Partnering Youth and Not-For-Profit Organisations; Reflections from the International Youth Forum

>Current Status of Youth in Volunteering

The International Year of Volunteers has identified Youth and Volunteer Effort as one of the key themes for the year and therefore the promotion and enhancement of this area of volunteering. Why are we so preoccupied by the idea that young people should be involved in volunteering?

Perhaps we are preoccupied by this concept, partly because of some of the assumptions that are being made about youth involvement in volunteering.

Assumption No 1: Young people don’t volunteer.

There has been a growing concern about the apparent lack of youth involved in volunteering, or an alleged decline in youth participation. Many organisations are suggesting that the majority of their voluntary staff are older rather than younger members of the community. Some are aware of research that shows those who volunteer when they are young are more likely to volunteer throughout their life. With that in mind, many people working with volunteers are monitoring youth involvement and are concerned about the future of volunteering.

Assumption No 2: Youth don’t stay in volunteering.

Another perception seems to be that young people are initiating and participating in volunteering but their commitment doesn’t last. This is often attributed to a loss of interest on the part of the volunteer, or other ‘distractions’ drawing them away from their voluntary commitments.

Assumption No. 3: Youth are only involved in volunteering as a pathway to paid employment.

Paid employment is often suggested as the reason for assumption number 2. One of the benefits of volunteer work, frequently identified and promoted by a range of stakeholders, is the opportunity to gain work skills. In some instances this has translated into an assumption that this is the main motivation of young volunteers. The range of government schemes available to encourage voluntary work as a pathway to employment has possibly supported and encouraged this assumption.

Alternative Perspectives

The latest ABS statistics (only released in June) show that the greatest levels of involvement were 35-44 year olds (40.1% of this age bracket volunteer). However one of the biggest growth areas in volunteering was youth. There was actually an increase in participating 18-24 year olds from 16.6% to 26.8% between 1995 and 2000. Volunteering Queensland’s statistics also show that 28% of people utilising the volunteer referral service are 18-24 year olds. While these percentages do not represent an overwhelming proportion, it is a significant contribution and in many ways challenges the perception that young people are not involved in volunteering.

If we examine the statistics a bit closer however, we find that, on average volunteers between the ages of 35 and 54 contributed around 149 annual hours of volunteer work as opposed to 60 annual hours for 18-24’s. This may give some credence to concerns that volunteers don’t stay in volunteer work.

However we can also view this in a different way. Perhaps we need to consider why youth appear to have lower rates of participation? We can consider both the interest in involving youth in volunteering and the capacity for this to happen, given current approaches to youth involvement.

In determining how important and how interested we are in youth involvement, we may also need to consider what the driving factors in volunteering may be for some of the key stakeholders.

Does volunteering have anything to offer youth?

Yes. The increasing involvement of youth engaged in volunteer work suggests that it does have something to offer.

What they are wanting from their volunteering experience may not always be understood.

Are the benefits for society in youth volunteering?

Yes. Communities are strengthened by the participation of all, including youth. If volunteering is a form of community participation, it can generate links between people and communities and the benefits could be tremendous.

The exact links between volunteering and stronger communities are not always evident.

Are there benefits for organisations in involving young volunteers?

Yes. According to the research, involving young volunteers is one way we can ensure there is a future in volunteering and therefore the possibility of sustaining our organisations.

Does a focus on the future of volunteering necessarily motivate organisations to encourage and support young volunteers, when there are competitive demands for time, energy and resources?

Current Approaches to Involving Youth

Partially based on the afore-mentioned assumptions, there are currently three key approaches to involving youth in volunteering:

