Here at Amintro, we’re all about encouraging our EngAGEers to pursue their bucket lists and try new experiences, like volunteering. Volunteering gives people purpose and fulfillment through giving back and helping others. National Volunteer Week is April 16-22 but why keep it to just a week? Our bucket list topic of the month is volunteering! Do you want to start volunteering but aren’t sure where to start? We’ve compiled some tips for finding volunteer opportunities:
- Explore volunteer opportunities in your local area. Organizations such as grocery delivery services, animal shelters, and other local community-based services often recruit volunteers for a variety of needs. Day-to-day or weekly activities and special events require numerous people to be successful. Free volunteers are ideal for non-profit organizations who don’t have big budgets to spend on hiring. Explore options like these in your area by visiting websites of known organizations or going to physical locations to inquire about volunteering. Asking others in the area can also give you leads on who may be looking for some extra help. Organizations are more often than not thrilled to see interest as securing volunteers can sometimes be tricky.
- Join a local Facebook group to see volunteer opportunities as they come in. With the popularity of social media these days, many communities make good use of Facebook with private groups. Members are vetted for their location to ensure the groups are made up of only locals. These groups are useful for knowing what’s going on in the community. You can find volunteer opportunities as they come in and easily connect directly with the people who post them. It’s also a great way to connect with others in the community or even other volunteers to find future opportunities in the area.
- Go in and ask if they need help. Not all organizations that need volunteers necessarily advertise it. Explore some organizations and businesses in your area that you’d be interested in volunteering with. Go in and ask if they could use someone and reiterate that it would be free volunteer work. The worst thing they can say is no, they don’t need the help. Either way, you can walk away feeling good knowing you tried.
- Offer help to someone you know needs it. Volunteer opportunities don’t only exist with organizations. Any sort of free offer of help or time can be considered volunteering. It can be as simple as helping a neighbor get their weekly groceries or cutting someone’s lawn every now and again. Volunteering is about helping and that’s what matters most, no matter what that may look like for you.
- Research volunteer opportunities on an international level. Volunteer opportunities can exist on a much wider, global scale. Volunteering with international organizations that provide aid in developing countries is a great way of giving back and being able to explore the world. A quick internet search can open a world of organizations to volunteer with. Be sure to do your research and read people’s experiences so that you know what to expect.
If volunteering has been something you’ve been interested in for a while, we hope this list has helped to give you somewhere to start. As we’ve outlined, there’s lots of different volunteer options for you to explore both locally and globally. Now’s the time to get out there and start giving back!
