MEET TRACEY:
THE WHY BEHIND THE WORK.
Hi, I’m Tracey O’Neill, founder of Tracey O’Neill Consulting, where bold leaders are supported to transform volunteering.
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I believe in shaking up the way we think about volunteer engagement. I’m not here to maintain the status quo, I’m here to challenge and disrupt it, to ask the big questions, and to support leaders and organisations to reimagine what’s possible when we centre community and lead with purpose.
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That drive for bold change is rooted in lived experience. I know the power of volunteering not just professionally, but personally — it shaped who I am. Long before I ever knew this work could be a career, I saw the way volunteering weaves people together, builds trust, and creates belonging. It wasn’t a strategy — it was just what you did when you cared about your community.​
​Volunteer engagement isn’t just my career, volunteering is in my blood. My parents instilled in me a deep sense of community. My dad ran the local Neighbourhood Watch and spent every weekend leading competitions and the committee at his golf club. My mum? She was the heartbeat of our school community — coaching the netball team, cooking for cake stalls, cheering at sports carnivals, running the kids' banking. She showed me what it means to build trust, connection and community simply by showing up, again and again. Decades later, people still stop to tell her how much she meant to them. That’s the power of volunteering done well.
​My own volunteer journey began one Christmas Day in primary school, when my parents took my sister and I to help at a Samaritan’s lunch for people experiencing homelessness. From there, I never stopped. Fun run road marshall, sports coach, tutor, patient support, Captain Starlight sidekick, youth worker, Commonwealth Games support experience worker — you name it, I’ve done it. Not for the hours tracked, but for the moments that matter.
Like many in our field, I didn’t know “leader of volunteer engagement” was a career. My path began in social work and youth counselling, when one day someone handed me volunteer coordination (on top of my client case load!) “because someone has to do it.” No training. No guidance. Just trust and a whole lot of learning. And it changed my life. I discovered the joy, and the incredible impact, of enabling others to contribute to something bigger than themselves — to their community.
Since then, I spent over 20 years working across disability, health, palliative care, veterans’ affairs, and social justice sectors, leading volunteer engagement strategy and operations for some of Australia’s most impactful volunteer-involving organisations. Along the way, I’ve remained a deeply active volunteer myself — from school reading and cooking programs, to supporting our local Aboriginal Gathering Place events, marshalling at parkrun and as a committee member with my local Reconciliation group. I also had a 12-year side hustle as a celebrant (yes, I’ve married people and buried people, both an honour).
Now, I work with courageous leaders who want to do things differently.
Who know that volunteer engagement is more than a nice-to-have.
Who are ready to embed it into strategy, lead with values, and put community at the centre.
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If that sounds like you, I’d love to work together.