The Top Three Trends of Teen Volunteering

Through daily communications with varied non-profits and teen volunteers, several trends have recently emerged in the field of teen volunteering.  We’ve highlighted our top three trends of teen volunteering:

1.  SOCIAL: A recent DoSomething.org study revealed that 93% of young people wanted to volunteer, but most would not pursue the idea any further.  It showed that teens who have more engaged social lives are more likely to volunteer. HuffPost10/27/12 

2.  TEENAGE VOLUNTEERS:  The most energetic way to kick up a fundraising or volunteering campaign is to enlist high school teen volunteers to do the job.  Not only will students work towards their senior year’s community service credits, they will give to a cause with invigorating and fresh ideas, team passion and pinpointed focus to an organization’s task at hand.  Many resources are available to find volunteer opportunities which fits an individual teen’s interests.  Most recently, a group of high school students raised over $80K by hosting a mini-Dance Marathon benefiting Penn State’s THON.

3.  IN STYLE:  Faith Bower, NY Fashion Trends Editor of theMAGAZINE states in a recent Examiner.com article, “The trend right now is compassion, and giving, and kindness. The fashion is wellies and workgloves. The in thing is to think of others and help them through a period that is sure to be fraught with tension and expense. Give thanks for what you have…then share it. You’ll be totally fashion forward.”

 

By Cheryl Friedenberg, Co-Founder www.themitzvahbowl.com, info@themitzvahbowl.com