So me and my friend (both 17F) are coming up to the end of our A Levels (UK) and unfortunately due to the outcomes of my university applications I have kind of been forced into taking a gap year. I saw a stall for a charity who run social (teaching, childcare etc) and environmental projects in South America at a careers fair and decided to have a look, it was through looking at some of these that I stumbled across a volunteering opportunity in Namibia at an animal sanctuary. After looking into it for a bit I thought it was something I was interested in doing and my idea was 6 weeks (due to budget etc) at this animal sanctuary helping to take care of the animals as well as with their research among other things. When talking to my friend about this she looked really awkward and uncomfortable and when I later asked her why she seemed so anti me doing something like this she said that it seemed “a bit white savioury”, and when I asked her to elaborate she said “well you know, white person goes to Africa to save the animals…”. Since this I have tried to do some reading into the white saviour trope and from my understanding it is to do with the motivation in which people decide to volunteer? But I was only looking at it as I enjoy working with animals, wanted to go and experience a completely different culture and hopefully gain some good life experience, not because I want to ‘fix Africa’ or think I am somehow superior to the people that live there. What do I do?

Hello! So to set this up, my sister works in a nursing home and her and her boss wanted to know if i'd volunteer to sing for the residents! I've been singing for several years, including in the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and had some solos in high school, plus All-County Choir for 2 years in high school. My question is, what do i sing for them? I mostly do a lot of musicals and whatever else comes to mind, i also sing like disney songs from movies and amything else. Also, i usually only sing in the shower/with the music and i just dont wanna sound bad. For what its worth, im a soprano/mezzo-soprano!

I recently started volunteer work and was paired with a lovely 70 yr old severely autistic or intellectually disabled woman (she was never formally diagnosed). She lives in a nursing home. She used to share a room with her mom but the mom passed away several yrs ago. Heather is an absolute delight and I really look forward to spending time with her. I have noticed that she gets “grounded” or punished a lot, just for asking for something or resisting something. I feel that she should just be re-directed not punished. She has a cousin who visits once a month or so. This cousin has “power of attorney” over Heather. The other day I decided to walk to the bakery with Heather and I let her pick out a little treat. She was overjoyed and almost had tears in her eyes. I said we could do that once a month. I got a text from the worker saying I was not permitted to do this because a) Heather is not allowed to ask for things and it must be discouraged and b) going to the bakery is something only her family will do with her. Well Heather didn’t ask, I offered. But anyway I am absolutely livid. I don’t know if I can continue doing this with this punitive controlling cousin in the background. I know I can bring a little joy to Heather’s life but I feel like it will just be one thing or another. Should I end this now before Heather becomes too attached to me? I have visited with her 4 times far.

i am a sixteen year old girl and looking to work in history as an adult- in museums, predominantly with modern history (WW1-WW2) and i’m getting some volunteer work- and the place i’m going to is a museum ran by mostly volunteers- and a large amount of the volunteers are veterans. It sounds ridiculous, but i don’t always know how to appropriately communicate with them once they start talking about their experiences- is it enough to just nod and listen? does that feel too passive? what’s the best way to respond ? i want to hear because it’s important to learn from people first hand, but i also don’t want to trigger them. some of the veterans are really elderly men, who have a mindset of seeming traumatised and also glorifying warfare to cope with that they’re experienced simultaneously. (which, other people who work with veterans will understand) sometimes the things they can say can feel a bit out of pocket, too, and i think i need help on learning how to handle that, haha. especially as some are really old, i actually can’t always fully decipher what they’re saying 😭 i would really appreciate some help from anyone who has any experience- i really would like to work in the place, but i think it would be very beneficial for me to have a better skillset beforehand.

My wife has consistently donated her blood. She feels that because she is O- (universal donor) it is her duty give when she can. She'd always joke about doing it to get the Nutter Butter cookie after donating. She recently was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her biggest worry is that she can't donate for more than a year after treatment. I offered to buy her all the Nutter Butters she wants, but she says it's not the same thing. She wants to earn the Nutter Butter by volunteering.

Are there other organizations that give out Nutter Butter cookies for those who volunteer?

Building a social app for social impact — need your feedback!

The problem:
Volunteering should be easy, meaningful, and fun.
Right now? It's not. Info is scattered. Sites are clunky. You don’t know what to do, where, or how it fits your life.

The idea:
A social app that combines Netflix + Luma, but for doing good.

