Office of the Third Sector Homepage

Main navigation

Youth volunteering

Following the Russell Commission report in May 2005, a new independent youth-led charity, v, was launched on 8 May 2006 to take the lead in delivering a step change in the quality, quantity and diversity of volunteering opportunities available to young people aged 16-25 in England.

Through the work of v, we are aiming to inspire 1 million more young people to volunteer.

• Background to the creation of v 

Although the majority of recommendations of the Russell Commission are being taken forward through v, some recommendations were the responsibility of government:

• Recommendation 4 - It should be commonplace for young people to volunteer whilst they are at school, college or in higher education.
• Recommendation 9 - There is untapped potential for young volunteers to give additional help within the public sector.
• Recommendation 12 - Young people on benefits, and their families, should not suffer a financial barrier when they volunteer.

The table downloadable below sets out what measures we have taken to implement these recommendations.

• Russell Commission Public Sector Recommendations [PDF]
  

V for volunteering

The Office of the Third Sector has committed £117million to youth volunteering through v over the next three years (2008-2011) to build a new national youth volunteering framework for 16-25 year-olds in England. v has so far created around 750,000 volunteering opportunities and has several innovative initiatives including:

• vinvolved - A £75million national youth volunteering programme to create vinvolved teams to support youth volunteering in every local authority area, and vinvovled projects to deliver 500,000 volunteering opportunities over the next three years.
• http://www.vinspired.com/ - a web portal to serve as a one-stop shop for volunteering information for young people
• vcashpoint : an innovative youth fund to give young volunteers the chance to apply for up to £2,500 to run community projects.
• Match Fund - The Match Fund brings together private sector partners and charities to create innovative volunteering opportunities. The v Match Fund matches up to 100% of any new investment in youth volunteering, from private companies, charitable trusts / foundations and individuals. To date, v has pledges of £32m from the private sector – making a total of £64m that has and will be invested into diverse and high impact projects across England.

For further information on all these schemes vistit the v website:

• http://www.wearev.com/