteering to their students.

Designing organisational management frameworks to empower episodic volunteering - Published April, 2020
Funded by Australian Research Council Cancer Council Queensland Union for International Cancer Control
Lead researcher: Jeff Dunn, multiple associations

Volunteers are a critical operational resource for not-for-profit organisations in the health and welfare sector. However, trends towards episodic volunteering may be a source of disruption. This study examined contemporary management beliefs and practices about episodic volunteers in the sector.

Myths and Misconceptions About University Student Volunteering: Development and Perpetuation - Published January 2022
Funded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching
Lead researcher: Megan Paul, Murdoch University

This paper examines myths and misconceptions about university student volunteering. Our study explored the experiences of students, host organisations and universities participating in volunteering in Australia, identify good practice, and discover barriers to success.

Determining factors in graduate recruitment and preparing students for success - Edith Cowan University
Researchers: Denise Jackson, Linda Riebe, Flavio Macau
This study investigated graduate employer perceptions of determining factors in recruitment decisions and their preferred use of recruitment channels. It found that students who built their cultural and human capital during university years through volunteering and internships were more likely to be considered for employment.

Youth, Volunteering, and Employment
Beginning the Dialogue to Seek Solutions through Volunteering to the Global Crisis of Youth Unemployment

Report by International Association for Volunteer Efforts (IAVE)

Youth Volunteering Key Statistics (August 2022)
Volunteering Australia

This document provides key statistics about youth volunteering in Australia and was released in August 2022 in honour of National Student Volunteer Week.

This factsheet focuses on national data from several sources, specifically the General Social Survey (GSS) 2019 and 2020, the Household Impacts of COVID-19 surveys (the February, March, April, and June waves), the 2022 Census, the Mission Australia Youth Survey 2020 and 2021, and four waves of data from the Life in Australia survey conducted by the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods.

Data presented in this factsheet classifies respondents into age groups, and different classifications are used across the eight surveys included. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) typically considers ‘youth’ to include people aged 15-24 years. To include the full extent of trends in youth volunteering, the data presented in this document captures respondents aged 15-34 years across the different datasets.

Additional national data, including data on the characteristics of voluntary work undertaken by young people and their motivations for volunteering, would provide greater clarity on youth volunteering in Australia.