Volunteering New Zealand (VNZ) is an association of volunteer centres, national and other organisations with a commitment to volunteering. Our purpose is to benefit communities in New Zealand by promoting, supporting, encouraging and representing volunteering.

Volunteering is work done of one’s own free will, unpaid, and for the common good (Volunteering New Zealand, 2014). This work can be formal or informal. The survey undertaken for this report focused on formal volunteering carried out through the structure of an organisation.

In the 2017 survey, Volunteering NZ investigated:

• what issues volunteer-involving organisations were facing in regard to volunteer engagement
• the view volunteer-involving organisations took of volunteers as social capital
• volunteer-involving organisations’ processes and practices around recruitment, induction, training and management
• whether volunteer-involving organisations evaluated the effectiveness of their volunteer engagement; and
• the general view on the state of volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Information gathered through the 2017 survey will underpin policy and strategy that directly supports the community and voluntary sector by identifying current trends, issues and challenges.