Society is constantly changing which consequently brings new social needs and challenges. Social work in the community needs to respond appropriately to this, and in this paper, volunteering is presented as a potential solution or means to achieve this. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of volunteering in the community and to show the benefits of volunteering for community development with the purpose of researching the potential of volunteering for social work. Volunteering has numerous benefits for various stakeholders and also for the development of the community and society. The building of social capital, strengthening of social cohesion, improvement of quality of life, prevention of unacceptable behavior, active inclusion of citizens in society etc. are highlighted. Volunteering and community development are explained through the theory of social capital which forms the theoretical basis of the work. Points of contact between social work, especially the Social Welfare Act, and volunteering, as well as the important role of civil society in this area, were highlighted. In addition, some examples of good practice were singled out, which were able to achieve social change in the community through a specific volunteer project. These are the Community center Borovje with a developed preventive program for children and young people, the urban gardening program as an example of a renewed and safer community and the Festival of Equal Opportunities as an example of an inclusive approach with an impact on changing awareness of disability and encouraging the active inclusion of people with disabilities in society. All this contributed to the idea that it is necessary to make better use of the potential of volunteering as part of social work, and in accordance with this, recommendations were given for the encouraging of volunteering in social work.