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What advice do you have for someone who is vaguely interested in finding opportunities to volunteer but isn't sure how to go about it?
Also do you have any stories to share about volunteer experiences? Tips for what to do or red flags to avoid?
Thanks
If you're not sure what you want to do, sign up for a few different things and see what sticks. I'm not sure what you mean by "red flags", what exactly do you think is going to happen?
I've been volunteering almost every Saturday for more than the last 10 years with a nonprofit that has a mission that I am passionate about. I teach and supervise other volunteers to complete whatever needs to be done that day. Any given day, about half of the people who show up are new and have never volunteered with us before. So if you're worried about being the "new" person and not knowing anyone, it's unlikely that you'll be alone in that position.
Volunteering is something that is very important to me, and I have made a close group of friends along the way who I get to work with every weekend to serve our community. Since I'm not religious, I see it as my own personal version of "church" in terms of the role it plays in my life.
Well sometimes the org is a scheme to funnel money to upper level management while maybe “raising awareness” or using other language to justify doing the bare minimum. Or at least that’s a perception I’ve gotten from many non profits in the past
Oh, those kinds of red flags - the organization, not the volunteer experience. You should be able to checkout the organization on sites like Charity Navigator which rate charity organizations on their efficiency. They usually break down how much money the organization spends towards their program, fundraising and administrative overhead. Typically, anything less than 10% administrative overhead is considered to be excellent. For combined admin and fundraising overhead, 35% is considered to be good. The rest should go towards actual program costs (their mission).
If you want to dig into their details, Charities file a Form 990 which usually explains those details and executive salaries. This is where sites like Charity Navigator get their information. Just keep in mind that if you look at an executive's salary, you should consider it in relation to the organization's overall budget, not just thinking that they're automatically overpaid because they're making six figures or something like that.
Awesome resource. Thank you!
You might start with a rough survey of yourself and what you want?
Maybe not the best list, but you get the idea. Just a rough framework before looking at what's out there to make you consider more concretely what would be involved volunteering somewhere. What's available is going to depend on where you are, and checking with friends/social media/local news and such is a good place to start. There might not be anything that really leaps out at you.
You don't have to have an organization. You can pick up trash while on a walk. Some people on NextDoor (or whatevers out there) will help out with someone in need in their community or more a lawn on the cheap for someone on a fixed-income. If you're good at research you might help a lot of people by compiling a good guide on something like freezing your credit after the Experian hack, or how to appeal a property tax increase, apply for food stamps, etc. Depending on your local laws you can dress up and fight crime but probably skip that one. Consciously being a good friend or kind to strangers can mean a lot, too.
I volunteered at an organic farm that had a rehab/therapy program for former(ish) drug addicts who grew and sold the crops at a farmers market. Part job skills program, a reference from one of the women supervising showing they showed up and complied. Part metaphor for the process of growing something through daily effort to reclaim a bit of agency.
Some of them were really charming (and great at sales, "the name's Ray Ray, say it twice cause it sounds so nice" x1000), most bored, and some quick to anger, sullen, or liable to not show up or do anything. The people managing it had to make decisions about things like whether to bail on being "organic" if the pests are probably going to destroy everything and organic pesticides fail. A family of rabbits had to be removed. A young woman had to be dropped from the program after repeated issues. I wouldn't want that responsibility. Physically the work was fun for me but turning compost could been a dealbreaker for someone else. Getting up early sucked, but it was nice to learn some stuff.
After college I volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House for a while. I needed that to be flexible and wanted a role I wouldn't have to handle people (a bit asocial). There was maybe a 15 minute onboarding process and I was given a list of things volunteers did. Mostly I cleaned the kitchen and sanitized stuff while listening to audiobooks, and if I finished with that I'd have to find something else to do. Some people would make treasured memories getting to watch a kid get to ring a bell, cancer free. Others would quickly burn out, unable to handle crying parents inviting them to a funeral they can't handle.
