Volunteering in Perth: Give Back in WA

Perth's volunteering culture reflects Western Australia's character: strongly community-focused, deeply connected to the outdoors and the extraordinary natural environment of the Swan Coastal Plain and the South West region, and with a significant Indigenous volunteering and community engagement tradition that reflects the important presence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Western Australia. An estimated 400,000+ Perth residents volunteer regularly, with Volunteering WA (the state peak body) and the GoVolunteer platform providing the primary volunteer matching infrastructure. Perth's major volunteering sectors include environmental conservation (Landcare, Bushfire recovery, and the Swan River Trust volunteer programs), community services (the Salvation Army Western Australia, the Perth City Mission, Foodbank WA, and the many community services organisations serving Perth's southern suburbs and the Peel region), and the extraordinary sporting club volunteer culture that is fundamental to WA community life.

Volunteering WA — Volunteering WA (the Western Australian peak body for volunteering) and the GoVolunteer platform provide the primary volunteer matching infrastructure for Perth, with thousands of live volunteering opportunities listed across all sectors and suburbs. Volunteering WA also provides the Volunteer Support Service (VSS) which offers free advice and training for volunteer-involving organisations across WA.

Landcare and Environmental Volunteering — the Landcare WA network, the Swan River Trust volunteer monitoring programs, and the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions' volunteer conservation programs together provide Perth with an extraordinary breadth of environmental volunteering opportunities. Perth's location on the Swan Coastal Plain (one of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots) and the extraordinary Banksia woodland and wetland ecosystems that survive within the metropolitan area create unique and meaningful environmental volunteering opportunities that are unmatched in any other major Australian city.

Foodbank WA — Foodbank WA (the major food rescue and distribution charity in Western Australia) uses hundreds of Perth volunteers weekly to sort, pack, and distribute food to community organisations serving food-insecure Western Australians. Foodbank WA's Spudshed and community collection programs provide accessible one-off and ongoing volunteering opportunities across the Perth metropolitan area.

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