The H+ Media and Cultural Association has been hosting (youth) volunteers in its current organisational form for seven years, and in its community form for almost ten years, as well as secondary school students in the framework of the School Community Service. The aim of this case study is to describe the challenges that an association, organised as a community initiative, faces in relation to volunteering in general at the different stages of the NGO life cycle and to outline the specific achievements and concerns that characterise youth volunteering and school community service in Hungary from the perspective of the organisation. In 2018, the association started to view volunteering and School Community Service as a resource as a result of a paradigm shift through organisational and human resource development. This paradigm shift was interrupted by the COVID-19 epidemic, but as a result of the continued communication with young people, the organisation was finally able to emerge from the crisis stronger and with higher standards. Our volunteer and community service programme is consciously built around three principles: skills development for the individual, community building for the organisation, and value transmission for society.

Keywords: volunteering, civic association, school community service, culture, media, organisational life cycle