‘The Times They Are A-Changin’: the shifting motivations for volunteering in rural Wide Bay–Burnett Queensland

ABSTRACT This article explores why volunteers are motivated to make significant social contributions, either informally through personal interactions, or formally within rural healthcare organisations. Volunteerism is a form of civic engagement includes a variety of service, collective action, political involvement, and social change efforts by citizens to improve conditions for others or work towards shaping the civic sphere. The latest Federal Government Indicators show a 2% decline in formal volunteering rates. Thus, the implications for rural communities are problematic. Using the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI), we surveyed volunteers at a rural voluntary organisation and found trends for volunteer types, based on demographic factors and volunteer motivations. A key finding was that altruistic motivations were the strongest motivator for these rural Wide Bay–Burnett Queensland volunteers.