The research
The 1997 National Survey of Volunteering has stirred up controversy
with its finding of a ‘sharp reduction in levels of participation
by young people aged 18-24’ and of more negative views of volunteering
among the younger generation than older age groups. These findings
have been challenged by some in the youth volunteering field, who
maintain that young people are participating at a high level.
This research, funded by the Institute of Volunteering Research,
set out to explore through focus groups of young people their understanding
of voluntary work and their view of its relevance to them. Attention
was focussed on the conditions and incentives which would attract
them to voluntary work, and the best ways of publicising and marketing
volunteering opportunities to young people. Topics covered included
the image of volunteers; motivations and perceived benefits for
young people; their views of the opportunities for them to volunteer,
and the availability of information and access routes; and their
perceptions of the barriers, deterrents and disadvantages.
The findings are presented as a ‘wish-list’ for volunteering.
‘Flexivol’ summarises the essential requirements of 16-24
year olds, and serves as an acronym for the most important elements:
Flexibility
Legitimacy
Ease of access
Xperience
Incentives
Variety
Organisation
Laughs
The context
The context for young people’s voluntary activity is rapidly
changing, with the introduction of New Deal ‘Welfare to Work’
schemes in pilot areas and the imminent launch of Millennium Volunteers.
Concern has been expressed by youth organisations about ‘enforced
volunteering’ undermining the essence of free choice in voluntary
work. The emphasis on the disaffection of young people and the potential
role of voluntary work in promoting training for employment and
citizenship has placed youth volunteering high on the policy agenda.
Recent government initiatives have created unprecedented opportunities
to expand youth volunteering.
Research evidence has grown rapidly in the last few years, indicating
that many young people, while disliking the term ‘volunteering’,
believe in the value of voluntary work both for society and for
themselves. Instrumental motivations to volunteer – to gain
work experience, qualifications and skills – are increasingly
prominent among the young. However, young people are keenly aware
of barriers and obstacles to their involvement. Solutions have been
proposed and this report endorses them, with fresh emphasis on key
areas. Above all it argues for the principle of flexibility to accommodate
the pressures which young people experience and the preferences
which they express.
Flexivol
The message from young people is that volunteering needs a make-over.
It needs to improve its image, broaden its access points and provide
what today’s and tomorrow’s young people need. Volunteering
suffers from out-dated associations with worthy philanthropy and
conjures images that do not appeal to the young. However, it is
recognised as potentially offering opportunities to young people
which are scarcely available anywhere else. This study suggests,
as do previous ones, that there is a vast pool of young people who
could benefit from voluntary work. Many are on the edge of involvement,
and many could do more than they already do, but certain conditions
need to be met in order to achieve this. Changes are needed to raise
levels of knowledge and awareness, to increase access routes and
information and, once involved, to improve the quality and value
of the volunteering experience.
The Flexivol wish-list
‘Flexivol’ summarises the essential requirements of 16-24
year olds.
Flexibility is given top priority by young people, particularly
in respect of flexible work and working times for volunteering.
The young have many pressures and demands on them and find it hard
to make the time and commitment. They have a sizeable number of
other outlets for their free time and volunteering has to compete
with this. Much of their lives are controlled by others and it is
important to them to have an element of choice and spontaneity in
volunteering.
Legitimacy is a widespread need. Better education from an early
age about the full range of voluntary work and its significance,
and more positive images, would make volunteering seem ‘normal’
and ‘cool’ to young people. Their view of volunteers is
basically favourable but negative stereotypes persist. Peer pressure,
particularly on boys, prevents many young people from getting involved
for fear of being labelled as suckers or wimps.
Ease of access is a requirement that has been highlighted in several
studies and access is still a barrier. Most of the young people
in this research did not have much idea of how to find out about
volunteering opportunities. A major reason for not volunteering
was simply that they didn’t know how to go about it. More information,
more encouragement and easy access points would help break down
these entry barriers.
Experience is high on young people’s wish-list for volunteering.
They want relevant and interesting experiences which will stand
them in good stead in their personal and career development. Volunteering
needs to offer opportunities to learn new skills, to take on challenges,
to explore different careers, and to get work experience. These
instrumental motivations are not new, but are increasing rapidly
among young people.
Incentives are important because of the competition for young people’s
time and attention. Inducements may be needed to help tip them into
involvement, and once there certain rewards would sustain them.
Most prominent is the incentive of tangible outcomes in the form
of a reference or a qualification, to validate their experience
and demonstrate their achievement to employers and others. In the
absence of the main incentive for working – pay – young
people at least need not to be out of pocket and full payment of
their expenses would be an incentive.
