Kildare is Growing Fast. Volunteering Must Keep Pace
County Kildare stands at an important crossroads. One of Ireland’s fastest-growing counties, it recorded a population of 247,774 in the 2022 Census, an increase of 11% since 2016. By the end of 2024, that figure was estimated at 258,900, and by 2030 it is projected to reach between 260,000 and 280,000. By 2040, the county could be home to as many as 285,000–300,000 people.
Against this backdrop, volunteering in Kildare is performing well but challenges lie ahead, with a narrow margin to grow, a changing volunteer profile, and a population that is diversifying rapidly. The statistics below set out the picture in full.
The Headline Numbers
- 247,774 Kildare’s population in 2022.
- 11% Population growth since 2016. One of the fastest growing counties in Ireland
- 36.9 years. The average age. Below the national average of 38.8 years
- 11.4% identify as non Irish Nationals, signaling the diversity within our communities
- 16.96 %. The amount of respondents in Kildare who self identified as volunteers in the last Census
- 1,409 new volunteers registered with Kildare Volunteer Centre (KVC) over 2 years
- 28,451 volunteer hours registered by Kildare Volunteer Centre over the same 2 year period.
Population Growth: What it Means for Volunteering
The scale of growth in County Kildare is striking. Between 2016 and 2022, the population increased by over 24,000 people, roughly the equivalent of a medium-sized Irish town added in six years. With a further estimated 11,000 added between 2022 and 2024, and projections pointing toward 260,000–280,000 by 2030, the county’s trajectory is clear.
The implications for volunteering are direct. Every additional resident represents a potential volunteer, but also represents additional demand on volunteer-supported community services, sports clubs, charities, community organisations, mental health supports, integration services, and more. KVC’s own data shows that demand for its services grew consistently across 2023 and 2024, with 1,409 new volunteer registrations and 61 new VIOs (Volunteer Involving Organisation) in just two years.
Who Volunteers – and Who Might Not
Age Profile
The age profile of volunteers in Kildare reflects a nationwide pattern of older, longer-serving volunteers forming the backbone of the voluntary sector. Among VIO respondents in a Kildare Volunteer Centre survey, approximately 60% of their current volunteers were over 46 years old, with 25% over 65. While this cohort is deeply committed, nearly 66% of all survey respondents have been volunteering for more than six years, it raises a clear sustainability concern for the years ahead.
The county’s younger demographic profile offers a significant opportunity. With 34.8% of the population under 25 and an average age of 36.9 years, Kildare is well-placed to grow youth volunteering, if the right entry points, messaging and causes are available.
Motivations
Among the 154 volunteers who responded to the KVC survey, motivations were revealing: 63% volunteer primarily to give back to the community, 54% value the social connection volunteering provides, and 20% volunteer specifically to build work experience and skills. This last figure points to a particularly important opportunity: linking volunteering to employability pathways, particularly for younger people and those from minority or new communities.
Diversity and Inclusion
With 11.4% of residents being non-Irish nationals, and the Irish Traveller community growing from 739 to 929 between 2016 and 2022, Kildare’s volunteering infrastructure must reflect the county’s diversity. Kildare Volunteer Centre has been actively working in this area, including dedicated support for people in IPAS centres and Ukrainian arrivals following the 2022 refugee crisis. The survey identified this as both a strength of recent work by the Centre and a priority for expansion.
Volunteer Involving Organisations – The Data
Kildare’s network of volunteer-involving organisations is a critical part of the county’s community infrastructure, and Kildare Volunteer Centre’s relationship with that network is strong. Among the 81 VIOs that responded to our survey:
- 80% were registered with KVC.
- Over 90% rated KVC’s services as good or excellent.
- Just over 40% source volunteers through KVC directly.
- Nearly 30% use KVC’s Garda Vetting Service
On training: 66% of VIOs want training focused on volunteer management (induction, engagement, recognition, culture-building), while 33% want policy-focused training covering compliance, evaluation, and diversity. Over 80% prefer in-person support through network meetings, training, or drop-in sessions.
Communication patterns matter too. 70% of VIOs first heard about KVC through word of mouth, 70% communicate primarily by email, and 80% favour in-person contact for ongoing interaction. These preferences have direct implications for how services should be structured and delivered.
Volunteering – What Gets in the Way
Our survey data, stakeholder interviews, and focus group feedback paint a clear and detailed picture of the barriers facing volunteering in County Kildare. These barriers operate at multiple levels, personal, organisational, structural, and systemic — and understanding each is essential to addressing them.
