For many people across the world, volunteering is an opportunity to share their passions and skills with others who are in need. Not only that, but it’s also a selfless way to connect with them and lend a hand.
Thanks to the internet, it’s never been easier to volunteer. You not only get to connect with people in your home area and afar, but also get to work with charities that could use your helping hands.
Whether you’re an individual seeking new volunteering opportunities to serve, or you’ve been volunteering before and want to switch projects or countries, you can find opportunities online.
We’ve listed the best volunteer websites to find opportunities near you so that you can find opportunities to volunteer right in your backyard.
Best Volunteer Websites to Find Opportunities Near You
1. VolunteerMatch
VolunteerMatch is among the biggest volunteer websites and databases that help you connect with volunteering opportunities near your area. The site connects nonprofits with volunteers and is a world leader in volunteerism, having connected over 15 million volunteers to global organizations since its inception.
The site was founded upon the belief that everyone should get a chance to make a difference, and therefore they make it easier for good people and good causes to connect.
At VolunteerMatch, you get a great place to volunteer and create a real impact. The site creates solutions that make it easy for companies, nonprofits, and individuals like you searching for opportunities to make a difference.
VolunteerMatch is the best and most effective way for you to get matched to nonprofits that are passionate and committed to causes that are close to your heart. This way, you can offer help when and where you’re needed, and also get to contribute your time and money.
The site is a highly trusted name in volunteering, and receives over 1.3 million monthly visitors, connects over 16 million volunteers, and is linked to over 132,000 nonprofits, meaning you can’t miss an opportunity to offer your volunteer services in the social sector.
As a portal for volunteers to connect with nonprofits, VolunteerMatch also offers recruitment solutions and connects nonprofits to you, wherever you are and wherever you’re needed.
Corporates also get the chance to access real-time, community-sourced volunteer opportunities so their staff can chip in and lend a hand where they can.
You can sort several possibilities on VolunteerMatch site by causes such as women, seniors, children, animals, arts and more. You can also find virtual opportunities through the website or their smartphone apps and help someone in need while working from the comfort of your home.
Once you find the work that you want, you can sign up to VolunteerMatch and let the nonprofit or organization you want to volunteer at know that you want to help.
To get started, you’ll need to register by completing a brief 15-minute process. Membership is free of cost, but you can still decide on the right service level for you and the organization you want to help out in.
To become a paid VolunteerMatch member, you can pay $9.95 for the Community Leader service or $99 annually. This package offers participating organizations a 15 percent discount on multi-ZIP listings, unlimited recruiting and a suite of services for easier management of volunteers.
You also get increased online visibility, easy to use recruitment tools and convenient access to accounts among other benefits.
2. JustServe
JustServe is another good volunteer website where you can find volunteering opportunities near you. You can search by organizations or by projects and find something that’s specific to you.
The website posts many volunteer opportunities so you can find a place to serve in the community and help those in need while enhancing the quality of life in the community.
The service links you to community volunteer needs and doesn’t discriminate on religion, race, gender, or ethnicity in posting projects, or in encouraging you to serve based on its guidelines.
JustServe is a volunteering platform created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it’s free to use their website and mobile app to find opportunities of service in your community or the world.
It was founded from the firm belief that the ills of this world can be easily solved by following the two great commandments Jesus Christ taught: Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
At JustServe, volunteering opportunities are referred to as projects, and they don’t have any political or advocacy focus. Plus, they’re not-for-profit oriented projects and don’t directly involve the volunteers in handling or soliciting money or other prohibited activities.
The platform’s specialists try to make it easy and simple to post projects, and then encourage volunteers to use the service in a bid to reduce the time taken to find service opportunities. This way, you can spend more time giving your services, and get involved in causes that meet your skills, interests and availability.
Potential organizations and volunteers can browse through past success stories that detail an event, photos of the volunteers, and the dates of the events. The site makes it easy for you to sign up once you find an opportunity near you, after which you can show up at the event when the day comes.
Simply register for an account on the site, type in your preferred location and view opportunities. You can filter the events by volunteer skills, age group or your interests.
JustServe not only shows you one-time events, but you also get to see ongoing opportunities.
3. DoSomething.org
Unlike other volunteer sites mentioned here, DoSomething.org is a tad bit different in terms of its target audience and how it does things.
To begin with, the platform is digital and powers real-world impact. It’s the largest not-for-profit exclusively designed for young people and social change, with millions of members across 131 countries.
The platform activates millions of youths who want to create an impact in their communities offline wherever they are. The members have so far clothed homeless youth, cleaned up the environment, and run the world’s largest sports equipment drive led by young people who have the power and passion to transform their communities.
