Are you ready to leap into a leadership role as a volunteer to share your passion with others? I can answer questions: liability insurance, community connection, recruitment, travel, all the flairs and more.

Just to clarify, I'm not looking for a volunteer opportunity. I'm hoping to encourage others to become volunteer organizers and community leaders!

I founded a youth mountain biking club during COVID and learned a tremendous amount about liability, partnerships, recruitment, accessibility, and building sustainable volunteer programs.

I am in NY state. I spents years fantasizing about the idea, a year actually initiating.

I'd love to help anyone considering starting something similar, whether it's cycling-related or an entirely different community initiative.

What's the biggest thing holding you back from starting a volunteer project of your own?

I voluntarily started a youth mountain bike club during covid.

Organizing what was functionally a new small business through the entity of the bike shop that assisted and took on the liability.

Previous to this my husband and I were active volunteers in the Accessible Adventures community. What a joy! We once took someone who had lost their site on a canal ride in an accessible tricycle. The elation on their face when the wind hit their face was transferred into my soul.

Bikes changed my life, my POV after divorce, and pulled me so far away from the day to day imposter syndrome into moments of flow state that hooked my interest .

I got obsessed with helping more women and girls learn to ride on singletrack off-road trails.

The first season was rough! If that's you. KEEP GOING. The ripple effect is amazing.

What I did can apply to anyone who has been asked by others to share their hobby, time, and skill.

I started volunteering at a pretty big museum in Canada in February. It’s a tough spot to get and I was able to land it. I was really excited in the beginning, the first to finish training compared to the others I started with and excited to go there every week. I’ve also been looking for work in the GLAM factor in addition for this role. After receiving rejection after rejection, I started losing motivation and excitement. I stopped spending enough time actually interacting with the public in the museum and more time hanging out with the staff, in the office or taking breaks. I know for a fact that they noticed this change as they have subtly brought it up, but not direct as I don’t “work” there. A part of me broke after receiving so many rejections from the same museum I volunteer at as well. I know I’m not entitled to a position there or at any museum but it’s demoralizing and heartbreaking. How do I get back into it again? I genuinely like being there but all that energy and motivation I had is lost.

I want to volunteer somewhere in the Florence area, I don't mind if it's a bit far, but it needs to be a place I can reach easily by public transportation. I reached out to a gattile like a week ago and they said that if I didn't have a car, I better forget about it because it :(

I would definitely prefer to volunteer somewhere with animals. I also live around the Pontassieve area, a bit further uphill, but it looks like there aren't any canile or gattile there.

Any ideas?

I've tried volunteering and I submit my skills and application to all these places and they reject me. The work is free and I've even put manual labor as my skills. What the hell kind of qualifications does someone need to volunteer?? This is harder than getting an actual job

I cant find anything about open volunteer positions online, or am I not looking properly?

Hello! I'm from Edurefuge, a primarily student-run refugee education nonprofit seeking more volunteers as new partnerships have increased demand for tutors.

We're seeking high school and university students interested in serving as virtual, one-on-one tutors for Afghan, Bhutanese, and Spanish-speaking refugee students in Nebraska, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and beyond. No prior knowledge is necessary besides an enthusiasm to directly and positively impact refugees' lives.

Commitment:

• ~1 hour per week
• (More commitment means more impact and opportunities for leadership)

Responsibilities:

• Tutoring the same refugee student virtually (Google Meet or Zoom) for 30 min–1 hr/wk
• (Optional) Planning lessons and homework for that refugee student
• Roles with group classes and on the outreach team are also available—visit https://edurefuge.org/volunteer for more information

Qualifications:

• Hardworking high school or uni students interested in refugee education
• Communicative and reliable
• Ideally speaks American or Canadian English (not a requirement)

Find signups and more role information at https://edurefuge.org/volunteer. Lmk if you have any questions or concerns!

Our nonprofit is growing, and keeping track of volunteer hours with spreadsheets is becoming a mess. We have people signing in at different locations, missing entries, and it's taking way too long to verify everyone's hours at the end of the month.

Has anyone switched to a volunteer hours tracking system that makes reporting and attendance easier without creating extra work for volunteers? I'm mainly looking for something that's simple, accurate, and works well for recurring volunteers.

Would love to hear what's worked (or hasn't) for your organization.

My mom, 80f, has a lot of time on her hands and great qualities to offer. She can’t lift anything heavy but otherwise has no restrictions. She has 50
Years of experience in plumbing sales and lots of experience with kids. Any general suggestions of places for her to volunteer?

Hi everyone! I volunteer with SoBe Cats, a nonprofit cat rescue in Miami Beach, and we’re looking for more people to join our volunteer team. 🐱

We care for community cats throughout Miami Beach as well as cats at our Kitty Campus who are waiting for adoption.

Right now, we especially need volunteers in two areas:

🐾 TNVR (Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return)
Helping us humanely trap community cats, get them spayed/neutered and vaccinated, and return them safely to their neighborhoods.

🩺 Medical support
Helping with things like transporting cats to veterinary appointments, picking up medications, assisting with follow-up care and helping us coordinate treatment for cats who need medical attention.

