As the world marks the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development 2026, a global call to strengthen the role of volunteerism in advancing sustainable development, a critical conversation is emerging in South Africa—one that moves beyond good intentions to interrogate real impact.

In early 2026, Khulisa Social Solutions, in collaboration with one of its longstanding donors, convened a series of Volunteerism Dialogue Circles bringing together corporate volunteers and community-based non-profit organisations. The purpose was not to celebrate volunteerism uncritically, but to examine it as a system—its benefits, its blind spots, and its ability to contribute to lasting social change.

FROM GOOD INTENTIONS TO SYSTEMATIC INSIGHT

Rather than focusing on volunteer activities alone, participants were encouraged to ask deeper questions:

• What actually works in volunteer engagement
• When does volunteerism strengthen communities—and when does it unintentionally burden them?
• Who defines success, and whose voices are heard in evaluating impact?

Using Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) and Khulisa’s dialogue-centred methodology, participants surfaced patterns, constraints, and opportunities for redesign—offering a more honest lens on how corporate volunteering interacts with community systems.

KEY FINDINGS: HONEST ANSWERS, SHARED REALITIES

Post-engagement evaluation highlighted several critical insights:

• Volunteerism driven by goodwill alone can inadvertently reinforce inequality if structural conditions are ignored.
• Community organisations often carry hidden costs—emotional labour, administrative strain, and opportunity costs—that are rarely acknowledged or measured.
• Short-term, optics-driven volunteer activities tend to benefit volunteers more than the communities they aim to serve.
• Skills-based, continuity-oriented engagement delivers significantly greater and more sustainable value.
• Structured dialogue itself is a powerful tool for surfacing what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to change.

Across both corporate and community voices, a shared conclusion emerged: volunteerism must be intentionally designed, evaluated, and supported—not assumed to be beneficial by default.

LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW ERA OF VOLUNTEERISM

For Khulisa, the process reinforces its role as a trusted partner in helping donors and corporates reflect critically on their social investment practices. Rather than positioning volunteerism as a feel-good add-on, Khulisa works with partners to identify risk, redesign engagement models, and ensure that interventions strengthen—rather than strain—community systems.

“Caring is not enough,” says Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions.

“We have a responsibility to look honestly at whether volunteerism helps or hinders the communities we intend to support. Real impact begins with listening, learning, and being willing to redesign what no longer serves.”

A GLOBAL MOMENT TO REDESIGN VOLUNTEERISM

The International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development 2026 offers an opportunity to rethink how volunteerism contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals—not as isolated acts of service, but as part of long-term development strategies.

The dialogue findings point to the need for:

• Intentional design of volunteer engagement
• Measurement frameworks that capture both benefit and burden
• Greater agency and voice for community organisations
• Ongoing learning through structured, facilitated dialogue

LOOKING FORWARD: FROM INSIGHT TO PRACTICE

Building on these insights, Khulisa is working with partners across sectors to support more thoughtful, low-burden, skills-aligned volunteer models—grounded in dialogue, evidence, and shared accountability

Because doing good deserves the same rigour, reflection, and responsibility as doing business.