Civic circle : empowering young New Zealanders to volunteer with local non-profit organisations : a thesis submitted by Ross Patel in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

The most common comment made by volunteer-involving organisations in both 2015 and 2016 State of Volunteering in New Zealand reports was that “the majority of volunteers are older (aging) and there aren’t enough young people stepping up” (Volunteering New Zealand, 2017, p. 26). Another common observation was that volunteers are less committed and are ‘time poor’. This is in contrast to the research that shows millennials (people born between the 1980s and 1990s) are upbeat about their ability to have a positive impact on the world (Green, 2003). Millennials can offer many skills and qualities to help non-profit organisations, although such organisations are currently inadequately prepared to welcome them (Fine, 2008). This design-led research sets out to explore how to empower young New Zealanders to volunteer with local non-profit organisations. Participatory design methods were employed to engage 27 representatives from 21 organisations and 19 young New Zealanders in the design process. Keywords: Volunteering, non-profit organisations, volunteering-involving organisations, young New Zealanders, millennial engagement, generation-y, civic engagement, design thinking, co-design.