Enabling Organizations to Offer Youth-oriented Virtual Volunteering Experiences
In collaboration with Volunteer Toronto
Background:
COVID-19 has created an immediate need across the social sector to shift the majority of their in-person volunteering experiences to remote/virtual. This has impacted organizations’ abilities to engage youth.
The impacts of COVID-19 on volunteering will likely not be temporary, making it important for non-profits and charities to evaluate how best to engage youth through virtual volunteering.
GOAL
Publish a playbook of recommendations and best practices to enable existing non-profit organizations and charities to create youth-oriented virtual volunteering experiences.
PHASE 1: DISCOVER
WHAT WE DID
Conduct surveys and interviews with 50+ high-school-aged youth and non-profit organizations to explore major challenges and best practices in the current virtual volunteering landscape.
PHASE 2: DESIGN
WHAT WE DID
Partnered with Volunteer Toronto to determine a set of best practices for creating, managing and evaluating an effective and youth-friendly virtual volunteering program.
PHASE 3: DISCUSS
WHAT WE DID
The Youth Virtual Volunteer Playbook was published on Volunteer Toronto’s COVID-19 Learning Library.
Pledges for Change presented the playbook to 50+ volunteer managers at Volunteer Toronto’s event “A Conversation on Engaging Youth Volunteers”