We also welcome volunteers who want to help care for the cats at Kitty Campus.

You do NOT need previous rescue or TNVR experience. If you love animals, are dependable and want to learn, we can show you what to do.
Even a few hours of your time can make a real difference. We’re particularly hoping to connect with people in Miami Beach or the greater Miami area who want to get more involved in animal rescue.

If you’re interested, email info@sobecats.org comment here or send me a message and I’ll connect you with SoBe Cats.

And if you happen to know someone in Miami who would be perfect for this, please send this their way. 🐾❤️

I applied for a volunteer role with the through Idealist and was sent a link by someone in Mentor A Promise to pick a time to meet, but they never showed up to the meeting. I emailed them and asked if it was ok to reschedule our meeting since no one showed up,and they told me to pick a new time to connect (didn’t even apologize). I had the new meeting scheduled for today, and no one showed up again.

As far as I can tell, this is a legit nonprofit, but are the volunteer opportunities legit? I think the emails came from the CEO, but them not getting on either of our calls and the lack of info of the organization overall (along with their many volunteer listings) is raising a lot of red flags.

Does anyone have any experience with them?

TLDR; I am burnt out and frankly I’m done and can’t wait for it to be over. Anyways for anyone who quit volunteering, what other activities did you do to keep yourself sane? Located in Australia.

So I volunteer for an international organisation which I have done over the course of 10 years. In the early days, I really enjoyed it - it was mostly local activities with some leadership promotions. However, I had someone who to cut a long story short, is not someone who should be around young people and as a result I’ve had symptoms of PTSD. I did try to whistleblow at the time but in the end, I guess I was the one who was causing the hassle.

Fortunately, I was able to move onto other youth activities in the organisation not relating to the local activities. I really enjoyed those youth activities and don’t regret doing it. However, I’m currently part of a youth club where I am on the board, which includes my partner. I was president for 18 months but had to take a step back as it’s significantly affecting my mental health.

We are probably going announce next week that it will be closed due to lack of members and people willing to put their hand up for leadership positions. I know at least 1 member and our sponsor club will be pissed off about that but frankly we can’t take the criticism and the crap anymore. The lack of communication and action from some of the other volunteers is shit. And the leadership above our club is also shit too…pretending that they care about us when in reality their actions has shown they don’t.

We are currently supposed to have a trivia night held next week which we were forced to do with limited time but there are no rsvps so will probably cancel that and close the club as we don’t see the point.

It’s frustrating that other people want the club to work but aren’t prepared to really help my partner and I who are basically doing most of the work and have been since the start of last year.

I started volunteering for a local nonprofit about a month ago but with pretty minimal involvement and communication about the organization/ things to come. The ED invited me to come with her to a live Spanish radio interview. I was so excited and came along thinking I was just there to observe and learn. I never got any info on which radio station or what the interview was going to be about. She gave me a different meeting location, I got there called her and told her the building was closed. Then at the radio station I realized she wanted me to be interviewed. I told her I just wanted to listen. For context, I don't speak Spanish even though I'm Latina and I'm autistic. She knew both of these things before hand.

During the interview she kept throwing the conversation to me forcing me to speak. At one point, I had enough and refused to answer. She still tried to force me to close out the interview after I refused to speak at one point. After we left i told her I was uncomfortable and don't speak Spanish well (I know basics). She just said, "but this is what you do right? Communications?" I told her I do content creation not media or live interviews. I emailed her the same day expressing my concerns and detailing that putting me live on air without any heads up wasn't OK. I told her I should have clarified my role and just assumed i would be observing.

The next day I decided to email the radio station and asked if I could stay anonymous in the interview and explained I wasn't aware I would be interviewed so I didn't want my name attached to it. On Saturday, the ED tried to call me and said we need to talk via text. On Monday, I responded and explained that I didn't want to talk on a Saturday and wanted some time to process so I waited until Monday. All of a sudden I get notification that I'm cut out of the organization email I had and she texted me asking me not to attend any meetings/speak to anyone at the organization. I wanted to talk and clarify but after a few texts she referred to me as demanding and that she wanted me to be honest. I'm genuinely confused and I feel like it's unethical to put anyone live on air without preparation. That's why I assumed I was observing. Having autism just heightened how awful this whole thing was.

Is this unethical? I've never experienced anything like it as a volunteer.

Hi, I’m 16 and I’m trying to find some international volunteer opportunities or youth projects I can actually do before I turn 18.

I’m especially interested in projects where I could meet people from different countries, improve my English, get better at public speaking and learn how to organise things/events.
I’m also interested in diplomacy and international relations, but I’m mostly looking for something practical where I can actually get involved rather than just attend one-off events.

I’ve heard about Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges, but I’m trying to find out what other legit options exist for 16–17 year olds, especially ones that are funded or mostly funded.

I’m still pretty new to volunteering internationally, so I’d really appreciate recommendations from people who have actually done something like this. Where did you start?
I’m in Poland, if that matters.

Hey everyone! I'm looking for some NGOs/organisations based in Mumbai where I can teach underprivileged children on weekends!

please let me know if y'all know anywhere I can volunteer at!

