This paper discusses volunteer activity as a promising direction of the state youth policy in the Russian Federation. The paper presents normative acts and state programs regulating the relevance and expediency of the implementation of the volunteer movement in Russia. The text provides a detailed analysis of the scientific research of domestic and foreign scientists concerning the issues of volunteerism. The paper focuses on the students of the University of Culture as an initiative part of Russian society, which has a special worldview and creative attitude to reality. The paper describes the process of organizing volunteer activities at Orel State Institute of Culture as well as reveals the main stages of the implementation of the socio-cultural project Kind Heart (educational, motivational, active, productive) with 13-year-students of all bachelors degree courses of full-time study at the university for conducting socially significant actions and creative charity events with various categories of the population. In the course of the research, the author of the paper identifies the positive aspects of students volunteer work at the University of Culture and outlines promising areas of work of the creative educational institution for the organization and conduct of volunteer activities for the period from 2023 to 2025. The obtained research results can become the basis for the implementation of pedagogical programs and creative charity projects in educational organizations of middle and senior management, institutions of the socio-cultural sphere.