AI and Volunteering: Threat, Tool or Opportunity?
The Future of Volunteering
Exploring how volunteering is changing and what it could look like next
Artificial Intelligence is already changing how we work, communicate and solve problems. For organisations that rely on volunteers, the question is no longer whether AI will affect volunteering. It is what kind of volunteering we want AI to help create.
Will AI replace volunteer roles? Could it make volunteering more accessible? Could it free volunteers from repetitive tasks so they can spend more time doing what humans do best — building relationships, showing empathy, exercising judgement and strengthening communities?
The answer is likely to be all three: threat, tool and opportunity.
Will AI change what volunteers do?
Some volunteer tasks are already ripe for automation. Administrative data entry, basic communications, scheduling, transcription, research and first drafts of content can increasingly be assisted by Artificial Intelligence.
That does not necessarily mean fewer volunteers.
Instead, it may change the nature of the role. If AI can take care of the repetitive work, a volunteer might spend more time mentoring a young person, welcoming a new migrant, supporting someone experiencing isolation, restoring a local environment or building relationships within their community.
The bigger question for Leaders of Volunteers is therefore not simply “Can AI do this task?” but “What is the human value in this role?”
A volunteer role designed around tasks that technology can easily perform may need to be redesigned. A role built around connection, trust, lived experience and human judgement may become even more valuable.
This matters in Aotearoa New Zealand, where volunteering is deeply connected to community, whānau, culture and place. In many organisations, the contribution of a volunteer is about far more than the task they complete. It is the relationship they build along the way.
Could AI create more volunteering?
Perhaps one of the most interesting possibilities is that Artificial Intelligence could actually create new opportunities for people to volunteer.
Imagine an organisation using AI to identify repetitive administrative work and then redesigning volunteer roles around higher-value activities. Or a volunteer matching system that understands someone's skills, interests, availability and preferred causes and suggests opportunities that genuinely fit.
This could be particularly useful as volunteering becomes more flexible.
Benevity's 2026 State of Corporate Volunteering research points to the rise of "micro-volunteers", with people contributing smaller amounts of time. At the same time, skills-based volunteering is growing, with 57% of companies surveyed planning to increase their investment in it.
AI could help organisations move beyond simply asking, “When can you volunteer?” to asking, “What can you contribute, and where could it make the greatest difference?”
That could open volunteering to people who cannot commit to a traditional weekly role — but who might have an hour to solve a problem, two hours to coach someone, or specialist expertise they can contribute remotely.
The rise of the AI-skilled volunteer
Artificial Intelligence itself could become a new area of skills-based volunteering.
Benevity reports that 71% of surveyed nonprofits identified the ability to leverage AI for operational efficiency as an urgent need. This includes communications, storytelling, fundraising and impact measurement.
That creates an interesting opportunity for companies.
Instead of sending a team of employees for a traditional one-day volunteering project, an organisation might contribute a team of employees with expertise in AI, data, communications or digital systems to help a community organisation explore what technology could do for them.
A skilled volunteer could help an organisation:
- understand where AI could genuinely save time;
- develop responsible AI policies;
- train staff and volunteers in AI literacy;
- improve accessible communications;
- organise and analyse information;
- explore appropriate automation; or
- build confidence in using AI safely.
The value isn't necessarily in giving an organisation the latest technology. It is in giving people the confidence and capability to use it well.
What should never be automated?
This may be the most important conversation we have.
Not everything that can be automated should be automated.
Artificial Intelligence may be useful for matching people with opportunities. But should it decide who gets support? It may help summarise information. But should it make decisions about a vulnerable person's needs? It may help assess applications. But should an algorithm determine whose story is more deserving?
There are already warning signs internationally. Benevity's 2026 research found that organisations are much more comfortable with AI supporting employee engagement and volunteer matching than making high-stakes decisions.
For community organisations, this distinction is critical.
Human judgement, empathy, cultural understanding, relationships and accountability cannot simply be outsourced to a machine.
A useful principle might be: automate the administration, not the humanity.
The ethical questions
Artificial Intelligence also brings new responsibilities for Leaders of Volunteers.
What happens to volunteer and client data when it is entered into an AI system? Who owns the information? Is the technology accessible to everyone? Could an algorithm unintentionally disadvantage particular communities? How do we know AI-generated information is accurate?
And what happens to trust if people discover that something they thought was written or decided by a person was actually generated by AI?
These aren't reasons to reject AI. They are reasons to approach it deliberately.
For New Zealand organisations, that means considering privacy, accessibility, equity, cultural responsiveness and the particular needs of the communities they serve — rather than adopting technology simply because it is available.
The opportunity is bigger than efficiency
It would be easy to frame Artificial Intelligence as another productivity tool for volunteer managers.
But that sells the opportunity short.
The more interesting question is whether AI can help us redesign volunteering around the way people live now.
Could technology make it easier for someone with only 30 minutes to contribute? Could it connect a retired professional with an organisation needing their expertise? Could it help a young person find a first volunteering experience that matches their interests? Could it help a small community organisation access skills it could never afford?
And could it free Leaders of Volunteers from some administrative workload so they have more time for the work that technology cannot replace: listening, encouraging, connecting, resolving problems and creating a culture where people want to contribute?
Artificial Intelligence will undoubtedly change volunteering.
But the future is not necessarily one where technology replaces volunteers.
The opportunity is to use technology to make more room for people.
The organisations that benefit most may not be those that adopt the most AI. They may be those that become clearest about what should be automated, what should remain human, and where technology can help people contribute in new and more meaningful ways.
The challenge for Leaders of Volunteers is therefore not to ask, “How do we use AI?”
It is to ask a much bigger question:
“What could volunteering become if technology took care of more of the tasks and people had more time to do what only people can do?”
Further reading:
State of Corporate Purpose 2026, Benevity
State of Corporate Volunteering 2026, Benevity
