Finding Community Service and Volunteering for Teens
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Introduction Teens in the USA and Canda want to volunteer. But youth under 18 may have trouble finding opportunities. This page is meant to help. Before you begin to search Most people want to volunteer for nonprofit organizations (rather than for-profit businesses). Registered nonprofits in the USA have a federal tax i.d. number. If you aren't sure if an organization is a registered nonprofit in the USA, ask if they have a federal tax id number, or look up the organization on Guidestar.org, a database of all registered nonprofit organizations in the USA. Volunteering at a public school or certain government-run programs and agencies (a prison, a community court, etc.) is also looked on very highly by universities and potential employers. Some hospitals, senior homes and hospices are for-profit; because of the clientele that these organizations serve, most universities and potential volunteers are still interested in hearing about volunteering activities you may have undertaken at these specific or-profit organizations. Helping family with tasks (taking your grandmother to the grocery, cleaning your mother's house, baby sitting your sister's kids, etc.) will probably NOT be considered by universities or other organizations as "volunteering." You will be responsible for your transportation to and from a site. Start thinking about your transportation now, BEFORE you start asking about volunteering: will you take mass transit? Ride a bicycle? Walk? If someone is going to drive you, has that person already committed to always be available during certain days, and certain times of days? Identify what days, and times of days, you are available, as well as the first day and last day you are available. Identify how many hours you are hoping to volunteer each week and each month. Don't think that you will volunteer in your spare time; set a schedule for your volunteering, or it will never happen. Because you are under 18, you will have to get a parent or guardian to sign a permission slip that affirms you are permitted to volunteer. You will get this permission slip from an organization that wants you to volunteer. Do not wait until the last minute to try to volunteer! You will probably need to call several places just to get an appointment for an interview! It may take three or four weeks before you get started volunteering even if you start calling right away! If you are under 16, it will be even harder to find volunteering opportunities, and if you are under 14, it gets even harder! You will have to do a lot of research to finding volunteering opportunities if you are under 16, but if you are persistent, you will find something (or, perhaps, you can create your own volunteering activity. Do not show up at a work site unannounced. For instance, don't just show up at a Habitat for Humanity work site and say, "I'm here to volunteer." You need to call several days beforehand and go through an organization's formal application and orientation process, and get the okay from the organization regarding your start date. You will have to be trained for just about any volunteering you want to do, but training will be counted as a part of your volunteering time. Be ready to track volunteering hours yourself; use a spread sheet or a notebook, and note the organization you assisted, what you did, the day, and how many hours you contributed. When you finish volunteering at an organization, or when you are ready to start filling out college applications, ask the organization you have helped to write a letter on their letterhead confirming how many hours you contributed and what you accomplished (and adding anything else they would like to say). It's a good idea to ask an organization about their policy regarding a letter to confirm your hours BEFORE you start volunteering. And remember: all training activities and meetings count as volunteering hours! Be honest about any and all convictions when you are filling out your volunteering application. Some volunteer roles will ask for your arrest record as well. An arrest or conviction will NOT necessarily disqualify you from volunteering (it depends on the organization, the type of work it does, the population it serves and the volunteer tasks). An organization has every right to fire you / let you go as a volunteer, often with no stated reason. They are under no obligation to keep you -- especially if you have missed shifts, violated policies, etc. If you are seeking volunteering in order to fulfill a community service obligation from a court or school obligation, see this resource.
There are two kinds of assistance to people
When looking for volunteering opportunities, you might want to think about which kind of volunteering you want to do, particularly if you are volunteering for experience that looks good on a CV, for entry into a university, for potential scholarships or for an award of some kind (in which case you would probably want to go for category #2). But don't think that there are strict borders between these kinds of volunteering; if you volunteered to help create a program that trains volunteers to help in disaster relief, you would be engaging in BOTH kinds of volunteering.