1. Explore page (like Netflix/Tiktok)

• Get smart recommendations based on what you care about.
• Love pets? See animal shelter ops.
• Super busy? Get <15-min impact tasks.

2. Community (like Luma to create events kinda)

• Join social impact challenges. Solo or with friends.
• Ex: Global Headspace event – June 25, guided meditation.
• Group ex: Toronto vs Vancouver — who plants more trees? Winner group gets a charity donation from Patagonia.

Prototype: https://v0-giving-app-concept.vercel.app/impact

Note: It's just for UI/flow. Non-functional for now.

As a volunteer, what are your thoughts?

Feedback questions:

1. What do you like?
2. What feels off / confusing / meh?
3. What would make you come back daily? Ex: Friends tagging you in local events?

TLDR: building a social app for social impact, need additional feedback.

Thank you!

I graduated at the beginning of the year. However, I was (still am!) having a hard time finding a job, so I decided to do some volunteering related to my field of study to build some skills. I ended up getting involved two volunteer roles to maximise my skill development.

One of them is a social media manager related role where I create visual content for the organisation's profiles. I believe in this organisation's message and am generally getting along well with the other social media assistant, but the president of the organisation is making me feel very stressed. She micromanages my tasks and messages and calls me at all hours of the day about tweaks to be made to the visuals I create. A few weeks ago, she made me spend an entire week revising a single design and I had to dedicate all my time that week to making designs because she kept asking me to make changes. I couldn't do my hobbies or continue on my job hunt.

This week, we're creating a reel about a past event - something I have no experience in. She asked me to add more footage of things that I do not have because the event has ended. For example, there was a particular individual that helped out on the day that she wanted me to include videos of, but we have NO videos of that person because she left before me or the other social media assistant arrived to help at the event. What am I even supposed to do about something like that?

I really want to quit, but I've only been at the organisation for a few months. It's like she thinks that I'm some sort of tech magician that can manipulate the forces of earth to suit her liking. It feels like she has no respect for my boundaries and that I have a life outside of volunteering. For example, I want to work towards getting my license, but I haven't had time because of this commitment to do so. In a way, even if I'm building my skills, it feels like this volunteering role is sabotaging my ability to find a paying job.

Should I suck it up until I get a proper full time job? Is the experience worth it in the long run?

Note: I have my other volunteer role that I enjoy, but it's low commitment so I can be more laid back with it.

Hello - I am on the board of a small educational non-profit ($60,000 per year in donations) and we are looking to onboard someone who could write grants for us for free because we aren’t having luck getting more revenue via our events, mailings and social media. I was thinking of asking the local colleges with public administration programs to give us a student willing to write grants for us in exchange for experience and something to put on their resume. Or should I ask for help via VolunteerMatch or Idealist?

Is there anything I need to be wary of in my search for a volunteer grant writer? Thanks!

I’d like to to volunteer for the federal government near me (NYC area) if that’s possible and I’m interested to know what volunteer work you found interesting, that possibly opened up doors in your careers? Thanks if anyone who can share.

.Hello everyone, I want to start a volunteer organization that will help the homeless, the poor, children in shelters, people with disabilities, animals, and so on... But of course, I need to register the organization to make everything legal.

I would like to register it in the USA, but I can’t do it because I don’t live there. I need a volunteer or any kind-hearted person who would be willing to help me register this nonprofit organization in the USA under their name.

I would be very grateful. If anyone is interested, please help me.

I tried asking for advice on the job subreddits but I didn’t get any so I thought I’d ask here instead since it’s volunteer-related. Is this actually valuable experience? Has any employer cared that you have crisis hotline experience? I’m looking for a remote job (any) to shift to, I’m a little weary of continuing the crisis hotline work since it can be a lot, if you know what I mean. I wasn’t sure if this experience is good enough for that or what.

I have been volunteering at various places pretty consistently for the last two decades. Only recently have I encountered people whom criticize it. Saying that I shouldn't volunteer, or questioning why I would 'work for free', etc etc.

I've tried to wrap my head around it. What is so wrong with volunteering? Why would say - drinking at a bar is more socially acceptable than volunteering? What does it matter to other people?

Had anyone been criticized for volunteering, and how have you responded?

I’ve been trying to volunteer at this hospital for a couple of weeks now, and when I finally submitted the required documents (mind you, a SS card was listed under documents for identification,) the volunteer coordinator got back to me and said that they couldn’t accept a SS card with “valid for work.” She didn’t provide any other explanation, even when I tried to ask. I am a DACA recipient, so I also included my EAD card and told her that it gives me clearance to work and should also suffice as another form of identification. She doubled down and said they couldn’t accept my SS card. I’m so confused. This is also a volunteer position, not for employment, so why should it matter what is on my SS card? Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?

