Reaching Youths: Tips for Charities

The Advertising Council has joined forces with the cable television channel MTV to produce a handbook aimed at helping non-profit organizations recruit young adult volunteers more effectively.

The United States now has 26 million people aged 18 to 24 and the manual suggests that appealing to those young people may require charities to “rethink your messages, your recruiting methods and vehicles, and your expectations for volunteers.”

Entitled “Engaging the Next Generation: How Nonprofits Can Reach Young Adults,” the manual recommends that non-profit leaders help young people make a personal connection with a cause, such as by showing them how volunteering can benefit them personally and by demonstrating how the time they give has a direct impact on the program’s success.

Free copies of the publication are available from the Advertising Council, 261 Madison Avenue, New York 10016; telephone (212) 922-1500; fax (212) 922-1676; http://www.adcouncil.org.