This paper seeks to understand pathways into volunteering in the encore life stage and
contribute to policy interventions. There is a need for more clarity regarding the delineation
of formal volunteering from informal volunteering and from adult kin-caring. A sample
of 4,464 respondents from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia
survey was analysed using a set of logistic regressions, to explore three frames of volunteering
—substitution (of former work time), complementary focus (gradual adjustment
to less paid work or other change in personal circumstance), and obligation (compulsion
to provide care or unpaid labour). Results indicate that formal volunteering was largely
discretionary and a result of substitution, that informal volunteering, particularly caring
for children, was complementary and partly obligatory, and the area of greatest potential
policy intervention, adult kin caring was found to be largely obligatory.