Volunteer Opportunities Near Me

Posted on February 26, 2021

Are you someone who types “volunteer opportunities near me” every time you are by yourself? If yes, volunteers are needed for every second cause that comes into existence. However, we do understand the magnanimity of the right volunteers finding the right opportunities at the right time.

Thus, iConnectX has compiled a list of 10 places you can volunteer at along with the list of organizations you can consider.

Let’s begin with the former

What Volunteer Works Near Me Can Choose?

1. Local Public Library

Public libraries are desperate to find volunteers for a couple of jobs. For example, volunteer opportunities with LA County Library, one of the United States’ largest library systems, including

• Cleaning and sorting library materials
• Conducting events for kids like storytelling
• Offering technical support
• Raising funds for library programming

2. Local Community Center

While each city has at least one community center, many big cities have multiple, to cater to specific audiences like youth or elderly. No matter what, local community centers need volunteers to carry forth worth. For Example, Chicago Youth Centers looks out for volunteers to

• Mentor and help students with their homework
• Supervise after-school activities
• Conduct arts and crafts events
• Maintain gardens and specific playing areas

3. Animal Shelters

Does your love for animals know no bounds? You can now easily offer aid and comfort to the ones in need. All by being a part of animal shelters like Animal Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

The activities that will you be doing if you volunteer are as follows

• Cleaning cages
• Dumping litter
• Comforting animals
• Organizing adoption events

Also Read:Does Volunteering Makes Any Difference

4. Food Banks

Food is one of the basic human needs and if you want to do more than pay money at the coffee shops for people who would need it, you would have to volunteer for it. To give an example, the Atlanta Community Food Bank invites volunteers to:

• Inspect and package food donations
• Supervise & restock open-to-the-public food shelves
• Liaison with partner agencies that distribute donated food
• Lift loads as heavy as 40 pounds

5. Human & Civil Rights

If you feel that more needs to be done for

• Immigrants and refugees
• LGBTQ community
• Members of racial and ethnic minority groups
• Individuals struggling with addiction
• Individuals who can’t afford legal representation

Then, you must volunteer yourself for work that uplifts this section. The work that involves this as follows

• Offering counseling and therapy
• Offering pro-bono services
• Offering technical, financial, or creative services

6. Local Recreational Parks

If you are wondering what for your local recreational parks need volunteers, it’s for

• Seasonal events – Spring, Fall, etc.
• Leaf collection
• Picnic area maintenance and more.

For example, the Arlington, Texas Parks & Recreation Department offers volunteer works that include

• Coaching recreational league teams
• Helping with cleaning up the park
• Organizing events at the parks
• Maintaining garden beds

7. Political Organizations

If you volunteer at a political organization, you will be asked to do jobs like

• Taking up the maintenance of financial workload
• Organizing fund-raising events
• Joining crime-reduction groups
• Organizing rallies to educate people

8. Nursing Homes

While nursing houses have enough resources and staff to carry the basic activities, they need volunteers to fill in roles where they can

• Socialize with the patients
• Help them with the exercises
• Ward off patient’s loneliness

For example, Episcopal Homes, a Minnesota-based care facility chain, needs volunteers to

• Teach basic technology skills
• Help patients exercise
• Deliver mail
• Facilitate social activities!
• Offer companionship

What Organizations offer Volunteer Opportunities Near Me?

Now that we have tackled the first part, let’s move on to the other that deals with the organizations that offer volunteer opportunities.

Categorizations based on volunteer opportunities have been made. They are as follows

General Volunteer Works

The following are some general volunteering options that offer umpteen volunteer opportunities based on your location, interest, and more.

1. Idealist
2. Points of Light Foundation Volunteer Centers
3. Volunteer Match
4. All for Good

US Government-Sponsored Volunteer Opportunities

These government-based volunteer opportunities offer both domestic and international volunteer works.

1. Peace Corps
2. AmeriCorps
3. Senior Corps
4. Volunteer.gov
5. Ready

Apart from the traditional two-year volunteer option in the Peace Corps, there are more short-term options given. AmeriCorps, a US-based version of Peace Corps, also pays a stipend under a full-time opportunity. While the Senior Corps offers volunteer works for people above the age of 55, Ready focuses on emergencies such as fire, flood, and hurricanes.

Also Read: Ideas for Empowering Your Volunteers to Make the Most of Holiday Fundraising

Global Volunteer Works

1. Global Service Corps
2. Global Volunteer Network
3. United Nations Volunteers
4. Volunteer International
5. World Volunteer Web
6. Transitions Abroad
7. Geo Visions
8. Go Volunteering
9. Volunteer World

The first two are global networks that match students and families with worldly projects. Choose the third organization for UN-affiliated opportunities and others for global volunteering opportunities in general.

Students and Youth Volunteer Opportunities

Since students and youth feel more passionately towards a cause, the opportunities for them are galore. Finding the right one, however, is the most difficult. Given below are certain opportunity-offering organizations that you can consider.

1. Do Something
2. National Youth Leadership Council
3. Youth Service Opportunities Project
4. Youth Volunteer Corps of America
5. City Year
6. Generation On

Volunteer Works for Executives and Professionals

Be it mentoring a mentee or training the executives, these organizations cover it all.

1. Financial Services Volunteer Corps
2. Health Volunteers Overseas
3. SCORE
4. Taproot Foundation
5. Catcha Fire
6. Executive Service Corps

Volunteer Opportunities for Older Adults and Retirees

1. Create the Good – AARP
2. Senior Corps, Foster Grandparents (For volunteers who are 55 and over.)
3. Experience Corps – AARP (Tutoring in schools)

Some of these organizations also offer ways to connect virtually through phones or computers. Many of the opportunities offered by these organizations can be clubbed under “micro-volunteering” as they can be done in a very short duration of time. Besides, because most organizations look for youth to support their cause, this section becomes important for older people to work towards something they truly feel about.

Virtual and Micro-volunteering

1. Catcha Fire (It provides virtual volunteer opportunities for skilled volunteers.)
2. Volunteer Match (It has a well-stocked virtual volunteer list.)
3. Help from Home (It focuses on virtual, micro-volunteer actions.)

Volunteer Works with Specific Interests

1. Amateur historians (For history buffs who can make historical documents accessible by collaborating with The Smithsonian’s)
2. Birdwatchers (For people inclined towards tracking bird populations and migration patterns.)
3. Weekend astronomers (For those interested in contributing to mapping the skies at Zooniverse.)
4. Virtual globetrotters (For people who want to do the greater good.)

Volunteer Opportunities During Special Days and Weeks

If your system picks “find volunteer opportunities near me” when you put in the keyword “volunteer”, you should know how some days promote volunteering opportunities with great pomp and show. Some of those are

1. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (3rd week in January)
2. National Volunteer Week (3rd week in April)
3. National Day of Service and Remembrance (September 11)
4. National Family Volunteer Day (Saturday before Thanksgiving)

Wrapping Up

It does not take much to start giving back to the society that has been doing so much for your growth. Investing time and efforts for a cause you really feel for oozes out happy vibes. And you will be surprised how volunteer opportunities will flood you with options once you are serious about the same.

However, if you are facing issues with finding the right organization, iConnectX runs networking programs that connect the right nonprofits with the right volunteers, find the list of charities to volunteer. To know more, you can either give us a call or join the live chat. We will love to offer you our best possible assistance.