Absence; Working on assumption number 2: that young volunteers don’t stay, a number of organisations have opted out and not involved youth at all. There are situations where roles (and the associated responsibilities) for volunteers may be designed so that young people are actively deterred from being involved. Often this is done by creating and highlighting requirements that will be unattractive to young people, such as rigid time-lines and limited opportunities for growth and creativity. These are then reinforced through job descriptions, guidelines and volunteer selection and matching processes.
Addition; A number of organisations take a somewhat reactive approach. They have roles for volunteers that are open to all members of our diverse communities. If young people take an interest in those roles they are welcome to be involved. However this approach often occurs in conjunction with a lack of awareness about barriers inherent in the roles available. These barriers may be cost, time or the types of involvement required. While not actively establishing roles that are prohibitive to young people, but neglecting to address such needs, the result can be an absence of young and/or only short-term involvement.
Segregation: An increasing number of organisations are creating youth groups or youth arms in an attempt to address barriers and recognise the skills and contributions that young people are able to offer. Often this comes with a hand-over of responsibility and authority to youth (relating to particular areas). This has been quite successful, as we have seen with youth roundtables, youth parliament and youth committees across Australia. However even this form of participation provides some challenges, many of which are reflected in the international discussion of youth and voluntary effort.

The International Discussion

In January 2001, the international youth forum on volunteering was held in Amsterdam. There were 130 participants from 30 different countries. All continents were represented and ages ranged from 14 to 28 years old. So where are these young volunteers and in what ways are they involved in volunteering?

At the international youth forum, participating representatives could be described as being involved in two significant areas of volunteering:

Youth Development. A number of people were involved in youth specific forms of volunteering, ie where the purpose of the group is to address youth issues or to represent the interests of youth. Out of this comes a whole range of groups with the ethos of for youth by youth. The approach employed by organisations engaged in youth development can be summarised by an International Youth Foundation (IYF) statement that "global productivity and security will hinge on developing their [youth] full potential and engaging them not only as beneficiaries, but as participants and problem-solvers". In this way youth have a very specific role as experts; providing input on youth specific issues. These volunteers included those involved in youth committees generally created as local initiatives by various levels of government in Canada, the United States, Australia and to a lesser extent the UK. These forms of volunteering also occur within youth arms or extensions of bigger organisations. For instance there was a large contingent from the Dutch Red Cross that represented their youth program.

Social Change. A significant proportion of representatives could be described as young activists, that is people involved in interest groups and/or social action. They were working towards addressing social issues. From environment, to women’s issues, diversity to health issues; these volunteers participated as members of a group or organisation who were working towards a common goal. Young volunteers were attracted by the opportunities to make a difference to their local or global world. Many of these representatives had not identified themselves as ‘volunteers’ until nominated to attend the conference. In fact, discussions with these groups did not centre on volunteering, but on their work or the issues they were addressing. In this way volunteering was purely the medium through which they could create social change.

Youth Concerns

Youth representatives at the international forum identified and agreed on some common challenges they were facing in their volunteering. They can be summarised by the following:

Lack of Value for Youth and their Contributions

Representatives identified that societal attitudes seem to lack a basic respect for young people. The youth felt that within their voluntary work there was limited identification or recognition of the contributions they were able to make. Sometimes even their interest and willingness to make contributions was ignored. In situations where their contributions were identified, they suggested they were not always effectively utilised. For them, this was demonstrated in a number of ways through the organisation’s approach to their involvement:

assigning them menial work; that is work that doesn’t have a real impact on society or the organisation;
minimal allocation of resources, whether they be financial or in support offered to young volunteers; and
an unwillingness to make time for them and provide appropriate forms of support

This perceived lack of value for their contributions was discouraging, frustrating and generally created resentment about their participation. This was despite the fact that many reported to feel positive about volunteer work generally. Some had been involved in a number of voluntary roles until finding something they felt was appropriate. Others had gone for long periods without volunteering after an initial experience they felt was not positive. Often it was through their friends, or by specifically being asked that they became involved in volunteering again.

Being Heard

Youth felt that the behaviour of other organisational members suggested that they were not being listened to. This was identified as a reason they didn’t feel valued but was also a central challenge in their involvement; independent of the afore-mentioned issues. The youth often found that, even when asked for feedback or input a series of scenarios generally took place:

when making their suggestions were interrupted more frequently than others,
responses to their suggestions were dismissive, mistrustful or patronising in tone and language.
suggestions were more frequently dismissed as inappropriate, not achievable, or simply not followed through to action.
insufficient time was allocated for their participation and suggestions.