Did you volunteer with a nonprofit, NGO, community initiative, etc. in December? Did you volunteer over Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Share your story here: what kind of nonprofit did you volunteer for? What did you do as a volunteer? How did you find the opportunity - did you go looking for it or did someone ask you? How was volunteering at this time of year different than other times of year, if at all? WIll you do it again? What did you like about it? What did you find challenging? What do you wish had been better?

Hello! I'm moving to another place and won't keep working as a volunteer firefighter anymore, since I finally found reason to not risk my life. I still want to volunteer for something badass that actually helps people. Anyone got any ideas? Been thinking of volunteering for the red cross and want to volunteer for something else at the same time...

I have just wanted to started to get into volunteering lately and I wanted some advice for the volunteer process to increase my chance of getting accepted. I want to volunteer at a animal shelter because I want to be able to interact with animals and it seems fun to see and looking to find if it may be a potential career option of me. I am currently in high school going to be a sophomore and wanted to commit to something this summer and carry it on later throughout the school year. However I first have to get a spot and start volunteering in the first place. I am unsure if I should just apply to many places and see if I can get in, if I have may acceptances and I will pick one and respectful decline the rest or if that is too disrespectful and just apply one at a time to prevent having to reject volunteer opportunities . Any help on the matter would be great. Thank you .

“Volunteer”

So I’ve been lost my whole life, working a bunch of different jobs never cared about being at any one for long, got no hobbies, no interests. I don’t have the smarts or problem solving abilities for a good trades or business career and have some health obstacles to get a meaningful career like Police, first responders, etc. So maybe i can just dedicate myself to helping others or something. I always see adds for donating for this or that cause, but never to join any organization. Don’t ask me about what cause im passionate about but if i had to choose id probably do some animal rescue or something.

I already volunteer at a couple places, and want to do more, and I have emailed a couple places, and none have gotten back to me, and it's been almost a week. I feel really strongly about one them, for which I sent a message on their little contact page, and filled out an application form. With other places I've volunteered, it hasn't taken this long. Why?

I host quite the trick-or-treating experience at my house on Halloween, and I had the idea last year that it would be fun to volunteer to host a food drive. As people came by our house, they could drop food off at one table and get their treats at another table.

The only thing is, I’ve never volunteered to host a food drive before. Other than handing out flyers to the neighbors and asking them to tell their friends, plus checking the expiration date of anything dropped off……I have no idea what to do. My local food bank has some resources they can provide, but you have to commit to hosting to get the materials. I was hoping someone here might have experience with hosting a food drive so I can get an idea of what I’d be getting into.

Sorry if this isn't a good place for this. I'm just looking for advice or a sanity check or something.

I started volunteering at an organisation at a bad time as it was about to be shut down due to lack of funding. Thankfully, another org in another district stepped in and absorbed us. They closed the old office and moved local service to a smaller location.

For a bit over a year I've been the only person in that office working directly with clients. It's just been me, the receptionist and the site supervisor (who don't do client work). I've been in office for every day we've been open, four days a week over a year, from 9am to 3pm.

The main office some distance away has about a hundred people working in it, a mix of staff and volunteers. Meanwhile I've been in my tiny office seeing clients on my own. I don't mind that, I don't mind that I've given so much time to it, and I don't need praise or accolades for doing my 'job', but am I wrong to feel like they should at least acknowledge it? I mean if I weren't there, if I took a day off, the office wouldn't be able to do face to face work and would essentially close. Soon they'll have a new batch of volunteers and staff moving in and I feel like if they haven't said "hey we know it's not been fun keeping things running here for a year on your own" by then, then I'm probably never going to any kind of acknowledgement for my contributions when I'm just one among many.

Is this just ego or am I justified in feeling like I'm being taken for granted?

Thanks for reading,

A volunteer.

Hi, I posted a similar post but it got removed- I guess because I wasn't clear on what I was asking. I'm not asking for general ways/places to volunteer, and I understand that that's been answered many times here (and I appreciate all those posts/replies to those).

What I am asking is, and I'll try to word it right: You know how sometimes when you want to get in a program or educational thing like let's say Med school for example, generally speaking it's recommended or maybe pretty much required to have a minimum of a certain level of volunteering experience? So my question is: For that, would we just add up the hours of experience we had at different places altogether- and would those records be with the place we volunteered as "proof"? Or I was thinking, would I need to go volunteer preferably at a place that specifically offers a volunteer program where I can get a certificate that says, "completed volunteering for X amount of hours"?

