Campaign message 4: Volunteering is good for you
Campaign ingredients:
- Stresses the benefit of volunteering to the volunteer.
- Doesn’t focus on “needy” charity or beneficiaries.
- Lists health, wellbeing and career advantages of volunteering.
- Often based around a piece of behaviour, lifestyle, opinion research.
- Is used most often in campaigns aimed at younger people.
Benefits:
- Volunteering is presented as part of everyone’s personal skills and career development.
- This often appeals to stressed, busy people (who think they haven’t got enough time to volunteer).
- It creates a positive image of volunteering as a way to achieve happiness and wellbeing.
- It's an inclusive message which can help to encourage new volunteers to come forward
Downside:
- It often doesn’t describe what volunteers actually do and what’s involved
- The "ask" can be too general and vague to appeal to any particular audience
- It's not a “personal ask” so can be easily dismissed by potential recruits
- Telling people volunteering is good for them, doesn't necessarily make people believe it's good for them!
Examples:
- CSV: "Feel good"
- Cheltenham Volunteer Centre: "Volunteering benefits the volunteer"
- Samaritans: “Volunteering can change you life”
- Get on Board: "Be important"
- RNID: "Win the chance to change the world"
- TimeBank: "You get more out that you put in"
- Metropolitan Police Special Constables: "I've gained skills I can use for the rest of my life"
Read the next article in this section... Campaign message 5: Celebrity endorsement