There are many web sites where you can find places to volunteer in your community in the USA: For Canada: Volunteer CanadaVoluntary Organizations Consortium of British Columbia Idealist/Action Without Borders If you find a nonprofit you would like to help, but don't see a volunteering opportunity listed at that organization you want to do, or, call the organization directly and tell them what you would like to do as a volunteer. You can find every registered nonprofit in your zip code using Guidestar; if a nonprofit sounds interesting to you, type its name into Google, look at its web site or call the organization, and find out what volunteering opportunities they have available that the may not have listed online. Present yourself well on the phone. You may want to rehearse what you want to say ("Hello. I'm 14-years-old and I would like to volunteer at your organization. Is that possible? What kinds of volunteering activities may I do?"). If you send an email, be sure to spell check it. If you are between the ages of 11 and 18 and there is a Youth Volunteer Corps of America (YVC) office in your community, you can become a volunteer with YVC. See the YVC web site for more information. Contact the Girl Scouts of the USA council office that serves your area and see if there is a Girl Scout day camp or single event in your area that you could help with as a volunteer. Nonprofit theaters and performing arts centers are often in need of ushers in the evenings and on weekends; you not only get volunteer hours, you get into a show for free! Call local nonprofit theaters, including community theaters, to see if they need ushers and when you could participate. Local, non-professional/amateur theater companies welcome volunteers in a variety of roles, from selling tickets to performing on stage. Hospitals involve young volunteers in a variety of roles, however, you may be required to provide documentation of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine and recent TB test results (from within the past 90 days of your application). Volunteers may:
Many nonprofits would welcome your help on short-term computer and Internet-related assignments (but you will need to have the appropriate expertise, and you will probably need to propose the idea to a nonprofit yourself -- in fact, probably more than one).
Animals Want to lead your own volunteering activity? This list of ideas for the Girl Scouts Gold and Silver Awards are ALSO good for anyone (not just a Girl Scout) seeking ways to create or lead a sustainable, lasting benefit to a community, to have a leadership role as a volunteer. You could also look into leading a group volunteering activity. You can go on these volunteer "vacations", but note that some require you to pay your own transportation, accommodation and food costs, plus a service fee:
Most volunteering that you can do from your home or a school computer requires a certain degree of expertise, such as designing flyers, maintaining a web site, translating text, editing video, designing a database, writing press releases or funding proposals, managing online social networking activities, etc. Even if you have the expertise necessary to volunteer online, you will still probably have to go onsite to the organization you want to help, to introduce yourself, to go through their orientation, to meet staff, and maybe even to convince them to allow you to volunteer online (virtual volunteering). You can also try these sites to volunteer online, but note that these are REAL volunteering assignments, meaning the commitments you make are REAL. You cannot do these whenever you might have some extra time; you have to make the time to do your online volunteering assignment, should you be lucky enough to get such an assignment:
LibraVox; volunteers create audio books from books whose copyrights have expired. NOAA weather volunteers. Volunteers serve as storm spotters and daily weather observers Join a national network of Cooperative Observer Program (COOP) volunteers. UN Online Volunteering Service; these assignments require skilled volunteers. Assignments include translating documents, writing funding proposals, researching grants, providing expert advice, etc. Nabuur, links Neighbours (online volunteers) with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. ebird database, supporting the National Audubon Society. You go "birding" or bird-watching, observing birds with your eye or binoculars, and then enter into the database when, where, and how you went birding, completing a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing. VolunteerMatch.org - Virtual opportunities; Note that many opportunities are mistagged as "virtual", so you will have to read through all the virtual opportunities to determine if they are really something you could do from home. Home-Based Volunteering Below are home-based volunteering tasks you can do that don't involve using the Internet or computers to deliver your services (though you may need to use the Internet to sign up to help). These are assginments for people who sew, knit, or crochet, and for those who want to make greeting cards for ill children or to USA military personnel
Mother Bear Project, provides crocheted and knit bears to children with HIV/AIDS Shawl Ministry (faith-based Christian volunteering) Project Linus, making blankets and crafts for sick children Quilts of Valor (QOVs), making quilts for soldiers. Adopt a Soldier, allows volunteers to send letters and items to soliders.
The Value of Your Service As you volunteer, you are:
If you are volunteering to help you get into a university, note that different colleges and universities have different application processes. Some ask for volunteering hours, some don't. Those that do may want you to fill out a particular form, others will want you to supply letters from the organization confirming your hours, and still others will want you to write a narrative about why you volunteered, what you learned as a part of your experience, why you think volunteering is important, etc., and don't care about number of hours at all. Many universities and scholarship committees are looking for people who have engaged in leadership volunteering activities. Also see
More than you ever wanted to know about Creating or Holding a Successful Fund Raising Event. Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters. Advice for Volunteer Groups / Group Volunteering. Details on how to quickly fill a community service obligation from a court or school.
Ideas for the Girl Scouts Gold and Silver Awards Ideas for Funding Your Volunteering Abroad Trip. Details on volunteering abroad (volunteering internationally). Careers Working With Animals (for the benefit of animals)
Helping People Address Their Problems with Plastic
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