AVM Conference 2014

1. Young People and Volunteering
Sophie Wellings
AVM Conference – 24th October 2014

2. Young People & Volunteering
• What motivates young people to
volunteer?
• Why do we want to involve young
people?

3. Vanishing Volunteers
Katherine Gaskin
Flexible – opportunities that fit with their timetables
Legitimacy – making volunteering ‘cool’
Ease of access - effective promotion of volunteering
‘Xperience - relevant and interesting
Incentives - certificates
Variety - choice
Organisation – informal
Laughs - fun

4. Engaging Gen X & Y in volunteering
Gen X – 1964- 1977
Resourceful, self sufficient
Pragmatic
Flexible, comfortable with autonomy
Gen Y – 1978 – 1994
Valued, coddled
Tolerant to difference, value education and training

5. Engaging Gen X & Y in volunteering
Gen Xers
• may not buy into their parents’ optimism about changing
the world.
• feel capable of helping one person.
• may prefer to focus on local, not global issues, on
tangible results, not idealism.
Gen Yers
• look for variety, stimulation and "push button" action.
• are searching for their causes.
• exhibit a strong interest in volunteering.

6. Attracting Gen Yers
• Promote your cause/mission or issue
• Focus on issues that represent the interests of the
community rather than individuals.
• Promote collaboration, team spirit and diversity.
• Offer multiple options, parallel opportunities instead of
asking people to commit to one thing.
• Offer a variety of exciting and challenging experiences.

7. Millenials/Nexters
• Tech savvy
• Walk, talk, listen, type and text
• Simple priorities – they come first
• Hard working
• Clever/resourceful
• Signed up to volunteering

8. Millenials/Nexters
• Micro, one-off,
short term opportunities
• Group activities/with friends
• Easy access
• Self directed
• New technology, social media

9. Monitoring
• Demographic profile – age, gender, ethnicity,
faith, disability, status, sexuality
• Comparison with local community
• Accuracy of data
• How and where is management information
shared?
• How is data analysed?

10. Breaking down barriers
Who do we need to involve?
How do we involve them?

11. Be Proactive
• Outreach
• Social media/new technology
• Fundraising, campaigning, peer programmes,
co-production, micro activity
• Young people’s steering/advisory group
• Interesting/quirky/efficient
• Profiling
• Certificates

12. • Insurance cover
• Consent
• References
• Recognition
• Profiling
• Health and safety
• Induction/training

13. Step up to Serve
• Campaign to promote ‘social action’
• The goal is to double the number of young people
participating in social action to over 50% by 2020.
• Pledge
• www.stepuptoserve.org.uk

14. Action Plan
3 things you can do to involve young people as
volunteers

15. References:
Vanishing Volunteers – Katherine Gaskin
http://www.ivr.org.uk/component/ivr/vanishing-volunteers
Gen X and Y as Volunteers
www.volunteeringwa.org.au
Presented by Sophie Wellings
Email: wellings179@btinternet.com
Tel: 07910 820596