Youth felt discouraged and frustrated by these situations, as they did when they perceived a lack of respect toward them. When they felt they were not heard, they often assumed that their roles were tokenistic and questioned the effectiveness of their contributions.

When the young volunteers felt unheard and devalued, they grew increasingly anxious about the potential for their work to be controlled and dominated and resentful of situations where they felt they were not able to be independently productive.

If these two key issues seem similar it may be because they are intertwined. Are youth not valued because they are not being heard? Or are they not being heard because they are not being valued?

Observations from the International Youth Forum

Throughout the discussions at the forum, a particular paradigm of ‘Us and Them’ emerged. Actually, forum representatives referred to ‘us’ and ‘adults’. When explored further, this perspective doesn’t necessarily arise from separation of identities between ‘young and old’, but perhaps from an attempt to recognise and understand the differing priorities and approaches of young volunteers and the organisations that they work with.

The youth of the forum were placing highest value on creation and innovation, self-development, vision and change, and fun. The professionalisation of volunteer programs during the 1990’s has generally placed a greater emphasis on outcomes, process, efficiency, effectiveness and the best use of time and energy. In this way we have a clash of priorities that creates dilemmas when organisations and youth come together, resulting in the kind of behaviours and resentments described previously.

The youth representatives at the forum were visionary with long-term view of change. They were energetic and willing to spend significant amounts of time to contribute to their visions.
Representatives also had high hopes and expectations, both in their visions and in terms of results and progress.
There also appeared to be a desire for creation and innovation; to generate new initiatives and establish fresh approaches. In fact in a number of instances, youth actively sought not to utilise existing processes or systems. The notion that they were working from a ‘clean slate’ appeared very attractive to them. Partly there seemed to be a concern about adopting potentially inappropriate methods, but partly there was a sense that they wanted to have what was perceived as the full experience.
A desire for self-development and learning also appeared to be a driving factor along with a need for ownership and recognition.
Throughout the forum fun and relationships were key components of their experiences. Generally this was not a motivation any of the youth described for initiating voluntary participation, however there was considerable discussion about ‘boring’ forms of volunteering, which were often descriptions of solitary roles.

How does this compare and fit with the priorities of organisations?

Not-for profit environments in their professionalisation have tended to focus more on selection procedures for voluntary positions and the skills required for voluntary roles, than they perhaps did in the past. Also a growing trend toward continuous improvement practices within volunteer programs has lead to a greater focus on implementation of policy, procedure, record-keeping and planning processes. These factors sometimes conflict with the values and priorities young people expressed at the forum.

While young volunteers may seek to be creators, organisations generally have established guidelines, processes and systems that need to be adhered to. While young volunteers may seek to create projects and tasks independently, organisations may prefer work to build on previous undertakings or integrate into existing frameworks.
While youth may be interested in long-term vision, there appears to be two tendencies within organisations which can create challenges. Either strategic visioning is not identified as a key component of their effectiveness, or where it is an identified priority, vision and goals are clearly established. Both tendencies have the potential to limit the ability of young volunteers to feel limited connection between their personal visions for change and the vision of the organisation.
While young volunteers may be interested in self-development, organisations may be concerned about the amount of time required to effectively support and facilitate young volunteers.
While young volunteers may have high expectations with regard to results, administrative and management systems within organisations may be slow and potentially not allow for demonstration of immediate results.
While young volunteers may focus on fun and social ways of completing work, organisations may be focused on deadlines and outcomes and neglect fun and enjoyment.

Reflections for the Australian Environment

There are a number of factors we need to keep in mind when examining these findings.

By the nature of the conference, there was a particular demographic and motivations of young volunteers represented in this forum. Those volunteers who were most interested in creating change, and in assuming high levels of responsibility were attracted to the forum. However those members who felt a lesser sense of responsibility, or were involved in volunteering for other reasons (such as gaining skills or socialising) are unlikely to have been attracted to a forum of this nature.
There are a few issues regarding youth in volunteering that are often raised in Australian discussions that weren’t reflected in the international discussion.

