Nowadays the problems of young people are an insecure future, harder employment after college, impossibility of an organised and supervised acquirement of professional skills and a lack of practical experience which they were not able to acquire during their formal education. One of the main problems is also the unemployment of young people, but with the help of good communication and other skills which can be obtained during volunteering, the odds of finding a job are higher.When young people participate in volunteering they actively join their community, help younger generations and they connect with each other through the exchange of experiences. Because of the previous benefits,one of the main goals of volunteering is fulfilled and that is the socialization of young people and the making of a capacity of young people. In this thesis volunteering is researched and it's importance for students, how volunteering should be looked as socially desirable behavior, how many students volunteer in different countries. Key factors are identified concerning the situation in Croatia and the motives for a student to start volunteering will try to be revealed. Furthermore, in the thesis different methods which nonprofit organizations could use in obtaining new and retaining existing volunteers are identified.