Promotion of young people and career planning in voluntary work

Vincentian communities face the challenge of the future

A lack of young people is a major challenge for many associations and organisations based on voluntary work, including the Vincentian communities. Many chairpersons find themselves forced to stay in office longer than intended and wish for support from the umbrella organisation.

The MCI project "Promotion of Young People and Careers in Volunteer Work" aims to explore the question of how young interested people can be recruited for a functionary position in the social sector and what changes this will (have to) result in for the associations when young people become involved in voluntary leadership responsibility in traditional structures and voluntary organisations.

The problem of succession is particularly great in such traditional associations as the Vinzenz communities. The majority of the chairpersons of the currently 82 Vinzenz communities in Tyrol belong to the 60+ generation. Many have been active in and for Vincentian communities for years or even decades. Facebook and Twitter are not yet frequently used media for the dissemination of the Vincentian idea, but social media in particular offer a high potential for the recruitment of new and young members who also want to be inspired for board activities, because especially the "smartphone generation" has a high will to shape things.

Five students of the MCI Bachelor's degree program "Nonprofit, Social and Health Management" will intensively deal with the topic of "career development in voluntary work" in the summer semester and will be able to provide the Vincentian associations with suggestions and tools as support after the completion of the research project, so that the search for new functionaries will succeed.