Speaking at Australia’s National Conference for Volunteering, demographer Bernard Salt has predicted that aging ‘baby boomers’ will create a ‘golden age of volunteering’ over the next decade.

However, volunteer organisations will need to adapt to cater for this challenging market. According to Salt they must ‘learn to manage the expectations of the intelligent and opinionated generation if they are to effectively harness their volunteering potential’.

Salt’s conclusions are based on analysis of Australia’s last census, which showed that the peak age bracket for volunteering is 65-79, with 24% of people in this age group giving up their time to volunteer. Over the next decade this age group is set to grow by 800,000, creating an extra 200,000 mature volunteers.

With the average retirement age in Australia being 58 and average life expectancy reaching 82, in theory there is now a 20 year gap between retirement and death, which Salt refers to as the ‘sweet spot’ of volunteering.

The challenge for volunteer organisations is handling the expectations of this ‘baby boom’ generation, who are ‘educated, articulated an opinionated’. Success in this will be based upon engagement with ‘baby boomers’ in a way that recognises their skills and experience.

Looking forward to the next decade, Salt also identified young adults and children as demographic groups that will have a big impact on volunteer work. With 70,000 more babies being born each year than 10 years ago, volunteer opportunities that relate children, such as playgroups and schools are likely to have a greater need.

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