Thriving too

Nominate a Young Achiever

The Young Achievers Trust is a youth-led charity that works to support and recognise inspirational young volunteers who have made a positive impact in their community.

Francis runs football teams that include young men from a variety of backgrounds, those who are at university, some with difficult home lives and also others who are between schools because of challenging behaviour. Francis’ team helps to build positive relationships, provides the opportunity to learn new skills such as football coaching skills, leadership, respecting themselves and others as well as learning to be a team on and off the field. It builds a great sense of acceptance, bonding and team spirit.

Libby Bentham, a housing support worker at Foyer sang the praises of Francis by saying that “The funding which has been secured means the team is accessible to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it. Thus, the impact this team is having is truly immense and Francis is changing lives through his volunteering.”

The nominations for the 2009 awards are open now, so if you know a young person aged 16-25 who has accomplished something special in their volunteering, and could benefit from a £1000 cash prize for their project and a year’s work of project support and money-can’t-buy development opportunities, nominate them now!

The Extraordinaries - Micro-volunteering

This is such a great new idea!

The Extraordinaries aim to make volunteering very easy by making use of our small amounts of spare time through our phones...

"Problem: 73% of Americans do not volunteer."

"Root Cause: Most volunteer opportunities require vetting, many hours, and a long-term commitment. It’s akin to a second job. For most people, the process is inconvenient, takes too much time, and doesn’t easily fit into hectic lives."

"Our Theory of Change: Americans have spare time – billions of hours – but in small windows of idle moments: sitting in an airport, waiting in a doctor’s office, riding the bus to work, and more. If we can reach people during these spare moments we harness a huge pool of untapped human energy."

Follow them on Twitter

Volunteering Fund that will work

V is an independent charity championing youth volunteering in England. Their aim is to inspire a new generation of young volunteers (aged 16-25) and enable a lasting change in the quality, quantity and diversity of youth volunteering.

The match fund is particularly interesting. If you are part of the private sector (company, charitable trust or wealthy individual) who is - or would be interested in - supporting youth volunteering, then the match fund could double the impact of your support. And if you are a voluntary or community organisation who would like to deliver youth volunteering programmes - or expand existing programmes, then this is for you too.

Originating from the Russell Commission, the role of the Match Fund is to inspire the private sector to support youth volunteering through a process where government money matches up to 100% of any new private sector investment in youth volunteering.

There is currently an incredible £42.6 million available for Strand One and £30 million available for Strand Two.

Better get your thinking caps on!