Measuring the long-term benefits of youth volunteering

The Institute of Volunteering Research has released a new report, Young people, volunteering, and youth projects: A rapid review of recent evidence. (Well worth a read and a good place to start if you’re looking for sources of facts to back up a funding application.)

One of the things the report points out is that, in England, there have been few studies which look at longer term impact on volunteers or on wider social and community impacts of volunteer programmes. With youth unemployment rising, there’s a real need to understand one particular key long term impact: the link between volunteering and employability.

In the USA there have been useful studies assessing short, medium and long-term impacts of a range of schemes including Americorps and City Year. One example, Still Serving: Measuring the eight-year impact of Americorps on alumni, shows that sixty percent of AmeriCorps State and National volunteers go on to work in a nonprofit or governmental organization.

The City Year Experience Over Time: Findings from the Longitudinal Study of Alumni shows that more than three-quarters of City Year alumni reported that City Year had contributed to the development of their early careers, and their assessment of City Year’s impact remained relatively consistent over time. (With results like this, it’s great to see that US-based City Year is setting up a project in London.)

While evidence of the impact of volunteering on employment rates is mixed, research shows that young people perceive volunteering as enhancing their employability and employers value volunteering experience for improving skills such as communication, leadership, team work, and self-confidence.

In the medium to long term, existing research suggests that the experience of full-time volunteering, at least, can instil a lasting commitment to voluntary service, but gaps in research and evidence of the long-term impact of youth volunteering remain. v is starting to address this with a scoping study which aims to develop best practice and attract investment in research into the long-term benefits of youth volunteering.