Engaging young people

Now more than ever, non-profits who seek to form relationships with young people must find ways to capture and hold their attention in a media-saturated culture in which the pace of change is relentless.

At the same time, not-for-profits can easily fall into the trap of creating a youth engagement strategy that is based on exaggerated or inaccurate media portrayals of young people.

Charities and other non-profits need to interact with young people in ways that are based on accurate insights about the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of different groups of young people.  Doing so helps non-profits maximise resources by providing better services to young people. It also helps put young people at the centre of planning programmes, initiatives, and campaigns that seek to engage them.

nfpSynergy has extensive experience in using a range of techniques to conduct research to gain insights for our clients from groups of young people across the UK.  Unlike other research agencies, we also have the benefit of the insights of nfpSynergy’s twice-yearly Youth Engagement Monitor, for which we conduct a nationally-representative survey of  young people across the UK so that we always have up-to-date information about young people’s attitudes to a wide range of social issues.

Case study: The Vodafone Foundation – Help-seeking behaviour in young people

The Vodafone Group Foundation came to us with a challenge. The foundation, which funds charities to improve young people’s access to information and support, wanted to understand young people’s attitudes to seeking help. The information would help their partners, which include Shelter and the Samaritans, decide how best to use their funding.

nfpSynergy investigated what prevents young people from seeking help, and what encourages them. We reviewed everything, from media portrayal of the issue to government reports, and interviewed experts to get their insight.

Our final report has helped organisations working with young people to improve their services. It was originally intended as the first part of a further research project, but was so well received by Vodafone’s partners that they published it as a report in its own right. You can download the report here – Help seeking behaviour in young adults (1627.01KB)