I thought I could improve the chore system with some coding & NFC tags. Some way of tracking when something was done so a) work wasn't repeated and b) families could check a chore's last completion to feel safe that an area had been sanitized. That ended up being a bust. Maybe a decent idea but there was never going to be any interest. Another volunteer, on the other hand, started bringing therapy dogs in and that program was around a decade+ later and super popular.
Well I can tell you from personal experience, if you like supporting community theater you can just shoot an email to the technical director and ask. I was sucked into it from sitting on the front porch of the local bar where all the theater folks hang. An artist friend of mine was helping out and the next project was a 19 ft point to point biggest gayest swastika for the Mel Brooks musical The Producers. I did that one project and then ended up volunteering for the next 5 years. I did so much work there it was a second job I didn't get paid for but I loved every minute of it.
You may want to try signing up at https://www.volunteermatch.org/.
You can select your community, causes, skills, travel radius, virtual or in-person, and whether the activity is good for a person in particular age ranges/special needs. You can get directly to links for matching agencies, or receive a periodic e-mail with opportunities. Both one-time events (e.g. a park clean-up or festival) and recurring volunteer activities are included.
Nearly every organization seeking volunteers in my community participates. I might have wanted a filter to exclude religious organizations, but that would have blocked many local opportunities I'd have felt aligned with my values, like Habitat for Humanity volunteering. You'll still have to make your own judgments about what's available.
Volunteer Match has a very detailed and explicit privacy policy - they use your information solely for the purpose of providing you with volunteer opportunities via e-mail and in the web site or app or improving services, but admit that they don't control information shared with the agencies you volunteer with. I've never gotten spam that I suspect might have been targeted through their portal.
As to volunteer experiences, one thing I'll note is that there's a great deal of variation in how organized volunteer-based organizations really are. Some are very regimented. Recordings for the Blind had a detailed orientation and training process - I was four visits in before I got to the recording booth for a full session. Crisis Text Line also had a lock-step training and mentoring program before assigning time slots.
Habitat for Humanity, I got handed a rag and sent out to clean up used furniture for weeks on end, trailing behind other volunteers that had already cleaned the furniture. There was no particular supervision or training, or any sense that there was other work that needed to be done. It may have been an issue with the local branch, or they simply had too many volunteers and wanted to keep them engaged somehow.
Find a subject you are interested in supporting and start looking around at local nonprofits. I know no one wants to do this but doing a quick 5 min call with a company is very helpful and straight answer to "how you can help this us".
I don't have a good answer, but I think this is an important question and there really should be more in the way of organized job boards for it. Local versus remote work seems like an important distinction?
Sadly, it tends to be talked about in vague terms rather than "I know a really great place to volunteer so let me tell you about it." Maybe we should have a topic about that?
Former Volunteer Coordinator here.
Most cities or towns have volunteer centers, so check them out. They'll do a quick survey of what your interests are, or even your hopes and dreams such working in a specific field like construction, and then they'll match you up with some volunteer opportunities. How much time you want to donate is up to you. If you are just looking for a one off volunteer experience, then a community event might interest you. If you're looking for a bit longer position, then there are lots of positions available like working in a non-profit thrift store, a seniors center, the SPCA, and so on. I hope this helps.
We have a volunteer center in my county that hosts an online list of thousands of volunteer opportunities. This is available for adults, but I think the original push was to help the middle and high school students who have a community service requirement as part of their curriculum. But it's a fantastic resource for all ages, so like @a1mck said, check if your area has something similar.
At the same time, keep in mind what others in this thread have said and be clear about where your passions lie. Find organizations that are doing work you strongly support and reach out to them. My daughter couldn't find what she wanted from our volunteer center, but she wrote to a semi-local organization that she likes and is now doing a job directly with the organization's CEO. If you know what you want to do, don't hesitate to reach out directly to any non-profit organization (after you've vetted them).
Do you know what kind of subject matter you would like to volunteer for? Anything you're passionate about. Like for some people it's animals and nature, others it's the disabled. That kind of thing.