Our annual Volunteering Conference is a full-day professional development event for leaders in the volunteering sector. It builds capability, fosters collaboration, and sparks inspiration within the volunteering ecosystem.

The 2026 Volunteering Conference will be on Tuesday, 19 May at the Ann Harding Conference Centre.

We know Canberrans volunteer in huge numbers, as shown in the State of Volunteering in the ACT Report 2024: 75% of the ACT residents (279,000) aged over 15 years volunteered in 2023, contributing over 63 million hours and generating more than $14 billion of value for the Canberra Region.

The Conference equips volunteer leaders with practical tips, tools and resources to keep their volunteering programs engaging, improve volunteer retention and continue growing volunteer participation in the Canberra community.

For an online ticket, please email us at events@volunteeringact.org.au

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: TRISH CARLING

We are excited to introduce you to Trish Carling, the winner of 2025 Volunteer of the Year Award and the keynote speaker at the 2026 Volunteering Conference.

At the Conference, Trish will share her volunteering journey and legacy with us all. We are delighted Trish will be the inaugural ACT nominee to the Australian Volunteer of the Year Award being held in National Volunteer Week! Trish has made extensive and significant contributions to the Canberra community over 30 years through her dedicated and active volunteering at Palliative Care ACT.

She embodies the spirit of community-mindedness, creating vital connections, reducing isolation, and being respectful that everyone matters.

Testimonies from 2025 Volunteering Conference

“It was engaging, well presented and relevant. I came away with tips to implement immediately in our organisation.”

“The best part of the Conference was listening to the inspiration that is out there. Very informative, speakers were awesome!” 

“I am new to the ACT, it was so good to learn and network. I was quite impressed with the execution of the event and the friendliness of all there.”