How to Encourage Others to Volunteer With You

Making a difference by volunteering is beneficial for you and your community, so why isn't everyone doing it? Encourage your friends to start volunteering with this advice!

Volunteering addresses all kinds of needs: Feeding the hungry; protecting the environment; making life better for animals, kids, or seniors. Whatever the purpose, your volunteer efforts make a difference. Imagine the difference that can be made with more than just you. Enlisting your peers can make the experience more enjoyable for you and provide them with important opportunities as well. So how can you get other students interested and involved in volunteering?

Take the initiative

Ben Gardner, Associate Director of the Community Engagement and Volunteering Center at Clark University, says the most important step is simply taking the first step. “Ask them,” he says. “They may not have volunteered before, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be interested.” Often, people will respond positively when asked to participate in volunteering (or other activities) when a request from a friend acts as a catalyst.

In the process, it helps you share your own interests or experiences. “Storytelling makes things more relatable and is a fantastic motivating strategy,” Gardner says. “Share your own experiences and talk about the difference that the organization you volunteer with has made in the lives of others.”

Related: Quick Guide to Getting Involved at College

Start small

A great strategy in getting others involved is to focus on a single short-term activity. Instead of asking for a long-term commitment, invite a friend or acquaintance to accompany you on a volunteer project that takes a half-day or less.

“It’s often easiest to start with a one-time service event,” Gardner says. “Fundraiser walks, dinner servings, clean-ups, and so forth only take a few hours but can help people connect to a cause and visualize what volunteering more often might look like for them.”

Make it easy

Stepping up to a new activity isn’t always a breeze. Everyone has experienced the awkward feeling of finding your way to a place you’ve never been to before or introducing yourself to strangers. When connecting a friend to a volunteer opportunity, try to avoid the awkwardness by making things as easy as possible.

Offer to drive them to the volunteer event, or if you don’t drive, pay for bus fare for both of you. Take them out for a meal or a snack and while enjoying it together, give a preview of what to expect. If the activity is one you’re already involved in, take some photos that show other volunteers in action. The greater the comfort level, the better the odds of making a new volunteer role seem attractive.

Focus on the benefits

Even the Grinch would have to admit that the work of volunteers brings positive benefits to the people, programs, and services that rely on their assistance. Certainly, everyone who volunteers can take satisfaction in knowing they’re providing help where help is needed.

At the same time, volunteers gain advantages of a more practical nature. When you’re advocating for volunteerism, be sure to mention the pluses it offers to your friend or peer. Any volunteer activity can be a great addition to a job applicationrésumé, or application for a scholarship or fellowship. It can provide great, real-life experience that will be useful in the workplace. And, not to be overlooked, it’s a chance to meet people who could later become job references, potential employers, or friends.

Related: Volunteering on Your College Applications

With all of these benefits and your own enthusiasm, you’ll have a great case to inspire any student to want to join the volunteer community.

Passionate about volunteering? Find schools that value your passion with our College Search tool.

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About Mark Rowh

Mark Rowh is a Virginia-based writer and educator.

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress
Alexandria

Alexandria

High School Class of 2021

For a long time, I've been searching everywhere to find the perfect website I can get scholarships and information from. Needless to say, I could never find the right one. That was, until I found CollegeXpress. Through my journey of finding the right scholarships for me, I was able to find articles about different things. They've all been helpful, especially in times like this! I was even able to connect with some of my favorite colleges! I love CollegeXpress. Thank you!

Kyla McClain

Kyla McClain

High School Class of 2024

I found CollegeXpress when you partnered with Bold.org for a scholarship. I found your website, put my information in, and got connected. I only wanted to stay in North Carolina [for college] and not move far from home, but you all opened a door up for me. I started researching colleges you suggested for me. On your social media platforms, you also give really good test-taking tips that I used and suggested others to do the same. It helped me a lot on my exams, so thank you.

Melanie Kajy

Melanie Kajy

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress has helped me tremendously during my senior year of high school. I started off using the college search to find more information about the universities I was interested in. Just this tool alone gave me so much information about a particular school. It was my one-stop shop to learn about college. I was able to find information about college tuition, school rank, majors, and so much more that I can't list it all. The college search tool has helped me narrow down which college I want to attend, and it made a stressful process surprisingly not so stressful. I then moved to the scholarship search tool to find scholarships to apply for because I can't afford to pay for tuition myself. The search tool helped me find scholarships that I was eligible for. The tool gave me all the information I could ever need about a particular scholarship that was being offered. The CollegeXpress scholarship search tool is so much better than other tools offered, like the Chegg scholarship search. Thanks to CollegeXpress, I was able to apply to tons of scholarships in a relatively easy way!

Jasmine

Jasmine

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress helped me find the school I am currently attending by consistently sending me emails of other schools. This allowed me to do research on other schools as well as the one I am in now!

Jessica Rinker

Jessica Rinker

Student, Fairhaven High School; CollegeXpress Student Writer

My high school counselor introduced me to CollegeXpress freshman year. It has made such a difference in high school, and I plan to continue relying on it in college. CollegeXpress is my go-to because it addresses each aspect of being a student. There are the articles you’d expect regarding college applications and financial aid, but you will also find advice on things like de-stressing and maintaining relationships while balancing a heavy course load. CollegeXpress will also keep you updated on current scholarships through e-mails each Saturday. (They don’t harass you with any product promotion like so many other sites do.) CollegeXpress is a lot like an older sibling who has already conquered the challenges you are facing. Now, they are reaching out a helpful hand. I say take it.

College Matches
X

Colleges You May Be Interested In

Alfred University

Alfred, NY

Linfield University

McMinnville, OR

University of Redlands

Redlands, CA