Variety is an obvious and widely recognised requirement. Variety
in types of work, issues and structures would accommodate the huge
range of individual interests, goals, constraints and preferences
among the younger generation. Variation should be offered in the
amount of commitment, the level of responsibility and the type of
activity in order to attract the widest possible range of young
people.
Organisation of the volunteering needs to be efficient but informal,
providing a relaxed environment in which young people feel welcome
and valued. They would like some appreciation and the right kind
of advice and support. They do not want to be over-organised and
heavily supervised but to have people there who can support them
when they need it, and help them progress when they are ready.
Laughs should not get left out of the picture because of young
people’s serious ambitions for self-development. Volunteering
should be enjoyable, satisfying and fun. Since some of the competition
for young people’s time is from the attraction of a good time
socially, it is a distinct bonus if volunteering also offers some
laughs. While young people may not volunteer primarily for the social
side, they are more likely to continue if they are enjoying themselves.
A strong consensus
Using young people’s own words, the report shows that these
are not unreasonable demands by a selfish generation, but practical
preferences in the context of young people’s lives. Their reasons
are well thought out and represent sometimes difficult choices as
they negotiate their way through the pressures and freedoms of adolescence
and early adulthood. Despite their varied backgrounds – and
some variation in their views – the central messages are strong,
with a substantial consensus on the eight Flexivol areas.
‘Marketing’ volunteering
To increase legitimacy and knowledge of volunteering opportunities,
young people advocate much more widespread promotion and advertising,
so that their generation encounters images of volunteering in many
different settings. They recommend an educational and awareness-raising
approach in schools, reinforced with personal talks and visits from
representatives of organisations and young volunteers. This would
familiarise young people from an early age with the varied world
of volunteering and the opportunities available to them. It would
also help expand understanding of the term ‘volunteer’
so that it becomes more acceptable to young people.
Although the personal touch in communication about volunteering
is most strongly recommended, young people also see scope for using
other media. Short television advertisements and ‘fillers’,
and local radio features are most popular. The printed word, in
youth magazines and comics, posters and leaflets is not as likely
to attract young people’s attention. Telephone helplines and
the Internet get minority votes.
The message should concentrate on people’s achievements and
potential gains, as well as the fun side, to counter volunteering’s
traditional image of worthiness. If a sustained programme of awareness-raising
were to be carried out, this would help legitimise volunteering
for young people and remove or reduce the apparent stigma associated
with it. In the words of an eighteen-year old volunteer, ‘If
a lot of people do it, then it looks normal, it’s cool, because
everyone’s doing it’.
Strategies for change
The report posed the question: are young people losing interest
in volunteering? The answer is a qualified ‘no’. Young
people have not given up on volunteering, but there is a raft of
factors which affects their likelihood of becoming volunteers.
The overwhelming desire for flexibility in volunteering which was
expressed by all types of young people suggests that organisations
and government need to rethink volunteering in the light of the
realities of young people’s lives. Instead of presenting volunteering
as a given into which young people should fit, we need to take the
preferences and imperatives of young people’s lives as the
basis, and reshape volunteering to accommodate them.
Young people’s recipe for improving the youth volunteering
situation involves both short term and longer term strategies and
action at a number of levels. Local and national voluntary organisations,
statutory agencies and private companies, schools and colleges,
need to examine their publicity, information, organisation and incentives,
and adopt policies that encourage and support young people as volunteers.
The government can play a guiding role by setting the policy framework
and overseeing broader strategies to develop infrastructure for
youth volunteering and in developing educational policies. It can
also continue to allocate funds to youth volunteering development
and shape national initiatives such as Millennium Volunteers in
response to young people’s preferences and priorities.
Most challenging for all volunteering providers will be to address
the need for flexibility and to put in place options that accommodate
it. Flexible volunteering may require more effort and resources
to organise but if large numbers of people become involved, then
the advantages are obvious. Moreover, it is likely that a low-pressure,
‘toe in the water’ introduction to volunteering will translate
into more committed involvement over time for many young people.
Methodology
Eight focus groups were held in March and April 1998 in London,
the East Midlands and the West Midlands. The groups contained between
six and ten people and captured variation by age, socio-economic
status and experience of volunteering. All the groups were mixed
by gender, and a number contained young people of African-Caribbean,
Asian and other ethnicities.
A topic guide of questions was used in conjunction with five sets
of ‘cue cards’. Each index-sized card showed a statement
or description, and the groups were asked to sort each set into
three piles, denoting level of importance. The cards proved popular
and achieved their goal of varying the pace of discussions and encouraging
the young people’s interest and participation. Thanks are expressed
to all those who took part, and to people and organisations which
helped set up groups.
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