6 Great Projects for Youth Volunteers

1. At Home Meal-Packing. This is a great project that students can do on their own, or families can do together in their own kitchen. Create a list of 5-10 food items that your organization accepts, and have volunteers package them up and deliver to you. Be sure to take a photo at the drop-off! Here’s a sample flyer detailing how the project works and what volunteers should do.

2. Host a Food Drive. Challenge students to host a food drive. You’ll simply provide them with a list of accepted items, and it helps to give them a toolkit to set them up for success. You can make it fun by setting a goal, or even creating a competition between rival schools!

3. Website + Social Media. Let’s embrace it: the younger generation is much more adept with technology. You will want to ensure you properly screen and vet any volunteer before allowing them editing or posting power over your channels, but, it can be a great way to alleviate staff time spent updating + managing your online presence, as well as a way to improve your platforms. Students can be a strong resource for content creation.

4. Outreach campaigns. Prep students with a script or email template, and a contact list, and let them run with it! This can be thank yous to recent volunteers, calls to see if a volunteer can return, thank yous for donations – or really any outreach. Think not just of what communications your staff already sends that a volunteer could help with… but of those you wish you could get to, if only you had the time!

5. Leadership programs. Create a teen board, and allow them to give input on organizational activities through meetings held a few times a year. This can act as a great focus group, for you to pull new ideas from. Having students in a leadership position is an extra draw for them, and creates a strong relationship between you and them. You can challenge them to fundraise, to recruit volunteers, to serve a certain amount of hours, or take a level of ownership over certain tasks or managing volunteers – whatever makes sense for your organization.

6. Family Day. Invite your board, donors or other key supporters to join you for a special project. Parents love to introduce their kids to their own passions. This can be a regularly scheduled project, or you can make it extra special with music and snacks – but either way, don’t forget to tell the students who attend, how they can get further involved.

Roles to avoid having youth volunteers support:

• Providing guidance or advice to clients.

• Anything with dangerous equipment, like a forklift or saws.