Accommodating Your Youth Volunteers

The job market is proving difficult for everybody, and college students are no exception.  That's why the amount of time they volunteered increased from 2009 to 2010, according to USA Today.  Volunteering remains a popular way for young people to keep themselves busy while they are looking for work.  It also looks great to nonprofits on a resume.  With the number of youth volunteers increasing, nonprofits need to come up with ways to accommodate them.

In his book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Recruiting and Managing Volunteers, John L. Lipp offered some ways that nonprofits can accomplish this goal:

• It all starts with flexibility.  If the volunteer is still taking classes, it might be tough for them to commit more than two hours.  This is especially the case near the end of the semester, when work loads typically increase.
• Lipp says that most young people like working together, so pair up students to promote teamwork skills.
• Keep your volunteers engaged by making mundane tasks more fun.  For example, have an envelope stuffing party with pizza and videos.
• Involving youth volunteers not only addresses short-term needs of an organization, but also long-term needs. Try to engage these volunteers as best as possible so they will turn to your organization in the future when they have disposable income.

Make sure to read the full article on this subject over on our website.  This is a very valuable subject in this day and age.