The Corporation for National and Community Service released a study on youth volunteers in November 2005, as part of the Youth Helping America series, indicating 55% of people in the United States between the ages of 12 and 18 engaged in volunteer activities (15.5 million youth). These young people are volunteering at almost twice the rate of the adult population, which was reported to be 29% in the 2005 US Bureau of Labor Statistics Report. While more teens than adults volunteer, teens tend to volunteer less hours than adults, typically giving about 29 hours of service per year.
This latest survey reinforces previous surveys that suggested a growing interest in volunteerism among young people. This study reveals some additional interesting facts.
- Only 5% of students say they became involved with their volunteer activity through a school requirement. This tends to dispel the myth that young people are only volunteering because of service learning projects or graduation requirements.
- High school students are more likely to volunteer than junior high students.
- A youth with a parent that volunteers is nearly three times more likely to volunteer on a regular basis. The power of a mentor (parent or other significant adult) to influence volunteering had been confirmed in a variety of studies.
- 39% of teenagers are regular volunteers; 35% are occasional volunteers; and 27% are episodic volunteers. The overwhelming trend towards short term, episodic volunteering is consistent across a variety of age groups.
Organizations interested in engaging youth volunteers should design opportunities and projects that specifically appeal to today’s youth.
- Young people today are much more globally aware than previous generations. They are interested in significant volunteer work that is directly connected to the mission or the cause.
- Young people like collective action. They enjoy working collaboratively with all ages, but they also like to be treated as equals in the group.
- Young people prefer activities they can get their arms around and be involved in the entire project. They will bring additional resources to the project if they feel fully engaged.
- The web offers young people an “at your fingertips” reference and referral service. Organizations need to be present on the Internet to attract and retain today’s youth.
While it may be true that some organization cannot engage young people due to mandated regulations and/or age requirement, it is also true that many organizations have not seriously considered this available resource of potential volunteers. There is a large, growing youth population in the United States. Service learning and community service graduation requirements have increased awareness about volunteerism. Scholarship and university entrance requirements encourage students to gain volunteer experience. Studies show that young people are competent, reliable, committed volunteers when they find an organization that offers them meaningful work and respectful support.
Marketing and recruiting strategies for youth volunteers
- Frame opportunities & issues as relevant to youth.
- Promote diversity in all forms. Visuals should reflect diversity of dress, age, gender, sexual orientation and ethnic background.
- Offer pertinent experiences & concrete skills. Consider what they need to include on a college or scholarship application or employment application.
- Use language like fast, fun, innovative. Speak about an environment that encourages contributions and involvement.
- Have visuals that attract youth.
- Invite input in the development of the project – advisory groups.
- Provide leadership roles - team & project leaders.
- Have competitions/games.
- Have a Youth Leadership Day.
- Develop a youth speaker corps.
- Feature pictures of young people.
- Work through Volunteer Match or other Internet matching services. Post opportunities on your agency website. But be certain to respond promptly to inquiries.
- Vary your online positions – change the titles and descriptions every few weeks. Keep your site interesting to draw people back.
Management strategies for youth volunteers
- Accommodate different levels of knowledge and sophistication – have instruction, models or mentors when needed.
- Include youth on orientation and training team. Give them a role in both developing and presenting orientation and training. Encourage them to share their examples and perspectives.
- Develop work teams.
- Place young people with adults who respect, facilitate, encourage and model.
- Train youth team leaders.
- Respect their ideas, suggestions and advice. Do more than listen, find ways to implement and support their ideas and approaches.
- Create an environment that encourages young people to be fully engaged in the mission of your organization.
- Work with paid staff and adult volunteers to create an overall supportive and inviting organization.
- If you value the contributions of young people, it will be reflected in the work you assign them, the ways you communicate with them and the expectation you have for them. They will know if you are saying one thing and doing something else and nothing turns off a young person (or any person) like hypocrisy and incongruence.
Recognition strategies for youth volunteers
- A little pizza never hurts!
- Immediate. Young people tend to be impatient. Don’t wait for an annual recognition event. Give recognition frequently and consistently.
- Be personal – recognize their individual achievements and contributions. A one-year pin for service is nice, but everyone who serves for a year receives the pin. It recognized continuity, commitment, longevity, but not individual contribution. Be certain they receive individualized recognition.
- Recognition is a perfect place to interject some fun. Volunteering doesn’t have to always be serious work. Find innovative fun ways to say thank you and lighten up the environment.
- Send letters to parents and schools.
- Provide letters of documentation for students so they can include them with scholarship and college applications.
- Send articles for school papers or to company newsletters where parents work.
- Nominate for community and civic awards.
Online volunteer opportunities can be very appealing to young people. They tend to be comfortable and skilled with technology. Young people who cannot drive and/or have limited time availability because of school, sports or work obligations, can blend online volunteering into thier personal time schedules more easily. Young people frequently search the internet for resouces and are great at creating resource librabries for organizations, or for helping to design marketing language and visuals to attract other young volunteers. They can offer ideas and techniques for making your website more attractive and your volunteer positions more appealing. All of this can be done online. In addition, online volunteering offers a level of anonymity that can allow young people to be evaluated based on thier work and not their age. Age is often an unknown factor among online volunteers.
At a time when many are worried that the United States is experiencing a general decline in civic and political engagement, volunteering appears particularly strong among today’s young people. While volunteering is just one form of community involvement, research has shown that it is often connected to other forms of engagement, and, among youth, volunteering plays a valuable role in shaping how youth learn to interact with their community and develop the skills, values and sense of empowerment necessary to become active citizens. (Corporation for National and Community Service 2005)
References
Corporation for National Service (2005). Building Active Citizens: The Role of Social Institutions in Teen Volunteering. Brief 1 in the Youth Helping America Series. Washington, D.C. Downloaded December 1, 2005 at http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/05_1130_LSA_YHA_study.pdf
U.S. Department of Labor (2005). Volunteering in the United States. Washington D.C. Downloaded December 1, 2005: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.toc.htm