My Account
As in so many areas of life, Covid-19 has taken its toll on the volunteer sector, including an increase in funding challenges and a reduction in numbers among some older people.
These were two of the findings of Volunteering New Zealand, which recently carried out an update on the status of the sector up to May this year. The mini-report found that some older volunteers hadn’t returned after all the various lockdowns and alert levels.
“Some of them have returned to volunteering and some have not, because they don’t want to have close contact with people,” the Post-Covid Recovery & Resilience report says.
However, on the plus side, there has been a new wave of volunteers of all ages who were prompted to offer their services during the pandemic.
“They realised they needed to do more and help their communities more. Traditionally, many first-time volunteers have been newly retired individuals or older people. This seems to be changing with more people across different age groups becoming first-time volunteers.”
Uncertainty over funding remains the biggest challenge to the volunteer sector, with community organisations not knowing what money will be available and how funding streams might change in future.
Volunteering New Zealand is calling for a national volunteering strategy and extra funding in the wake of Covid-19, as well as for increased flexibility to prepare for future changes in the volunteer landscape.
The group says strategies should be implemented to prepare for new and different ways of engaging with volunteers and there should be more collaboration between volunteer centres stakeholders and organisations.
Info: www.volunteeringnz.org.nz/advocacy/status-of-the-volunteering-sector-may-2021/
