Volunteering Journeys is a review from the Institute for Community Studies, commissioned by the DCMS. This was released in September 2022 and examines how young people perceive and experience the UK's current volunteering 'offer', and how it could be reshaped to strengthen and sustain their life-long participation. 

In terms of the barriers to young people volunteering, one key concern is the 'triple burden' young people face in balancing volunteering with paid work, social and family commitments, and their own mental health. The report identifies mental health  in particular as an emerging barrier to volunteering and sustained engagement. This report coincided with the Youth Voice Census 2022 (also released in September) which also suggested young people are in a state of mental health emergency.

In addition to the barriers already discussed above, this is important to bear in mind when trying to engage with, recruit, and manage young volunteers (aged 19-25).

Our young Volunteering Ambassadors recently told us why they think young people should volunteer!

Our brilliant Ambassadors recently filmed themselves talking about why they volunteer and why they think other young people should too! We shared these across Voluntary Support North Surrey's social media channels to promote volunteering to the younger generations and encourage them to sign-up to their nearest volunteer centre. You can find links to the videos below:

Join one of our next Recruiting and Managing Young Volunteers (19-25) training workshop! New dates available for June and July!

The Time to Change project runs monthly training workshops on Recruiting and Managing Young Volunteers (19-25 years old). If you or your organisation are interested in attending, then please follow the link to the sign-up form below. But be quick, spaces for each session go quickly!

In these sessions, we cover:

• The benefits to your organisation of recruiting young people as volunteers.
• The potential barriers between young people and volunteering and how to break these down.
• What young people are looking for in a volunteer role.
• Ways to make volunteering roles more appealing and attractive to young people.
• Ways to manage young volunteers effectively to keep them engaged.
• Issues around board diversity and in particular a lack of young trustees (under 30)

Do you have a question to ask our Young Volunteering Ambassadors?

Our team of Young Volunteering Ambassadors, aged 19-25, are crucial in that they help to influence the direction and focus of the Time to Change project.

We meet once a month where organisations signed up to the project have the opportunity to gain direct feedback on role descriptions, social media posts, websites or literature. They will be able to offer their guidance and opinion on whether you are hitting the mark when it comes to 19-25 year olds.

To help organisations tap into their invaluable insight and perspective, the Time to Change project has introduced the Ambassador AMA! If you have any questions for our Ambassadors, simply follow the link below to submit them.

Volunteers' Week starts tomorrow!

'Volunteers' Week 2023 is a time to celebrate and inspire. We aim to highlight that our diversity is our strength, show that there's more than one way to volunteer and encourage people to be the change that we want to see.'

'Volunteers are always active at the heart of every UK community. So taking the time during Volunteers' Week to celebrate and recognise their efforts and all they contribute to our local communities, the voluntary sector and society as a whole have never been more important.'

Make sure to engage in Volunteers' Week starting tomorrow! It's a great opportunity to celebrate your volunteers but it can also prove a good time to reflect on how you want to move forwards with your volunteer workforce and whether now is a good time to start, if you haven't already, bringing the younger generations into the fold. 

For more information on Volunteers' Week, click on the links below!