From Volunteer Retention to Volunteer Belonging

The Future of Volunteering

Exploring how volunteering is changing and what it could look like next

For years, volunteer management has treated retention as one of the clearest signs that we are doing things well.

We track how many volunteers stay. We calculate turnover. We celebrate long service. We worry when experienced volunteers leave. And this makes sense. Organisations need continuity, knowledge and people who can reliably contribute.

But what if retention is not the question we should put at the centre of the volunteer experience? What happens when we stop asking “How long will they stay?” and start asking “Do they feel they belong here?”

That is not simply a change of language. It is a change in what we believe good volunteer management is trying to achieve.

Retention is an organisational metric. Belonging is a volunteer experience.

Retention tells us what happened. Someone stayed. Someone left. Someone volunteered for three years rather than three months. But retention tells us remarkably little about how that person experienced their volunteering.

A volunteer can stay for years without feeling particularly connected. They may remain because they feel responsible, because they have invested considerable time, because others depend on them, or because leaving feels difficult.

Equally, someone can leave after six months and have had an excellent volunteering experience. Their circumstances may have changed. They may have achieved what they wanted to achieve. Their work, family or other commitments may have shifted.

So perhaps we need to distinguish between keeping people and creating an experience people want to be part of. Belonging brings us closer to the next point.

Belonging is more than being welcomed

Belonging is sometimes reduced to making volunteers feel welcome: remembering their name, introducing them to others, providing a cup of tea or inviting them to the Christmas function.

Those things matter. But belonging goes deeper.

A volunteer who feels they belong can probably answer yes to questions such as:

• Do people here know who I am?
• Does my contribution matter?
• Do I feel respected?
• Am I trusted?
• Do I have a voice?
• Can I be myself here?
• Do I feel part of something rather than simply filling a role?
• Can I see how my contribution connects to the bigger purpose?
• Would someone notice if I wasn't here—not just because the task wouldn't get done, but because I would be missed?

These are very different questions from “Are you satisfied with your role?” or “How long have you been volunteering?”

And they take us into the heart of the volunteer experience.

The New Zealand evidence is already pointing us there

The latest data from Aotearoa challenges the traditional picture of volunteering as a relatively stable pool of people giving substantial amounts of time to organisations.

Volunteering New Zealand's analysis of the 2023 General Social Survey found that 53% of New Zealanders volunteered in the previous four weeks. But only 27.6% of those volunteers did so through an organisation, while 40.8% volunteered directly for another person. The most common amount of volunteering was less than five hours over the previous four weeks.

The 2026 State of the Decade of Volunteering report reinforces the shift. Volunteering remains strong, but people are giving fewer hours and participating in more flexible, episodic and shorter-term ways. Volunteering New Zealand describes the old idea of a “civic core”—a relatively small group doing most of the volunteering—as changing. (Volunteering New Zealand)

That matters for retention.

If we continue to define successful volunteering primarily as someone staying for a long time, we risk judging today's volunteers against yesterday's model.

The question becomes less about “How do we keep them?” and more about “How do we make their contribution meaningful while they are here?”

Belonging may be the missing middle

This doesn't mean retention doesn't matter. It does.

If an organisation has high turnover, it should investigate why. Constantly replacing volunteers creates additional recruitment, induction and training work, while also potentially disrupting relationships and service delivery.

But retention is a lagging indicator. Belonging is closer to the experience that happens before it.

When people feel connected, valued, respected and able to contribute meaningfully, they have stronger reasons to remain engaged. When they don't, no amount of retention strategy is likely to create genuine commitment.

Volunteering New Zealand's regional research makes this particularly visible. It found that some volunteers from ethnic minority backgrounds were significantly less likely to agree that they felt they belonged in the organisation where they volunteered, as well as being less likely to feel treated fairly and respectfully.

That is a powerful reminder that ...

being included in a volunteer programme is not necessarily the same as belonging within it.

We can have inclusive policies, well-written role descriptions and robust processes—and still create experiences in which some people feel like outsiders.

What would change if we managed for belonging?

The shift doesn't require abandoning measurement. It requires measuring something different.

Instead of only asking: “How many volunteers did we retain?” we might ask:
“How many volunteers felt valued and connected?”

Instead of: “Why are people leaving?” we could also ask:
“What might be making people feel disconnected?”

Instead of celebrating only length of service, we could pay attention to whether volunteers have relationships, voice, purpose, autonomy and meaningful opportunities to contribute.

And rather than designing volunteering primarily around what the organisation needs people to do, we might ask:

“What kind of experience are we creating for the people who give their time to us?”

This is particularly important as volunteering becomes more flexible.

A person who contributes four hours a month is not necessarily less committed than someone who contributes twenty. They may simply have a different capacity, different life circumstances or a different relationship with the organisation.

The challenge is whether those four hours feel worthwhile.

From managing volunteers to creating connection

There is a broader shift here. When retention is the goal, the volunteer can become someone we are trying to keep. When belonging is the goal, the volunteer becomes someone we are trying to connect with, include and enable to contribute.

That changes how we think about leadership. It changes how we design roles. It changes how we induct people, communicate with them, involve them in decisions and recognise their contribution. And perhaps most importantly, it changes what we regard as a successful volunteer experience.

The Ministry of Social Development has long recognised that people volunteer for more than the opportunity to contribute. Volunteering can also help people meet others, develop skills, broaden experiences and make social connections.

So perhaps the pathway isn't simply:
Recruit → retain → recognise.

Perhaps it is:
Connect → belong → contribute → engage.

Retention may be one outcome. It shouldn't necessarily be the starting point.

The bigger question for volunteer leaders

Volunteering New Zealand's latest research is telling us that volunteering is changing. People still want to contribute, but they are doing so in ways that fit increasingly complex lives. The response cannot simply be to find better ways of persuading people to make longer commitments. The sector needs to become more flexible, responsive and relevant to how people live now.

That means volunteer leaders have an opportunity to rethink what success looks like.
Perhaps the question isn't:
“How do we get volunteers to stay longer?”
Perhaps it is:
“How do we create a place where people feel they belong, however long or often they choose to contribute?”

Because people don't necessarily stay because we have successfully retained them.

They stay when there is something worth staying connected to.

And sometimes they leave—even when we have created a genuinely positive experience.

Our measure of good volunteer leadership should therefore be bigger than retention.
It should be whether, for however long they were with us, people knew:

I matter.
My contribution matters.
And I belong here.

That is a more human way to think about volunteering. And perhaps it is also a more useful way to lead it.

References and further reading
Volunteering New Zealand (2026), State of the Decade of Volunteering: The Past, Present and Future of Volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand. This is the key reference for the changing nature of volunteering, including the shift towards flexible, episodic and shorter-term participation.

Volunteering New Zealand (2024), State of Volunteering in Aotearoa New Zealand 2024. Provides evidence on changing patterns of volunteering and the challenges facing volunteer-involving organisations.

Volunteering New Zealand / Stats NZ (2025), Volunteering Statistics. Based on the 2023 General Social Survey, including the 53% participation figure, organisational versus direct volunteering, and hours contributed.

Volunteering New Zealand, State of Volunteering Regional Report. Particularly relevant to belonging, respect, diversity and the volunteer experience.