Right now, one of the most important things community groups do is build social cohesion

Yet the factors that make communities strong – strong community cohesion, strong community groups and a strong community sector – are under threat. The causes and the symptoms are tangled up together, but they are clear to see: the epidemic of loneliness and mental ill-health among young people, increased economic inequality, the global shift to the right, unregulated social media, the rejection of science and the embrace of conspiracy theories as underpinnings of belief systems. I could go on.

Strong communities have the potential to serve as prevention, first aid, and well-being promotion for all these ailments. They are not a magical cure, but they are at least the societal equivalent of (vegan) chicken soup and a hug from one you love.

All of my grandparents arrived in Australia fleeing persecution in the 1950s and 1960s, one couple as stateless refugees without passports and one couple as sponsored teaching professionals. All of them were absorbed by communities. They thrived as a result, and they and their families contributed to those communities in turn, ensuring that those communities continued to flourish. As Charities Minister Andrew Leigh told ICDA’s Not-for-profit Agenda newscast this month, “People are happier when we are connected.”

And yet Australians’ participation in community groups and activities is wavering. Volunteering is down, club memberships are down, people are just not as engaged in civic life as they used to be. What motivated my grandparents – many people’s grandparents – to be involved in their local, cultural, political or faith communities? Have those times passed?

We should not idealise the past, because many terrible things happened back then, but community engagement remains an important signifier of societal health. Understanding the factors that affect community engagement today, then, is critical.

The 2024 Community Compass research report enables not-for-profit organisations and community groups of all sizes to better understand their stakeholders—including current and potential donors, volunteers, and other contributors. It sheds light on what matters to these groups and the factors influencing their decisions to engage or not.

When an organisation understands its stakeholders, it can refine its messaging and target specific demographics effectively. Delving into the motivations of community members and volunteers helps it to unravel the perennial puzzle of why more individuals aren’t actively involved. The report also highlights the role community organisations do well and can play more of in Australia.

With half the community saying they would like to get involved in their local community but citing time constraints as a barrier, sports clubs offer a range of volunteer roles that vary in the time commitment they require, from sporadic fundraisers to regular coaches. Sports clubs bring the community together regularly in a way that Australia needs right now. Sports club volunteering can be high intensity or low effort and it is a key entry point to volunteering and community building more broadly in Australia.

As a sports mum myself, overseeing regional kids tennis competitions, I witness firsthand the challenges faced by volunteer team managers and coaches. These range from navigating parents’ complaints to grappling with volunteer shortages and funding constraints. Community Compass highlights the contentious position of sports clubs within the community sector. Some groups identified in the report, such as the “positive preoccupied” and the “indifferent uninvolved”, question the community sector status of sport clubs (just over half say they are part of the community sector), while more engaged segments, such as the “enthusiastic engaged”, “active traditionalists” and “isolated believers”, overwhelmingly affirm it (between 80% and 86%).

A key question is to what extent local sports clubs perceive themselves as community organisations, like other volunteer-involving organisations do, and to what extent they identify themselves as part of a distinct sports sector. Understanding this dynamic and the potential for the sports sector to intersect strongly with other groups in the community can help us to identify factors that can contribute to building cohesion in Australian society.

Community Compass examines the debate about whether community organisations should get involved in advocacy and politics, with a slim majority of those surveyed in favour (56%) but a significant minority saying organisations should stick to serving their community and stay out of politics (49%). This reflects a broader societal tension between people’s desire for meaning and social connection and the belief that organisations thrive when they focus on what they do best.

Interestingly, while the “enthusiastic engaged” segment largely rejects the notion that community organisations should keep out of politics (only 25% agree), the “active traditionalists” tend to support it (70%). Both groups share similar patterns of engagement with social and traditional media but differ in their priorities, favouring fairness and equal opportunity versus loyalty, respectively.

This tension will likely define Australian society in the coming years as we attempt to find shared values amid populist divisions. The community sector should heed the cry for social connection and a sense of meaning and perhaps ritual. Community groups offer these in abundance, whether that means a weekly cuppa after a game or a monthly dinner after a climate change meeting. In heeding that cry, community groups should know that their work and impact are deeply valued beyond the mission that drives each individual group. And that their work is only just beginning.