Skill acquisition is a commonly identified motivation for youth volunteering within the Australian context. This was very rarely raised by the representatives at the forum.
Some seemingly popular forms of youth volunteering such as those within arts environments or church-based organisations were not represented at the youth forum.

That these issues were not addressed at an international level, may in part be due to the representatives attending the conference (as mentioned in 1.), but may also be that these issues are Australian specific issues.

Assessment of Youth in Volunteering

Recognising the particular motivations and backgrounds of youth forum participants, a number of themes can still be acknowledged.

Young volunteers have a more diverse range of motivations, interests and approaches than perhaps are currently recognised within volunteer programs. There are young volunteers who are committed to volunteer involvement. There are also young volunteers who have an interest in long-term visioning, social change, community building and innovation, as well as self-development and fun.

Organisations and young volunteers appear to place emphasis on different values and therefore make different decisions about priorities and approaches to work. Means of addressing such differences are required to enhance and develop the involvement of youth in volunteering.

The international youth forum represented a range of experiences in volunteering, yet did not identify or consider some Australian issues in volunteering. Further examination may be useful to establish what elements or forms of volunteering are Australian specific and what are the factors that may be influencing our perception and understanding of volunteering. It is possible that historical and political factors are shaping volunteering and limiting our recognition of the diversity of volunteering opportunities and experiences.

Further Approaches in Involving Youth

The insights of the youth forum perhaps suggest we need to identify some further approaches in working with young volunteers. Ultimately the level of involvement of young volunteers relies on the identification and/or development of participation opportunities appropriate to all stakeholders. How might we involve youth in volunteering, here and now, to the benefit of young people, organisations and society in general? Following are some approaches to refine and build upon the current involvement of youth in volunteering.

Education of Stakeholders:

Many of the challenges regarding youth involvement in volunteering and the current approaches of absence and addition appear to arise from misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the needs of the key stakeholders: youth and organisations. It will be difficult to enhance and expand the involvement of youth without a clear understanding of the priorities described previously. This relies on education of youth about the priorities of organisations (and the reasons for these priorities), but also education of organisations about the priorities of youth and the needs these priorities are based upon. This can happen generally and on an individual basis, by approaching youth involvement as a learning opportunity.

Part of this education may also be to review priorities to determine which are based on genuine needs, and those that may be habits left unchallenged.

The other form of education to consider is the development of young volunteer’s skills for the work they wish to do. During activities at the youth forum, representatives appeared to be less interested in acquiring skills ‘in preparation for’ their initiatives, preferring to initiate activities as soon as possible. However this sometimes meant that activities stalled when skills where insufficient to deal with obstacles and challenges arising during the activities. Once the challenges were experienced, they were able to identify or acknowledge skills that would assist them in these activities.

It may be that a developmental approach that builds in time for skill acquisition throughout projects or tasks would be more effective than training prior to involvement. This relies on effective support and facilitation to be able to assist youth in identifying the skills required, and identification of the benefits of utilising such skills.

For this to be healthy rather than patronising, it requires communication that is informed about the capabilities of young people generally and understanding of the skills and abilities that individuals already have.

Healthy & Effective Empowerment and Facilitation;

Throughout the international forum there was a growing frustration from youth at a lack of resources and lack of support. Some representatives were not necessarily able to identify these issues themselves, but recognised they weren’t achieving what they had hoped, despite their energy and enthusiasm.

As mentioned previously, youth specific voluntary groups have been a popular form of youth volunteering. The success may be due to a focus on the capacity of individuals and higher levels of self-direction and ownership within these groups. Some of these groups appear to take a developmental approach to volunteers, focusing on the ability of young people to grow and adapt into a role, rather than necessarily coming to the role with well-established skills. One of the other benefits of these forms of volunteering has also been the opportunities for youth to take responsibility, make decisions and lead, thus creating ownership and higher levels of involvement and connection with the groups and the issues they address.

However in the transition from ‘excluded’ to ‘empowered’, whether within established organisations, or in youth specific forms of volunteering, there appears to have been some challenges. In some cases responsibility has been handed over without due consideration or assessment of the abilities of youth involved.

