Volunteering in South Australia in 2010

• Michelle Avery, Frances Eltridge
• Office of Volunteering

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05 July 2010This survey, conducted by Harrison Research and involving more than 1,500 respondents, reveals that more than half of all South Australians volunteer in the community in some way.

The survey results show that 565,000 (47%) South Australians volunteer formally, with a local community organisation or group, providing an estimated 1.41 million volunteer hours per week. A further 565,000 (47%) volunteer more informally, for example helping a neighbour with their grocery shopping.

In total, this equates to a combined rate of 69% of the population - that's more than 830,000 individuals - donating their time and energy in some way. An enormous contribution to the South Australian community.

Other interesting results from the 2010 survey are:

• Formal volunteering continued to be more common among those respondents born in Australia (50%) compared to respondents born in other countries (35%).
• Formal volunteering is more common among respondents from couple families with children at home (53%) and less common among lone person households (37%) and group households of unrelated adults (36%).
• Married or living de facto respondents are more likely to volunteer formally (51%).
• The top three drivers for volunteering included 1) to help others or the community (45%) 2) to give something back (14%) and 3) personal satisfaction (12%).
• ‘Word of mouth’ continues to be the greatest trigger to get people volunteering.
• ‘Work commitments’ is the biggest reason cited for not volunteering (40%).