Volunteering is not a nice-to-have in regional communities. It is the operating system. Events, emergency services, aged care, sport, governance: all of it runs on volunteers.

But the pool is changing. New residents don’t always find it easy to find their way in. Many community groups find it hard to attract younger members, lifestyles and the cost of living don’t always permit time for volunteering, and the same small group of experienced people is carrying governance loads across multiple organisations, with compliance and red tape adding to the weight.

The organisations that find ways to welcome new volunteers while sustaining the ones they have are doing something that’s worth sharing.