Considering this, our questions then becomes, how do we ensure voluntary action undertaken by young people is effective and in line with the needs of organisations and young people themselves? If we recognise that empowerment relies on self-direction and autonomy, but also support and guidance, we can perhaps recognise that approaches to empowerment are sometimes unbalanced; either with more responsibility than support, or with more guidance (often seen as dominance) than autonomy.

By providing both opportunities to act and a safety net of support, education and guidance we can ensure that organisational outcomes and the interests of our young volunteers are met.

This could be approached through a variety of methods. Through;

stronger support and guidance from identified support members (ie coordinator)
well-matched needs-based mentoring relationships,
involvement of teams with a greater diversity of skills and experiences
greater collaboration and partnerships between members of an organisation or group

Whatever method is utilised, it relies on effective facilitation and facilitators. Described here, effective facilitation is that which: provides opportunities for youth to take the lead in generating ideas and implementing action; monitors action and progress; and provides support and guidance (in consultation and negotiation with young people) where obstacles or gaps are identified.

Integration:

Throughout the international youth forum, representatives were vocal about negative attitudes towards young people and their concerns about tokenistic involvement, particularly members of youth specific groups. It appears a challenge for the involvement of youth in volunteering is that organisational approaches sometimes segregate or isolate youth from the greater community. Establishing independent spaces for young volunteers has the potential to define young people as ‘other’ and reinforce a paradigm of ‘Us and Them’. It can also limit the development of young people by creating narrow scope for their involvement. As youth at the forum remarked: ‘it suggests the only thing [they] have to offer is insight into being young’.

Perhaps integration and collaboration can provide another level of participation that would foster and enhance the involvement of young volunteers even further. Encouraging the involvement of youth in all facets of organisations and groups, rather than isolated parts, may foster and allow for a greater sharing of skills and experiences. Integration may ensure a greater understanding of organisational priorities and therefore a greater unity in working towards organisational goals and objectives. Integration may also foster greater understanding and tolerance of the diversity of needs of volunteers regardless of age and may allow for a greater range of motivations to be met. Greater collaboration within an organisation may create more anchors to voluntary commitment and therefore retention rates may increase. Greater understanding and tolerance may create more inclusive environments where all volunteers feel valued. Integration may even foster greater collaboration across the whole of communities, rather than just isolated segments.

When considering the implementation of this approach, it again raises issues about young people’s willingness to be involved in voluntary work. The effectiveness of such integration and collaboration requires more youth-friendly organisations. Firstly it may be useful for organisations to carefully examine what their organisational priorities are and clearly determine the fundamental needs of the organisation, but also the capacity for change.

Some further suggestions for more youth-friendly organisational approaches may include:

A holistic approach to the selection, matching and involvement of young volunteers, with a focus on the identification of an individual’s capacity and range of contributions each could make.
Negotiation of meaningful work for young volunteers that is appropriate to their current skill level, but also developmental opportunities that include opportunities for creation and innovation appropriate to their capacity.
Creating scope for and encouraging genuine input into vision and direction of the organisation and opportunities for decision-making and autonomy
Active recruitment of young people and inclusion throughout the organisation
Effective facilitation, monitoring and support of the work and development of young volunteers, including appropriate needs-based feedback.

Through education, facilitation, integration and communication, there is an opportunity to further develop and encourage the involvement of young people in volunteering. A greater focus on these factors may shift the paradigm from ‘Us and Them’ to ‘Empowering Partnerships’ between young volunteers and organisations.

Implications for the Third Sector

Young volunteers have detected some continuing challenges within the third sector. Many of the issues identified and concerns raised by forum representatives are common to workers of all ages within not-for-profit environments. Not-for-profits have a history of limited resources, support mechanisms, guidance and facilitation. Voluntary and paid workers alike, report that they don’t feel their contributions are recognised and valued. They also feel their suggestions are often ignored, misrepresented or not implemented. While recognising that these issues are likely to be compounded and magnified by attitudes towards young people, these approaches may be useful to consider for workers of all ages and throughout a range of not-for-profit contexts.

Volunteering Queensland

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