Census 2021: Canberra's volunteers still eager to lend a hand

In 2016, 23.3 per cent of Canberrans aged 15 years and older had volunteered their time in the past 12 months, while that figure dropped to 18.4 per cent in 2021.

The chief executive of Hands Across Canberra, a network of community organisations, said charities were still working to draw back volunteers after the disruption of lockdown.

"In 2020, when charities needed money, and volunteers, most volunteers weren't allowed to go, so there was a complete disruption of the whole business model that many charities were using," Peter Gordon said.

"Now that we're trying to get back to normal getting people to re-engage again has proved a little bit challenging, but what I've noticed is that the interest by companies in Canberra to do corporate volunteering is increasing."

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Hannah Andrevski, the founder of Roundabout Canberra, which provides pre-loved baby and children's supplies to families in need, said keeping in touch with volunteers throughout the lockdown helped keep the organisation running smoothly.

"We worked really hard to try and find ways that our volunteers could keep helping us and volunteering without being able to come into our space," she said.

"We had arrangements where they could come and pick up loads of clothes and do things from home and then come and drop them off in a contactless way."

The organisation is "volunteer driven" with about 250 people on the roster to help out.

"Things were a little bit slow once we came out of lockdown," she said, but enforcing protective measures such as mask-wearing has helped to alleviate COVID fears and bring people back into the charity.

Volunteering also offers a lot back in return, Ms Andrevski said.

"For a lot of people it's an opportunity to connect with other volunteers and to have a social experience."

"[People also] really like to hear the the impacts that we're having and that really helps them to keep coming back and want to keep coming back."

Mr Gordon said one of the biggest challenges for charities at the moment was unlocking thousands of paid volunteering days offered by employers that don't get taken up each year.

"Many businesses have got paid volunteering days in their awards, in their enterprise arrangements, but because of the complexity of finding the right volunteering opportunities, a lot of those paid volunteer days actually just don't get taken up."

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