The pandemic years saw a sharp decline in people volunteering, and as we move into COVID-normal, experts say volunteer-based organisations are still feeling the impact.
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Ballarat Salvation Army volunteer coordinator Karen Thomas organises for a range of programs and said volunteer shortages affected organisations' abilities to offer services to the community.
"If we don't have volunteers, we can't do our job - simple as that. Because the money that is made at a thrift shop comes straight back here to run the programs that we have here," she said.
"If we have to shut our doors because we haven't got enough volunteers in thrift shops that means money that would have been made that day can't come back here to help people, people in need."
Ballarat Foundation chief executive Andrew Eales said the decrease in volunteer numbers had been happening for some time, but was accelerated by the pandemic.
"People that predominantly volunteer in communities are those people that have time to do that, those people, if you can extrapolate, also tend to be more at risk of all the impacts of COVID should they contract it," he said.
"We are working closely with community organisations to try and understand how we can communicate to the community that volunteering, first of all, is a safe activity to undertake at the moment, but also the benefits of reconnecting to the community."
According to Volunteering Australia, prior to COVID about 6 million Australians volunteered their time into community, and those rates fell by 66 per cent - around one in three volunteers - throughout the pandemic.
Volunteering Australia chief executive Mark Pearce said while that number has recovered somewhat, organisations should consider offering more flexible hours to suit a broader range of lifestyles.
"What we're seeing as a function of COVID is that people, especially in Victoria, had a lot of restrictions ... they haven't had flexibility in the things that they want to do," he said.
"They think about how they contribute to their communities, they want to be able to contribute ... but with greater flexibility and with choice around what they do and when they do it".
"There's a need for a strategic reconsideration of volunteering - it's about the messaging, but it's also about the way that we structure volunteer roles."
Volunteering Australia is in the process of designing the federally funded National Strategy for Volunteering for the next decade, which Mr Pearce said was overdue.
"There's a huge engagement and consultation process which has just begun, which will be a national undertaking, it'll speak to communities throughout the country and it'll identify those things which are working and not, those things which are important and aspirational about volunteering," he said.
Ballarat moved one step closer to a volunteering hub on Lydiard Street last month after the Ballarat Foundation project received $1 million in funding from the state government.
Mr Eales said there was still a way to go in funding to secure the project.
"We are in the process now of seeking further community support and government support to fund the remainder of the project, the Ballarat Foundation has already invested more than $700,000 in that in the purchase of the building and the plans," he said.
"There is still a funding shortfall for this project that is what we're seeking to secure to make sure that we can continue our work."
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