The Benefits and Evolution of Volunteering

40,000. This is the number of hours Spark mentors will volunteer this year to help 1,000 students stay engaged and on track. It’s nearly the equivalent of five years of volunteer time!

It’s astounding. And there’s no shortage of gratitude here at Spark for the terrific mentors who bring our program to life.

This month Spark joins Points of Light and others in “celebrating service” during National Volunteer Month. It’s a time to recognize the millions of Americans who give their time and talent to help others. It’s also a time to highlight the meaningful impact giving back has on the volunteers themselves, and the growth in community service nationwide.

Good for Others, Good for You
We often showcase the benefits Spark’s workplace-based mentoring program brings to students in the middle grades. But, did you know mentors also benefit from volunteering?

• 73% of Spark mentors have an increased motivation and appreciation for their job
• 74% of Spark mentors believe that participating in the program has challenged them and helped them to develop new skills such as communication, leadership and collaboration
• 82% of Spark mentors feel closer to their community after participating in Spark

And if these weren't enough, research indicates that those who volunteer are healthier and more likely to live longer!

The Next Generation of Volunteers
These benefits, when coupled with other initiatives including workplace-based community service, are helping to change the culture of volunteering. This year marks the seventh anniversary of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which expands national service programs and is linked to increased volunteerism in the US.

Mr. Kennedy would be proud to know that the nation’s commitment to service appears to continue its upward trajectory as the next generation demonstrates significant enthusiasm for volunteering. Research shows Millennials are overwhelmingly opting to donate their time and personal skills. This is good news for service and good news for Spark. Only 30% of surveyed Millennial employees did not volunteer in 2014. A closer look at Spark mentors reinforces this point of engagement with 67% of our volunteer mentors ranging in age from 25 to 35.

In addition, the advent of more workplace-based community engagement efforts like Deloitte’s Impact Day is successfully increasing the service component of corporate engagement and philanthropy.

The Work Goes On
“The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.”

Indeed this famous quote from Edward M. Kennedy still rings true today. This is the time to acknowledge “the work” does not go on without the tremendous volunteers Spark and many other organizations are grateful to engage. When businesses encourage, generations embrace and adults recognize their responsibility for volunteering, many more social challenges become solvable.

Soothing the Anticipation

I think my team is toying with me. I’ve signed up to mentor a student this fall and they haven’t yet told me who the young person is. I don’t have a name. I don’t have a profile. I have no knowledge of interests or aspirations. Surely this is all meant to heighten my anxiety.

After all, I do feel a bit anxious. Committing to mentor a young person is a serious matter. I feel a weight of responsibility. I believe it is on my shoulders to succeed, to give the student an amazing, perhaps transformative, learning experience. That’s a lot to expect of myself. Am I up to the task?

The research is increasingly clear on the power of mentoring. Young people who have a mentor are 50 percent more likely to go on to college than those who had no mentor, according to a survey published earlier this year by the National Mentoring Partnership. Data like this only ups the pressure.

Fortunately for me, as for all the volunteers in Spark, our program is a structured mentoring approach.  Members of Spark's program team – an energetic group of professionals – know what they’re doing. As a mentor, I participated in training and have access to a suite of resources to guide me in the experience.  There is a concrete timeframe – 10 weeks, a couple hours each week. There’s a specific skill to focus on each week with your student – networking, goal-setting and problem-solving are the first three. There is a host of example activities and resources we can use for the project my student and I will work on.  And since Spark has run so many of these apprenticeships, there are hardly any circumstances that haven’t materialized previously and, therefore, been planned for. It’s as turnkey as you can get.

This is soothing to a degree. But, I think I’m not alone when I say I want my mentoring experience to be extraordinary – certainly for my student, and hopefully for me also. I want my student to be among the ones more likely to succeed in school and go on to college. I have high expectations.

You’d think I’d have some pull around here, enough to at least get the name of the student I will mentor! I’m anxious to learn who it is, to have our first encounter, to plan our apprenticeship, to have some laughs and some serious exploration. The anticipation is surely building.

We Are All Mentors

Jason Cascarino
Spark Chief Executive Officer & Mentor

Having the privilege to run a nonprofit centered on mentoring, I find myself routinely reflecting on the power of that practice. It’s been a time-honored – indeed, ancient – method of teaching and learning for young and old alike.

All of us have been mentored at many stages in life. Some relatively brief stints and others longer term relationships. The three that stand out for me run the gamut: a high school coach, a college professor, and my first boss. 

Sure, I’ve had terrific teachers in my life, to say nothing of great family role models who have shaped who I am. But, I admittedly gravitate more toward that small group of wise counselors who took me under their wing for a time. Most continue to do so even today. They are the first I call when I have reason. And when I don’t have one, I make one up, knowing full well I will invariably find something I need that I wasn’t even looking for.

I remember once profusely thanking one of these great influencers for affecting me so much. He all but looked embarrassed accepting the compliment, in an “aw, shucks” sort of way. In part, I think, to deflect, he simply charged me with being a mentor myself. A pay it forward kind of sentiment.

So I’ve taken on mentoring myself – mostly with people who work for me, although I’d like to think my kids see me as a mentor as well. For many people, the mentor-pupil relationship evolves rather organically. You may not even realize it until the relationship has shifted. Your employee leaves, for example, and they tell you how much they’ve learned from you. There are few comments more satisfying.

Now, I’m going to be a mentor for Spark. I’m just shy of nine months into my stint as CEO of Spark, this amazing opportunity to lead an extraordinary group of folks who have been serving thousands of young people all across the country. The spirit and energy my colleagues exude have given me a strong desire to experience this compelling idea first hand and at its core.

Being part of a formal program, the mentoring relationship I’m about to embark upon is both more intentional and more structured. And in some ways, the impact can be more dramatic. The young people we work with are seventh and eighth graders who are showing some signs of disengagement from school. The fact is, most young people at this age show these signs. Unfortunately, students in some communities lack the guidance, support and access to opportunities to help them navigate these challenging years.

I’m delighted to get the chance to mentor in this way, and to document it in this venue. This fall, I’ll be joining nearly a thousand professional men and women from large corporations, small companies, public agencies and nonprofits taking on one-on-one mentoring relationships with young people across four major metropolitan regions Spark serves – San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia. Together, we are shooting for no less than offering exciting, and possibly in some cases life-altering, learning experiences that ensure young people at this critical age are engage, on-track and ready to succeed in high school, college and beyond.

I hope you’ll join me in this adventure: as a follower, as a mentor yourself, as a supporter of Spark and as someone deeply committed to the power of mentoring.