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Volunteer work is an excellent way to serve your community and gain valuable work skills. Even if a hectic schedule leaves you with little time for volunteering, organizations are grateful for any moments you can spare. In addition, volunteer work helps to increase your repertoire of skills and life experiences, increasing your viability as a job candidate. This can be particularly important for a recent college grad or young person trying to break into the workforce.
Here is a list of excellent public service organizations, as well as databases of job and volunteer opportunities.
Public Service Organizations
Idealist.org/Action Without Borders
Action Without Borders is a movement of individuals and groups with original humanitarian and environmental projects. Large or small organizations, schools, households and individuals can all become involved at the local or international level.
The American Red Cross
The American Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian organization that provides relief to disaster victims and helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. This site includes a directory of Red Cross local chapters and includes information about programs, events and Red Cross initiatives.
America's Charities
America's Charities is a coalition of prestigious, national charitable organizations providing direct services in thousands of local communities. The organization provides employers with a choice of charities to present to employees, recognizing the importance of charitable choice and diversity. The site includes links to member charities online.
AmeriCorps National Service Program
The AmeriCorps National Service Program is the Presidential public service program that provides incentives for citizens to participate in important domestic quality-of-life issues. Its three direct service programs are AmeriCorps*USA, AmeriCorps*VISTA -- Volunteers In Service To America and AmeriCorps*NCCC -- National Civilian Conservation Corps.
America's Second Harvest
The largest domestic hunger relief organization in the United States, America's Second Harvest supplies the needy with 1 billion pounds of food a year. America's Second Harvest provides food for those who are hungry due to poverty, as well as those affected by natural disaster.
The Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-policy institute in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 1982 by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. The Center is dedicated to fighting disease, hunger, poverty, conflict and oppression through collaborative initiatives in the areas of democratization and development, global health and urban revitalization. At present, the Center operates 13 core programs and initiatives that are active in more than 30 countries, including the United States.
Council on International Educational Exchange
The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental agency that sponsors student travel, study and work abroad to promote better understanding in the global community. CIEE also sponsors short-term community service opportunities known as International Volunteer Projects.
Earthwatch Institute
Earthwatch Institute is a private, nonprofit environmental agency that sponsors cultural and environmental research, and also enables the public to participate in scientific research and environmental protection programs on short-term expeditions.
GMHC -- Gay Men's Health Crisis
The Gay Men's Health Crisis battles the AIDS epidemic through the creation of compassionate care for patients, by providing and encouraging continuing AIDS education, and through its advocacy for fair public policy.
Global Volunteers
Global Volunteers is a private, nonprofit corporation that sponsors volunteer participation in international human and economic development projects in the form of "service learning" travel programs.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an environmental organization with the purpose of creating a green and peaceful world. It draws attention to abuse of the environment through presence at the scene of abuse, despite any risk the volunteers may have to take.
Habitat for Humanity International
Habitat for Humanity, one of the programs operated by the Carter Center, is dedicated to the elimination of substandard housing and homelessness. Its mission is to create and provide shelter that is both livable and affordable.
Nonviolence.org
Nonviolence.org is a site that is home to numerous nonviolence groups. The site offers connections to a multitude of nonviolence Web pages and provides many avenues of support as well.
The Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is a government agency that sponsors long-term volunteer participation in "people to people" grassroots development assistance programs. Its mission is to promote world peace and friendship in the international community.
Project Vote Smart
Project Vote Smart is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded by former Presidents Carter and Ford and 37,000 other Americans. The organization maintains a comprehensive information system that pulls together voting records, campaign finance data, special interests' performance evaluations, issue positions, and backgrounds of candidates and elected officials nationwide.
Save the Children
Save the Children is a nonprofit organization devoted to child advocacy through nutritional education, child development and basic child education. In addition, Save the Children attempts to improve the economic opportunities of children, and help children cope and recover in emergency situations.
Volunteer and Job Databases
EnviroLink Network
Links to nonprofit environmental organizations.
Explorations in Travel
Provides information about volunteer placements available in Latin America and the South Pacific, working with rainforest reserves, rural schools, animal clinics, biosphere reserves and others. Placement is designed based upon individual interests, skills and experience.
Feminist Majority Foundation Online Career Center
Links to women's organizations and progressive nonprofit organizations -- provides both job and internship listings.
InterAction
Careers in the nonprofit field and volunteer listings.
SERVEnet
SERVEnet offers a database of volunteer opportunities, searchable by date and location throughout the United States. The site also highlights upcoming major volunteer events and workshops.
