Big Brothers Big Sisters of Melbourne has been experiencing a steady rise in the number of male mentors. The pleasing result is in contrast with the prevailing trend in the youth mentoring sector where male mentor numbers remain much lower than the number of female mentors.

Less than 2 years ago, male mentor numbers were languishing at about 25% of the total number of matches. Now the proportion of male mentors is close to 40%.

The increase in male mentors will mean that the waiting time for boys will also reduce significantly. Currently, boys wait an average of 1.5 years to be matched to a mentor at the Melbourne program.

While a small number of boys will be matched to female mentors, most boys are referred to Big Brothers Big Sisters because they are lacking positive adult males in their support network.

In 2007, market research into low male mentor numbers was undertaken by 'Pollinate' and funded through the Federal Government and National Foods Pura Milk.