When extraordinary change agent and high school student Crystal Yan reached out to us and wanted to write a guest post with tips for nonprofits about how to better engage youth volunteers – we were thrilled! Crystal is co-founder of The Social Startup Summit and a speaker and consultant on youth marketing and social media engagement. (She's also a designer and hosts a blog that makes economic education accessible for kids in grades K-12.)
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As a 17-year-old among seasoned professionals at many of the technology and entrepreneurship events I attend in the Silicon Valley, I often find myself smiling to myself in the middle of a conversation as professionals, many parents, wonder aloud: "Are youth optimistic about global issues like climate change?" "How do we reach out to youth?"Non-profits, in particular, can use some work in engaging young volunteers. I've put together the following recruitment plan to help non-profits reach young volunteers in various venues. Take a look below, and feel free to browse the presentation from my most recent speaking engagement for more ideas.
High School Student Volunteer Recruitment Plan
Career Centers
- Put up pamphlets/brochures. Include a website. If applicable, clarify if you can sign off on volunteer hours and/or be a reference or offer a letter of recommendation.
- Ask the center coordinator if you can write up a short spiel for the morning announcements. Make sure the spiel includes your website. Also, ask the center coordinator to nominate some outstanding student leaders. Reach out to them. Write up a Twitter-sized (about 140 characters) spiel about your volunteer opportunity, include your website's volunteer page URL, and ask them to post it in their Facebook/AIM statuses. Trust me, this is how we promote events to our peers.
- If looking to host a presentation, host it at the high school during lunch in the career center. Contact the career center coordinator or if it's a high school, the PTA/PTSA (another area of interest to tap into). At the presentation, focus on having a brief, energetic presentation, and lots of time for Q&A.
High School and College Service Club Chapters
- Email electronic copies of pamphlets/brochures and direct them to your website
- Reach out to service club chapters in your local area. If you want to get high school student volunteers in the Bay Area, this page is a great resource, just look up which cities each area includes to find your local high school service club: http://interact5170.com/nucleus/about.php?itemid=188 (Full disclosure: I am part of Interact 5170 District Council). If you're located outside the Bay Area, work on finding your local Interact/Key Club/Leos Club district and their webpage for emails and other contact information.
City Teen Centers
- Put up pamphlets/brochures in your city's teen centers. Again, make sure to include a website. If applicable, clarify if you can sign off on volunteer hours and/or be a reference or offer a letter of recommendation.
- Go to your city's website, usually .gov or .org (for example, the city of Fremont is http://www.fremont.gov) and look for your city's youth advisory council. Contact them!
I hope you've found this helpful. Feel free to browse the presentation from my most recent speaking engagement for more ideas on engaging young volunteers.
Good luck; I welcome your questions, comments and opportunities to speak about engaging youth via social media.Yours in service,
Crystal Yan
Speaker and consultant on youth marketing and social media engagement.
http://crystaly.wordpress.com/
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To learn more about Crystal Yan, check out The Social Startup Summit, Torque Media Group and Economics for All.
Follow Crystal on Twitter: @crystalcy
Contact Crystal at: bit.ly/contactcy
Follow Crystal's blog: crystaly.wordpress.com
Crystal Yan (严晨)
Trilingual Chinese-American 17-years-young Social Entrepreneur, Blogger, Graphic Designer. High School Class of 2010
