Find a volunteer opportunity to make an impact in your community

Find a new community service opportunity with 4 easy steps to start giving back

Are you looking for somewhere to dedicate a few of your precious free hours to help a cause you’re passionate about? Are you new to town and trying to find a way to continue giving back to a community you served before the move?

Finding a new organization to volunteer with can be exciting and rewarding, but also frustrating and challenging. On one hand, you may end up finding an organization you were meant to serve and they may gain an enthusiastic, dedicated volunteer. On the other, you may be fretting over ending up in a volunteer-nonprofit mismatch and needing to start your search over again.

If you know the feeling of being too overwhelmed to even start looking for an organization to serve, keep reading—I’m going to break down how I find organizations that both resonate with what I’m about and that could use an extra helping hand in my community as quickly and easily as possible.

Start with what you know

If you’ve volunteered with an organization or community you loved, that’s a great place to start when looking for a new group to work with. Did you work with an organization that operates on a national level? If yes, that’s a no brainer—call up the local group you worked with and ask if they can connect you with the branch in your new city.

If you worked with a local or regional nonprofit, or if your favorite organization doesn’t have a branch where you are now, it’s still worth the call. Nonprofits often collaborate far more than the business world does, so they may have suggestions of similar organizations you could look into in your new city.

…or, start with what breaks your heart

If you’re new to this whole volunteering thing or looking to try working with a totally new organization, figuring out where to start is far easier than it feels, in my opinion. I don’t know where I heard this saying and make no claim to having said it first, but my motto when determining where I should give back is “start with what breaks your heart.” What was the first thing that came to mind when you read that sentence? Pick that cause and run with it.

It’s so easy in today’s world to become overwhelmed by the many causes, nonprofits, and communities in need of our service. However, I think one of the most significant risks our society faces is that when confronted with decisions to make and actions to take, overwhelm often leads to inaction. We think if we take no action, the status quo will remain and all will be fine.

While decision-avoidance through inaction may work for the personal decisions we make that only affect our own lives, if you asked nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve if it works for them, I’m fairly certain you’ll get a resounding “no.” Therefore, I encourage you to remind yourself your actions can make a difference, no matter how small, and start giving back in the first way that comes to mind when you ask the question, “what breaks your heart?”.

Take to the ‘Google’s’ of volunteering to find nonprofits in need of volunteers now

There are many fantastic websites dedicated to helping nonprofits and potential volunteers find each other. Many act like a search engine, allowing potential volunteers to select their desired type of community service, time commitment, location, and more.

Here are just a few I’ve used in the past:

• All for Good: A Points of Light service, All for Good allows you to search by location, keyword, and date. It allows users to search for remote projects, a great option for those who travel frequently, and/or family-friendly projects, which can often be challenging to find.
• The HandsOn network: Also operated by Points of Light, HandsOn Volunteer Action Centers operate as city- or county-specific volunteer centers. While the technical capabilities and search features of each organization’s website vary from location to location, it’s definitely worth scanning the list to see if your city, county, or state is part of the HandsOn network, as your local group can likely provide insight into volunteerism in your community.
• VolunteerMatch: My favorite aspect of VolunteerMatch is its search capabilities. Through advanced search, you can filter opportunities by location, organization name, your age (i.e. “great for kids, teens, or 55+), your group size (i.e. ‘I have 5 friends I’d like to volunteer with’), cause areas (such as animals, arts and culture, children and youth, environment, hunger, and more), and the skills you’d like to contribute. Through a ‘skills’ search, as someone with marketing experience, I could find an organization in need of social media, public relations, graphic design, or other marketing assistance. The skill selections available vary from child care experience to trade skills, such as carpentry or plumbing. The platform also allows you to search for virtual opportunities.

Do your homework before diving in to avoid a volunteer-nonprofit mismatch

Sometimes, an organization or a community service opportunity aren’t a good fit for you, or you may not be a good fit for the organization. For example, you might not actually be available when the nonprofit need volunteers the most. Or, the organization’s mission and goals may not align with your values or the experience you can bring as a volunteer. I call this a volunteer-nonprofit mismatch.

By recognizing a volunteer-nonprofit mismatch before you sign up for an opportunity, you’re doing yourself and the nonprofit a favor. You’ll save the time it takes to orient you as a volunteer, giving both you and the nonprofit more time to give back to those you’re hoping to serve.

To identify a mismatch before signing up to volunteer, research the organization and the opportunity. I’ve been guilty of skipping step, as it’s easy to get excited about an opportunity and immediately sign up without doing your research.

If you’re feeling antsy to get started, here are two quick and easy steps you can take before committing to volunteer to avoid a mismatch:

1. Read the organization’s mission. The quickest way to avoid a values and goals mismatch is to read the organization’s mission statement and ask yourself, “do I share the organization’s values? Do they serve the community I’d like to serve? Do they do so in a way that I can add value as a volunteer?” If the answers are yes, you may have found a match! If the answers are no, think critically and continue your research before diving in.
2. Look into the time commitment. One of the worst feelings of signing up to volunteer with an organization is realizing when and where they need volunteers just isn’t going to work for you. Not only will you be disappointed about not being able to get involved, the organization may have been banking on your service, and may need to scramble to find another volunteer. Avoid the disappointment and the scramble by reaching out to learn more about the time commitment before you sign up.

It’s time to get started!

There is never a shortage of organizations looking for volunteers to help them serve the community. To avoid feeling overwhelmed by the endless possibilities, focus on where you can and would like to make an impact. You’ll likely find that once you dive in to giving back, you’ll be hungry for more.