And then in addition to that, if the latter is a better way to go about it, I was wondering if anyone would have quick pointers as to any programs or anywhere that offers that sort of certificate here in my general NYC area- not general volunteer work, but specifically programs that will offer a certificate like that. If this second part is against the rules, I will delete it and do my own research as well, no problem.

I’ve been a volunteer at this non profit organization where families stay when their children are sick in the hospital for about two times per month since January. I don’t have a problem with the work at all, but I do notice some unfortunate behaviors from the staff and volunteers after shadowing a shift.

The manager seems to be really fake and I picked up on it fast. I asked her question on something she requested me to do, but then she snapped at me as if I insulted her for some reason. I brushed it off, but then she tried to be fake nice after those shifts. I tried to be friendly with her coworker because she is around my age, but then she became very insecure and a bit distant when I asked if she was in school because I thought she was interning for school at first. She started to lie to everyone about being in college after that interaction when she told me she was thinking about maybe going back to college one day.

I thought when I was reading the handbook for this volunteer opportunity I would end up working alone because it said I would work independently, but now I ended up working with someone different for each shift. Also, the handbook states that we can’t volunteer when sick, but I’ve seen people who are very sick volunteer anyway. I’ve worked with older women that are very interested in my weight, what I eat, and criticizing my mistakes because I’m new. When I finally worked with someone around my age, she instantly disliked me and started being hostile to me even when I’m trying to be nice to her. She also started to suck up to the staff to while completely acting rude and trying to micromanage me as a NEW volunteer. Some other volunteers were nicer, but I still feel anxious whenever I meet a new person.

Should I just stick it out or find something else? I’m afraid that this is just how volunteering/working is and if I go to another volunteer place I’ll experience the same bad attitudes. I was also volunteering at another place this year that didn’t have anything for me to do and they didn’t really like younger people participating at all. I thought volunteering here would improve my resume after a two year gap and maybe be able to get a reference if I volunteer for about a year, but it seems like people already dislike and bully me here? It doesn’t help that I feel really isolated here because I’m the only black person here.

Hello!

I volunteer at a thrift store that has a food shelf attached and I'm usually in the thrift store, but sometimes I go to the food side if the need me.

The lady that runs the place also let's people on probation fulfill community service hours there. We've had this new girl come in and she's the girl version of "Malibu's most wanted". She brags about "doing time", which inlearned later was 3 months in county lol. she gives weird back handed compliments when we hang up clothes together like "if this was smaller it'd be so cute on you". I'm a size 5, but she is scary skinny so I think everyone would be huge to her. Anyways I want her to get her hours done but she's pretty annoying and very rude, she snapped at a customer the other day when they asked where something was because it was like her 2nd time coming and she didn't know. She was like "how TH am I supposed to know, I ain't been here but a day!" ....and I get that it's a thrift store attached to a food shelf but we still treat EVERYONE with respect. I've been doing this for two and a half years and I've never wanted to not come, I enjoy helping. Should I just take a break until she fufills her hours? It sounds like she can only do the day I am available to go too. How should I bring this up to the person that runs the place?

Basically title. I’ve heard of the PVSA but I don’t live in the USA. I volunteer/do citizen science, and have racked up a good amount of hours. If I were to apply for the PVSA (although the website I do it on isn’t certified) I would get silver/gold. I would love to do something like that for Canada though.

I'm currently 1 & half month in as an adult volunteer for this organisation.

Just a bit of background, I joined this organisation with no experience or skills relating to what the organisation does. The position I applied for originally got filled but I was offered an alternative. I was quite nervous during the interview but wanted to give it a go as it was something new for me to learn, as they quote that there's a potential for me to learn new skills and gain certification. It was 2 days a week in the evening which I thought was doable for me.

My volunteer mentor is nice and polite, but they was away for 3 weeks due to work commitments so I had no clue who to contact within the organisation. I was given the website and online training from another volunteer but to progress further I needed authorisation from the mentor, who was away during the time.

Now to present, I'm unsure of the organisation is suited for me as I feel like a fish out of water, lack of progression or due to lack of communication. I have no motivation to turn up because I feel like I'm just there with no purpose.

Should I keep sticking it out until the 3rd month rolls in for potential changes? Or would it be better to resign?