May I Help You | The Volunteer

WITH FLORENCE MAY

NEXTGEN VOLUNTEER RECRUITING

This topic is heavily on my mind. How to best recruit the next generation of volunteers for several big events and venue development?

Finding Motivation

The future of our events and community vitality are dependent on engaging the energy and imaginations of our youth. While pondering my situation, I looked for definitions that might motivate better results.

NextGen means “The step forward that perpetually propels us into our impending destiny.”

Challenges

We all need the next generation to engage in our community. We would like to find promising young high school students, college co-eds and recent graduates to join our corps of volunteers. But … there are always buts.

• Experienced and responsible adult oversight is needed.

• Parental permission and waivers may be required.

• Developing appropriate projects and assignments.

• Tasks often must be specially created and managed.

• Encouraging multiple participation points beyond the first experience.

• And of course, the challenges of communicating with younger generations.

Consider Upcoming Projects

We are aware of the challenges but we want youth involvements. Our organization has a new garden venue for an Earth Day event and want to ensure our youth feel ownership in the event and new site. Our staff recently did a needs assessment and then asked my events team how we could engage youth with each component. We didn’t want to be dependent on youth but need to ensure there are opportunities for participation every step of the way. Here is what happened:

1. Need to Gather Community Input and Develop a Garden Concept Our commitment to engaging youth started with the Landscaping Department at Ball State University. They helped gather input from the community on the garden and public gathering infrastructure. Then one class of 5 student teams developed potential concepts for public reaction and recommendations. A final concept was submitted to garden committee this summer and it has now gone to the professional engineering team. I should note the concepts were so well done that our board thought they had been created by seasoned professionals.

2. Need a Garden Shed We identified a good-sized brick enclosure on the ground that had previously been the garbage collection site. The doors are falling off and there is no roof. It is an eye sore right at the venue entrance. Could this be an Eagle Scout project? We reached out to three local scout troops in the spring. And fortunately, an Eagle Scout candidate with a knowledgeable troop leader stepped up with a garden shed design and a GoFund me page. Construction starts next weekend on this reuse project!

3. Need a Garden Welcome Sign Design The local high school has an Honors Art Club and they stepped forward with a beautiful design concept to be painted on the brick siding of the garden shed. The shed location is right on the edge of the parking lot. Painting will commence with warm weather in the spring. We also got a bonus option. The High School Craft Shop is interested in creating metal leaves and accent pieces for the mural.

4. Looking for Volunteers We are often looking for student volunteers for project, event and ongoing participation. The National Honor Society, Community Service, 4H and FFA high school clubs have all provided volunteers for a variety of activities. We work with the club teacher sponsors to ensure proper communication and supervision. Over the summer we found a teacher who was truly engaged. He helped expand the number of students participating by reaching out to other teachers to grow the program. We even got a joint grant working with our local community foundation.

Where to Find Youth Volunteers?

Start with someone you know. A teacher. A student. Coaches. Club Mentors. Scout Leaders. Get their ideas and feedback on ideas. And start early. Our most successful partnerships started with 8+ months of lead time. A few ideas:

• High School National Honor Society

• National Junior Honor Society

• Key Clubs (and other service clubs)

• Art Clubs

• Performance Groups

• Sports Boosters

• Scouts (don’t forget Eagle Scouts!)

• Student Council

• Local University Programs

Creating Sparks

Each of our student engagements took a different approach. The projects were all successful because they were well defined and engaged students through their passions. However, at some points we had to adjust expectations and supplement skills and experience. Consider these elements:

• Will the project be Youth-led, Youth-Adult Partnership or Adult-led?

• Are youth included on event committees?

• Have you explained the goals and talk about how the outcomes can impact in the community? Are expectations clear?

• Do you have a plan to make the activity fun? Will there be music, food and an entertaining environment?

• Will your event team encourage and recognize the accomplishments of the youth?

Retention

If possible, link the activity to a passion the person already has developed. Try showing young people how something they love can be turned into a valuable volunteer opportunity.

One of our high school volunteers, an agriculture enthusiast, started with us two years ago during COVID. She worked incredibly hard to help start and ultimately managed our Community Garden. She took a six month break but when she saw all the new projects, told me she felt renewed excitement for the program and excited to see people her age fully engaged.

Even routine tasks like stuffing envelopes or directing traffic can be rewarding when you know it’s helping further something you care deeply about. Young people often don’t understand what opportunities exist and where they can go to find something that piques their interest.

Our job is to help open those doors.

Florence May is the Founder and President of TRS Volunteer Solutions. Her company provides myTRS Software for hundreds of Festivals, Conventions, Non-Profits, corporations and Sports Commissions. Among these support for 26 Final Fours, 5 Super Bowls, 2 Republican National Conventions, 2 Democratic National Conventions, 18 F1 Races, 12 Special Olympic Organizations, Indy 500 Events and so many others. Flory is a national Speaker, Author and Workshop Leader on Volunteer Management Trends. You may contact Flory with volunteer management questions at fmay@my-trs.com or 317.966.6919. And there is a library of volunteer management resources at www.my-trs.com/articles.

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