Time-The Commuter County Problem
The single most cited barrier among the 154 volunteers surveyed was lack of time, raised by 40% of respondents. This figure is not simply a reflection of busy lives, it is a structural consequence of Kildare’s identity as a commuter county. With approximately 36.5% of the workforce commuting, predominantly to Dublin, vast numbers of residents are absent from the county for ten or more hours each weekday. Early starts, long journeys, and late returns leave limited windows for community involvement during the working week.
This commuter dynamic disproportionately affects the working-age population. It also shapes the kind of volunteering that is realistic: shorter, more flexible, and weekend-based commitments are far more compatible with commuter lifestyles than regular weekday evening roles. The data on this is consistent with Kildare Volunteer Centre’s own experience: the Community Volunteers programme, which offers one-off and short-term roles, has been among the most in-demand services KVC provides.
Competing Commitments – and Volunteer Fatigue
A further 20% of survey respondents cited existing or competing volunteering commitments as a reason they could not take on more. This finding may point to a characteristic of the Kildare voluntary sector that is both a strength and a vulnerability: a relatively small core of highly committed, long-serving volunteers carrying a disproportionate share of the load.
The survey found that almost 67% of all volunteers surveyed had been volunteering for more than six years. While this reflects deep dedication, it also raises the spectre of volunteer fatigue, a gradual erosion of capacity and motivation among those who have given the most. Organisations relying on the same pool of experienced volunteers year after year are exposed to a concentration risk: when key volunteers step back due to health, family circumstances, or simply exhaustion, the impact can be significant and sudden.
The stakeholder feedback reinforced this concern. The older age profile of long-term, locally rooted volunteers, with 25% of VIO volunteers over 65, means that natural attrition will accelerate over the coming decade. Unless new cohorts are recruited and developed, the sector faces a gradual hollowing out of its most experienced volunteers
Health and Personal Circumstances
Among those who do not volunteer at all, health and personal reasons were the most commonly cited barriers. This group represents a significant and often overlooked dimension of the volunteering challenge. Physical disability, chronic illness, mental health difficulties, caring responsibilities, and social isolation can all prevent people from engaging with traditional volunteering models, particularly those that require travel, fixed schedules, or in-person attendance.
Kildare’s population health data is broadly positive, 86% of residents report good or very good health (CSO 2022), but that still leaves a meaningful proportion of the population for whom standard volunteering pathways are inaccessible. Stakeholder feedback highlighted an opportunity to promote volunteering as a pathway for people with additional needs to build work routines and demonstrate employability, but noted that this requires tailored support, flexible formats, and dedicated outreach.
A Changing Volunteer Profile
Finally, the overall profile of volunteering is changing in ways that require organisations to adapt. The post-COVID-19 period has seen a reset in community behaviours, with many people re-evaluating their commitments and priorities. Volunteerism that was once habitual, the weekly sports club, the monthly committee meeting, is less automatically renewed than it once was. At the same time, new forms of volunteering, online, skills-based, micro-volunteering, cause-driven are attracting people who would not have identified as volunteers under traditional models.
Our survey data captures this evolution. Among the 154 volunteer respondents, 66% of KVC registered volunteers surveyed had been active for less than two years, a relatively short tenure that may reflect the newer, more episodic model of engagement. Younger volunteers, in particular, are more likely to be drawn to specific causes, environmental action, social justice, community festivals rather than to long-term traditional volunteering commitments. This is not a problem to be solved so much as a reality to be designed around: Both Kildare Volunteer Centre and volunteer involving organisations will need to adapt to meet volunteers where they are, rather than where tradition expects them to be.
In Summary
What the data describes is a county that is committed to volunteering, where the voluntary sector is genuinely valued and broadly respected, but where the infrastructure is operating at or near capacity against a backdrop of relentless demographic growth.
Over 90% of both volunteers and VIOs rate our services as good or excellent a significant endorsement for our work. In two years alone, KVC recorded 1,409 new volunteer registrations and 28,451 volunteer hours. But with the county’s population set to grow by a further 30,000–50,000 people over the next decade, the baseline needs to grow too.
The statistics and our research tell a story of opportunity as much as pressure. A young, diverse, and growing county with strong civic values and a track record of voluntary action is exactly the kind of place where a well-resourced volunteering infrastructure can thrive.
This data and research provided us with the evidence base for our Strategic Plan and has been the major influence in our direction and priorities over the next five years.