Don’t Underestimate Young Volunteers

Volunteer Now’s Youth Advisory Group recently led an excellent session for volunteer managers showcasing the benefits of and barriers to volunteering.  The young people drew on their own volunteer experiences and it was clear that they had benefited enormously in terms of enjoyment, building friendships and meeting new people and skills development.  They told the stories of their volunteering journeys in many cases from a very young age.  The group which included a number of volunteer involving organisations explored how we can overcome the barriers to involving young volunteers.

Key takeaways for the organisations who joined the sessions were:

• Be as approachable as possible
• Make application processes as simple as possible
• Use a variety of communication methods to reach young people including promotion via schools
• Review roles to see which can be suitable for young people, this can help to manage safeguarding or insurance which can be an issue
• Consider allowing young people to volunteer in pairs
• Be realistic about time commitment – exams etc do put pressure on young people so short term opportunities can be helpful

Finally have confidence to involve young people – they are keen to get involved and have a lot to offer!