written by Meg Martin, General Manager
I recently returned from the 2026 Volunteering New Zealand Conference in Rotorua, where I spent a couple of days surrounded by people who spend a considerable amount of their working lives thinking, talking, and occasionally worrying about volunteering.
There were some excellent speakers, plenty of interesting conversations, and the reassuring discovery that many of the challenges we're experiencing here in Marlborough are being felt right across the country.
One question kept coming up, in various forms: Where have all the volunteers gone?
It's a question I hear regularly. Organisations struggle to fill roles they've had volunteers doing for years. Committees can't find new members. People sign up enthusiastically and then disappear. Meanwhile, the work still needs doing, and the people keeping things runnins are getting tired.
It's tempting to conclude that people simply aren't as interested in volunteering as they used to be.
But I'm not convinced that's the whole story.
Maybe we're asking the wrong question.
One of the strongest messages from the conference was that people's willingness to contribute hasn't necessarily disappeared. What's changed is how volunteering fits into their lives.
Think about the person working full-time who would happily give a few hours on a Saturday but can't commit to Tuesday mornings. Or the parent who has a window between school drop-off and pick-up. Someone managing a health condition who could do valuable work from home, but can't guarantee they'll be available at exactly the same time every week.
These people aren't necessarily unwilling to volunteer. They just can't volunteer in the way we're asking them to.
A presentation from Good Bitches Baking demonstrated this beautifully. Their volunteers bake from their own kitchens, at times that work for them, while contributing to a coordinated service that makes a genuine difference in people's lives.
It's a simple idea, but it challenges something we've become rather attached to in the volunteer sector: the belief that commitment must look like turning up at the same place, at the same time, every week.
Sometimes that's exactly what a role requires. There are services that simply cannot operate without reliable, scheduled volunteers.
But sometimes it's just how we've always done things. And those are two very different situations.
And what about the people we're accidentally leaving out?
One session that stayed with me asked a deceptively simple question: Who isn't getting invited?
Not because an organisation has deliberately decided to exclude anyone, but because its volunteer opportunities have been designed around a particular type of person. Someone with reliable transport. Plenty of free time. Confidence speaking English. Previous experience. No accessibility requirements. The ability to commit well in advance.
Individually, some of those requirements might seem perfectly reasonable. Put them all together, though, and the pool of people who can participate becomes considerably smaller.
We were challenges to look at a volunteer role and ask who it was designed for, who it might unintentionally excluse, and what could be changed. I loved the simplicity of that.
Not every improvement requires a new programme, a funding application, or six months of committee decisions. Sometimes it's a matter of removing a requirement that wasn't really necessary in the first place.
Perhaps that role could be shared between two people. Maybe the paperwork could be simplified. Could someone contribute remotely? Does the person genuinely need previous experience, or could we teach them what they need to know?
These aren't revolutionary ideas, but they can make the difference between someone feeling welcome and someone deciding volunteering isn't for them.
We also need to acknowledge that there's more at stake than filling vacancies.
One of the conference keynotes, delivered by economist Shamubeel Eaqub, explored social cohesion and the growing sense of disconnection within our communities.
He made an interesting distinction between a society that's polarised and one that's fragmented. People aren't necessarily divided by deeply opposing beliefs. In many cases, they're simply becoming less connected to one another.
We see plenty of evidence of that in everyday life. Loneliness, reduced trust, people feeling disconnected from their neighbours or unsure where they fit. And this is where volunteering has something rather special to offer.
Yes, it helps organisations deliver services. It keeps community events running, supports people through difficult circumstances, protects our environment, and does countless other things that make Marlborough a better place to live. But it also brings people together.
It gives someone new to the region a reason to meet people. It helps a young person discover what they're capable of. It offers someone who's retired a chance to share their experience and remain connected. It allows people from completely different backgrounds to work alongside one another towards something they both care about.
Dr Ellen Joan Ford spoke about three things people need to thrive: belonging, autonomy, and purpose.
When volunteering is done well, it can offer all three.
That's worth remembering when we're measuring its value. Volunteer hours and the number of positions filled are useful statistics, but they don't tell the whole story. Sometimes the biggest impact is the connection someone makes, the confidence they gain, or the feeling that they've found somewhere they belong.
We need to make room for different ways of giving.
I came home from Rotorua feeling encouraged, but also challenged.
Encouraged because there's some excellent thinking happening across the sector, and much of it reflects the work we're already doing at Volunteer Marlborough.
Challenged because changing long-established practices isn't easy, especially for community organisations stretched thin.
When you're struggling to keep a service running, redesigning volunteer roles can feel like one more thing on an already ridiculous to-do list. I understand that. Many of the organisations we work with are doing extraordinary things with very limited resources.
But I also think we need to be prepared to question our assumptions.
Do we need someone for four hours every Wednesday, or do we need four hours of work completed each week?
Are we looking for a volunteer with particular qualifications, or someone who's willing and able to learn?
Have we made it clear what people will actually be doing, what support they'll receive, and why their contribution matters?
And, perhaps most importantly, are we listening to what potential volunteers are telling us about how they want to contribute?
Because there are people in our communities with skills, enthusiasm, experience, and a genuine desire to help. We just need to make sure we're not putting unnecessary obstacles in their way.
After almost two decades working in volunteer management, I still believe people want to make a difference. I see it in the conversations we have with prospective volunteers, in the organisations finding creative ways to involve people, and in the extraordinary generosity that appears whenever our community really needs it.
The challenge isn't simply to convince more people to volunteer. It's to create opportunities that recognise the realities of their lives, value what they bring, and give them a reason to stay.
Sometimes the problem isn't the volunteer. Sometimes it's the opportunity.
And that's something all of us involved in volunteering should be willing to think about.
Massive thank you to Volunteering New Zealand for another successful and energising conference, and to the many speakers and presenters who shared their knowledge and experiences with us. Looking forward to 2027!