Milly Bannister’s Cause Club Is Reimagining Volunteering As A Way To Make Friends

Milly Bannister had a notebook full of ideas before Cause Club ever existed. Somewhere among the pages was a simple question: what if volunteering wasn't just about doing good? What if it was also a way to meet people?

"I was really interested in what happens if IRL connection, which is such a clear need right now, isn't tied to performance or identity or being 'a runner' or 'a reader'," Bannister tells Urban List.

"What if the structure was simply: show up, do something useful alongside other compassionate people, and leave having contributed to something bigger than yourself?"

It's a deceptively simple concept, but one that has struck a nerve.

In recent years, Sydney has witnessed the rise of run clubs, walking groups, book clubs and countless other social communities built around shared interests. Yet for Bannister—the founder of youth mental health charity ALLKND—there was still a gap. Young people weren't necessarily looking for another hobby, they were looking for somewhere to belong.

Cause Club emerged from that idea. Both a volunteering initiative and social gathering, the concept brings people together to work on small, hands-on projects that support local causes. At previous events, attendees have transformed old jeans and T-shirts into toys for rescue animals, packed care items and worked collectively on community-focused projects.

After spending more than five years running ALLKND, she says the organisation increasingly describes itself as both a mental health and social health charity.

"I've seen and felt how much pain there is in disconnection," she says.

"Young people are officially the loneliest demographic in Australia."

The issue, she argues, isn't a lack of willingness to connect. Instead, many of the traditional spaces that once facilitated friendship and community have slowly disappeared, leaving people feeling isolated while being more digitally connected than ever.

"We keep signalling to young people that loneliness is a personal failure," Bannister says.

"'Just reach out' or 'get off your phone and go do something', while removing the places and patterns that actually make that connection possible."

Cause Club is designed to lower the barrier to entry. There's no expectation to arrive with friends, no expertise required and no pressure to perform—you just have to show up.

At an early trial event, more than 60 people gathered around tables to create toys for rescue animals using recycled clothing. By the end of the afternoon, strangers were exchanging phone numbers and making plans to see one another again.

"It was scrappy and imperfect and so beautifully human," Bannister recalls.

"People came alone, started chatting, stayed for hours, and by the end there were strangers fully hugging goodbye."

The response has reinforced something Bannister has long suspected through her work with young Australians. Despite stereotypes suggesting younger generations are disengaged or apathetic, she believes the opposite is true.

"I think a lot of people care deeply, but modern life has made it so much harder to gather, help and connect in simple ways," she explains.

"I think one of the biggest conversations we keep having is around the relief people feel when their struggles are contextualised properly. Young people today are navigating a polycrisis, yet so often, we internalise that struggle as a personal failure."

For Bannister, the appeal of Cause Club isn't necessarily that it solves loneliness. It's that it creates the conditions for connection to happen naturally. When people are focused on a shared task, conversations become easier, and the pressure disappears.

"You don't need to force connection," she says.

"You just need to create the conditions for it."

Looking ahead, those conditions are set to expand well beyond Sydney. From July 2026, Cause Club will launch monthly events across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth, with local volunteer hosts leading gatherings tied to a shared national cause.

"The dream is for Cause Club to become a very easy answer to the question, 'Where can I go to meet good people and do something good?'"

In a city increasingly filled with networking events, wellness trends and social clubs promising connection, perhaps that's what makes Cause Club feel different. Sometimes, Bannister suggests, all community really needs is a table, a purpose, and a room full of people who didn't realise how much they needed each other.

Image credit: Cause Club | Supplied