Young people in every US area code and across 131 countries in the world are being mobilized every day through DoSomething.org.
Through the digital platform, you can join social change, volunteer and civic action campaigns to make a real-world impact on causes that are close to your heart.
Young people are also encouraged to create major positive impacts in their communities and contribute to causes like ending gun violence, improving child literacy and addressing hate speech.
You can stay updated with news and tips through the platform so you can know how to take action in your community. You don’t have to live in a specific area to participate in DoSomething.org events.
Most movements just ask you to do your part and help the cause while guiding you along on how to do it. Other events may ask you to collect food for the needy or clean litter around you.
To get started, just sign up for a campaign or create an account and join DoSomething.org officially to access member benefits. Some of these benefits include scholarships for volunteering without writing essays or striving for good GPAs, earn volunteer credits or hours by completing campaigns and more.
You can find causes that are dear to you from a wide variety including animal welfare, gender rights and equality, education, bullying, homelessness, poverty, environment, health and sexual harassment among others.
You can also filter your search for volunteer opportunities based on location and type of activity. Some of the activities include attending an event, collecting something, flagging content, donating something, hosting an event, signing a petition, or hosting a conversation.
The signup process is simple:
- Join a campaign and create an account with your details to become a member
- Complete a campaign and follow the instructions to make an impact
- Upload and submit a photo of yourself doing the campaign to inspire others. This step also enters you to win amazing gifts like swag, prizes or scholarships
- Build the movement by sharing the campaign with others so they too can get involved
4. Encore.org
Encore.org is another different kind of volunteer website geared towards older activists, leaders and innovators who stand with younger people to bridge divides and create a better feature across generations.
The platform encourages people older than 50 years to find a new purpose in causes that bring meaning to their lives to change the perception that older people shouldn’t be involved in their communities.
Encore elevates ideas and innovators that bring generations together while accelerating intergenerational solutions to critical problems in society from loneliness to literacy.
Members find new ways to bring age diversity to the community, schools and workplaces as well as social movements to tell a new story about generational solidarity.
Older people are involved alongside younger volunteers so they can mentor others and find local opportunities in their local area. The mission is to offer service and care to seniors who reach out for help and assist those who are poor, frail, vulnerable, ignored, desperate and homeless while meeting their daily needs so they can live with decency and dignity.
Encore is funded by individual donations and foundation support, but if you want to volunteer your experience, you can join different Encore programs. The programs include the Encore fellowships for professionals, Gen2Gen, which is meant to mobilize seniors to help kids thrive, or the Encore LinkedIn group to connect with others involved in the movement.
If you want to find Encore programs near you, check the Encore Program map that has US-based encore programs as well as other innovative state and local programs offering encore services and pathways.
5. International Volunteer HQ
International Volunteer HQ is a large website that connects people with volunteer opportunities abroad with projects that target nearly every interest you can imagine. Some of the interest areas include teaching, sports, turtle and marine conservation, music, arts, and women empowerment.
Opportunities are available across North America, Africa, Europe, The Middle East, South America, Asia and the Pacific across more than 150 countries. Volunteers come together to enjoy life-enriching travel experiences that help them create positive transformation.
This transformation occurs in communities supported by International Volunteer HQ, but also within its volunteers. As part of the hosted experience, the platform handles most of the stressful stuff including accommodation, airport pickup and other details so you can be confident that everything is taken care of on your behalf.
IVHQ offers safe, affordable and impactful volunteer programs with an unmatched safety record so you know you’re in good hands. The platform follows industry-leading safety protocols, provides wrap-around support and enforces additional COVID-19 protection measures.
You can explore IVHQ programs across more than 300 projects in over 50 destinations. Such programs include childcare, teaching, health and medical, wildlife/animal/marine, environment and more.
The programs and projects are available for different groups including college students, seniors, adults, families and teens or high school students.
To get started, pick a destination and project to apply for, meet your volunteer travel expert, and then pay a registration fee to secure your place. You need to be covered in case of lost or damaged luggage, medical emergencies while traveling, stolen passport or other travel documents, travel disruptions and other unforeseen events that may tarnish your time abroad.
Wrapping Up
It’s never been easier for people to volunteer as it is today. More and more people of all ages and abilities are actively seeking out opportunities to support causes close to their hearts while improving their communities, besides feeling better about what they do.
Whether you want to volunteer for purposes of finding work or something to do in your free time no matter your age, race, ethnicity, gender or geographical area, these five best websites offer you a chance to get started.