Too Hip to Volunteer at Met Council?

The June 2011 Report on Jewish Volunteering from Repair the World opened up a lot of questions for Met Council’s Volunteer Department. I would like to focus on one of them in this blog. Below is an excerpt from the report which talks about young Jews not always finding the kind of volunteer opportunity they are looking for; rather they volunteer for those things that get the most press or are most easily accessible.

Jewish young adults want to “make a difference,” and the majority appears to have a sense of personal efficacy. However, those subgroups that are least likely to volunteer also have the weakest belief that their volunteer efforts can contribute to desired effects. The personal relevance of the causes for which Jewish young adults are being asked to volunteer may also play a role in their decision making. Many Jewish young adults do not find their way into volunteer opportunities related to the causes about which they care most deeply. Volunteer options related to the full spectrum of Jewish young adult concerns may either not be available or may not be well known among this demographic.

An AmeriCorps grant has given Met Council the ability to expand their Volunteer Department and as a result has seen 48% increase in volunteers over the past year. This huge jump means 1,529 new volunteers serving New Yorkers in need!

Met Council recruits volunteers in two ways: by individual and by group. The groups are usually groups of young Jewish professionals who are coming to volunteer with an organization they are affiliated with and want to help out. They are coming with their friends or acquaintances for a few hours of collaboratively making a difference. According to our volunteer questionnaire, most individuals that we recruit are not Jewish and state that they are signing up to “give back to the community.” They come to us on their own and for no other reason than it is part of their ethic.

While Met Council has no preference for Jewish over not Jewish volunteers, we are a Jewish agency who has a unique position within the Jewish community; we have the cultural expertise with Jewish and immigrant communities. A unique mix of volunteers is exactly what we need, but it still begs the question- why it is more difficult to recruit individual volunteers that are Jewish?

Maybe there is something to the fact that young Jews like to socialize with other young Jews and they are guaranteed that when they volunteer with a group of young Jews! Or maybe volunteering for Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty isn’t as attention-grabbing as some of the high profile social justice movements that are out there?

What do you guys think?