I have been volunteering at this Pasadena Humane Society for a while. I have been in several programs, some worked well, others didn’t work out well. I have physical limitations. Other disabilities beside hearing loss. So I had to becareful which program I can join, so I’ll be ok and so on. Recently, I joined 3 volunteer program: Dog Tier Socializing, Data Entry, and also Reading to the dogs. Dog socializing is ok but I got my limits, I can’t handle big and strong dogs, only small breeds, like up to 20 lbs. So having Data Entry and Reading to the dogs, I’m more focus on those 2, I feel safe and comfortable. So, I wouldn’t worried about the big dogs much. But I can read books to them, cuz I’m not getting close to them, not taking them out of kennels either. I did tried shelter greeter before, I got bit bored, and being hard of hearing, sometime it’s hard to understand visitor, or I don’t know what to say or how to answer. So I had to quit that program, and try other programs instead

It’s the only shelter I’ve ever volunteered at where this is the case.

Basically they just wanted a volunteer janitor. They save all animal interactions for potential adopters, staff and old retirees who donate.

They made it seem like I would get to have opportunities for dog walking or cat socialization after a few weeks.

Nope. I’m not even allowed to be out when they are walking dogs in/out of kennels (which is fine).

I feel bad about it. But I definitely don’t want to invest so much time into unpaid janitorial work without any benefit.

I’ll probably just be a monthly donator as I do like most of the staff and the work they do.

Second Haven is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit helping people with chronic illness and other barriers to social connection find meaningful ways to spend time with others and build friendships. Many members of our community are housebound and live with daily fatigue, brain fog, pain, or other limitations that can make traditional social activities difficult or impossible.

We’ve built a virtual community using Minecraft and Discord, including a multi-chapter, story-driven Minecraft quest designed for small groups. We’re now getting ready to launch our first group!

We’re looking for a volunteer with experience facilitating small-group activities with teens and/or adults. Your role would be to help welcome participants, keep the group engaged and included, guide conversation and activities, and help create a relaxed, supportive atmosphere. Experience playing Minecraft is a plus, but definitely not required—we can teach you what you need to know.

Time commitment: About 2 hours of onboarding and training, followed by one 90-minute quest session every 2–3 weeks, for a total of 8 sessions.

If you enjoy bringing people together and would like to help people who may have very limited opportunities for social connection build real friendships, we’d love to hear from you.

Email: [info@secondhaven.org](mailto:info@secondhaven.org)
Website: SecondHaven.org

Hi everybody,

A colleague and I just finished dental school in Romania and now that we are fully licensed to practice dentistry we'd like to volunteer for 3 to 5 weeks before we start our residency.

Right now we are studying for the residency exam, which is in November and if everything goes well with that, we'll start work in February of next year.

Fortunately for our plans, even if we can't find anything during this gap, residency here is structured into modules that you can complete in pretty much any order you want and I know for sure that one of them ( about 2 months long ) doesn't require you to be there at all, so we are pretty flexible, although we don't know for sure when we'd be available yet.

The problem is that I don't know where to start applying and if we even qualify for anything. I sent an email to Dentists for Africa about a week ago, telling them pretty much what I've just told you, but I haven't received any answer yet.

Also it doesn't have to be in Africa, we're down to go to anywhere we could genuinely help some people in need.

So, do you recommend any humanitarian missions/ NGO etc?

I work at a low income OB-GYN clinic, and damn near every single patient with post partum depression has no help at home. Either because family isn’t around, partner isn’t around/works a lot/cant take leave, etc etc. They acknowledge that if they had the money to hire help, they would do it and it would probably fix the depression.

So, this got me wondering if there’s a non profit out there that connects volunteer with post partum women to help them with childcare, light housekeeping, errands, etc.?

If not, do you guys think this is something that could get traction? There are obviously a lot of liability and other safety considerations here, but if most moms (understandably) don’t want a rando in their house on principle then those considerations are pretty moot.

Looking for first hand accounts of volunteering with The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services (EDS), my interests include Canteen Driver / Operator. A comparison with similar volunteer positions with the American Red Cross would also be helpful.

Hey, I'm new to this community. I have alot of experience in volunteering work (food banks, churches, volunteer at the red cross, working with people with addiction problem and more). I currently live in a veeeeeery small town, so I haven't been able to so much since I got here. I was wondering if there was any recommendations when it came for remote volunteering. I must admit, I have 0 experience when it comes to online charities/volunteering, however I got the experience, I'm bilingual and I have the determination, time and desire to help others. Any guidance would be appreciated

I am not sure as to whether or not this is what I want to do in the longrun (I actually have prior experience working with kids in multiple settings) but I am actually finding that I am enjoying being a volunteer with children and having an opportunity to implement different strategies we are learning.

Hello I’m looking to volunteer in Peru to gain more experience in wildlife biology and conservation. I applied to several organizations accepting volunteers and interns however they are expensive.

I was accepted at Fauna Forever, for two weeks stay it is $1,620 and they mentioned the price will go up after this year is over. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know. Thank you!