Family Influence on Volunteering Participation in Australia

This report examines the landscape of volunteering in Australia, with a particular focus on Western Australia. It explores the intergenerational transmission of volunteering activities and the socioeconomic drivers that influence volunteering activities at the extensive and intensive margins.

Utilising data for Australians aged 15 years and over from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, the analysis identifies how parental behaviours, housing tenure, and demographic characteristics shape the volunteering habits of Australians across five generational cohorts. The findings of the research confirm a role model effect, where an individual’s propensity to volunteer is intrinsically linked to their parents’ past and present volunteering activities. Childhood exposure to parental volunteering is common, with around two-thirds of individuals experiencing parental volunteering during childhood (ages 0–9) or early adolescence (ages 10–14). While current parental volunteering is less prevalent, around 22 per cent of individuals have one parent who volunteers, and a further 7.2 per cent have both parents volunteering.

Key findings:

• Higher education remains the most robust predictor of engagement in volunteering activities, with individuals who completed Year 12 or above consistently volunteering at a higher rate and intensity than those who completed Year 11 or below
• Excellent health status is associated with higher volunteering participation, highlighting the importance of health in enabling community involvement.
• Full-time employment is associated with lower volunteering participation and fewer volunteering hours, suggesting that work-related time constraints is an important barrier to volunteering.
• Homeowners and individuals who have lived longer in the same area are more likely to volunteer alongside their families, suggesting that residential stability is a prerequisite for deep community investment.

This report can be cited as: Vu, L., Twomey, C., and Hailemariam, A., ‘Family Influence on Volunteering Participation in Australia’, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, June 2026.