A new campaign has been launched to help encourage those from ethnic minority communities to volunteer.

Rolled out by the Media Trust and volunteering website www.do-it.org.uk, the It’s All About U promotion aims to boost levels of those working for charities and voluntary organisations who are of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese origin.

Running from now until the end of January 2008, the drive will see advertisements screened at Bollywood cinema productions and campaign material translated into the native languages of the above groups, reports Third Sector.

A promotion will also take place across the social networking website Facebook.

Although government studies showed that volunteering across all ethnic minorities is low, it is among the Chinese, Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups where this is particularly prevalent.

Dal Singh, ethnic marketing specialist for the agency, said: "Part of the problem is that there isn’t a tradition of volunteering within these groups and there’s a tendency for people to say, ‘what’s in it for me?’".

As a result, the two network partners have "tweaked the message to accentuate the benefits" of volunteering such as emphasising the way that it boosts a CV and helps to improve people’s employment prospects.

Earlier this month, Do-it.org and Community Channel launched a new website to encourage those over the age of 25 to volunteer.

More about network partners.