For ANYONE That Wants To Make A Difference
in Their Own Communities or In Someone Else's Community

These resources on this section of my web site are focused on people, of all ages, anywhere, who want to make a difference for good in some way, through volunteering or through a career.

These are pages that are focused on people who are not professionals already at a nonprofit, NGO or charity - though please note that volunteering activities are a great way to explore possible careers in the nonprofit or humanitarian sector.

What I'm trying to do with these pages is to answer the frequently asked question:
What can I do to make a difference in the world or a cause I care about.

If you want to stay as safe as possible from the novel coronavirus / COVID-19, or other respiratory illnesses, but still want to volunteer, please see Volunteering in the time of the novel coronavirus/COVID-19.

How to find volunteering opportunities, a resource for adults who want to volunteer.

Detailed information on for teens that want or need to find community service or volunteering tasks.

You are NOT too young to volunteer! Ways you can volunteer, no matter how young you are.

Advice for family volunteering - volunteering by families with children and, related, advice for teaching children compassion & understanding instead of pity with regard to poverty.


Group volunteering: how to find volunteer activities a group can do all at once, together. Volunteering opportunities for groups are very hard to find. That's because, while nonprofits, community programs and charities often have a lot of tasks that volunteers could do, they don't have much that a large group of volunteers can just show up and do in a few hours. This is a realistic guide with specific advice (which puts it in contrast to others). 


Group volunteering for atheist and secular volunteers - how to find welcoming opportunities for groups of volunteers that are not religious-based.

If you are seeking volunteering in order to fulfill a community service obligation from a court or for a school graduation requirement, see this resource.

How to find or create volunteering opportunities to help seniors / elders / the elderly.

Advice for finding volunteer activities during the holidays (spoiler alert: start looking in as early as August - not even kidding).

Online Volunteering / Virtual Volunteering: finding volunteering tasks you can do from wherever you are in the world. Also called remote volunteering, crowdsourcing for good, online microvolunteering, digital volunteering, etc. This is the most comprehensive advice and list you will find regarding this type of volunteering.

Home-Based (in your own home) Volunteering Where Your Service is NOT via a Computer or the Internet (at least not to actually DO the volunteering service, but you may need to report your work online).

Volunteering to help after major disasters - if you have ever wanted to help people affected by a sudden event like an earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane, fire or human-caused event, this resource details what you need to do NOW. 

Volunteering to address your own mental health - This resource is designed to help you have realistic expectations for volunteering to address your loneliness, depression, anxiety, etc., and to avoid an experience that will make you feel worse instead of better.

Volunteering with ETHICAL organizations that help animals and wildlife. There are opportunities much closer to you than you might think.

Volunteering on public lands in the USA (national parks, national forests, national monuments, federally-managed historic sites, Bureau of Land Management land, state parks, wetlands, etc.)


Volunteering to help refugees in your own country. There is NO need to go to another country if you want to help refugees - it's very likely they are right there in your country, now, even right there in your own community. And your help, as a volunteer, is urgently needed. This resource will tell you how to help. With the launch of the Welcome Corps in the USA, it's important to know what supporting newly-arrived refugees really entails.


Using your business skills for good - volunteering your business management skills, to help people start, expand or improve small businesses / micro enterprises, to help people building businesses in high-poverty areas, and to help people entering or re-entering the work force.


Volunteering Fights Back Against Deplorables - here's how to do it. A lot of people are feeling hopeless in the face of the very powerful, deplorable people that are working to take away the rights of women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, people who are LBGT or Q, and others, who want to erase the massive parts of history of the USA and so-called "Western Civilization" that make them uncomfortable, to silence opposing voices, to privitize public lands, to spread misinformation about things that have been scientifically proven (or unproven), and more. Volunteering for nonprofits, community groups and other causes is a powerful way to fight back again people with deplorable goals and to build hope for yourself and others. Even what can seem as the most benign volunteering, like helping children in a low-income neighborhood play soccer or helping a community theater mount a stage production, can be disruptive deplorables, even as it is non-violent.


Dos & don'ts for technical assistance volunteers / volunteers donating expertise
There are many people that want to donate - to volunteer - their professional skills or expertise to a nonprofit, NGO, charity, school or a community or environmental project. They are sometimes called "skilled volunteers." These volunteers might build a web site, or build an app, or build a garden, or design a building, or provide legal assistance, and on and on, for a nonprofit, or even a government program that engages volunteers and supports a particular community, like a women's shelter or a home for people with addicted issues. These are volunteers that are going to work primarily with a program's staff, including other volunteers, rather than directly with clients, but the result of their service may directly affect clients. But these type of volunteering gigs don't always work out, leaving both volunteers and programs frustrated and disappointed. The advice on this page will help everyone involved have a more worthwhile experience.

Volunteering in pursuit of a medical, veterinary or social work degree / career - volunteering that will help build your skills and give you experience applying skills to work in these fields.

Ideas for Leadership Volunteering Activities
A long list of ideas for a person, especially a young person, to create or lead an impactful project for a community and to have a leadership role as a volunteer. These can also be activities for a Capstone project, the Girl Scouts Gold Award, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (U.K.), a mitzvah project, or even scholarship consideration.


Ideas for creating your own volunteering activity. If you haven't been able to find the volunteering opportunity you want to do with an existing nonprofit, why not create your own project? You can do so without forming your own nonprofit.

How to Get a Paid Job with the United Nations or other international humanitarian or development organization.


Packing advice for first-time humanitarians & aid workers
What you should pack before you head out on your first mission trip.

14 Reasons Not to Volunteer Abroad
These are the most common reasons people say they want to volunteer abroad. And they are not good reasons. In fact, they often hurt people and animals in other countries, rather than helping. This list also provides the good reasons to volunteer abroad, how you can help right in your own community to help regarding a disaster far away, and more.

Fund raising for a cause or organization - how to raise money for a nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO), charity or program you care about.

Crowdfunding for a personal cause: raising money to help with health care costs for a sick family member, someone in a dire financial crisis, etc. (as opposed to raising money for a nonprofit)

Donating things instead of cash or time (in-kind contributions) - do people living in poverty, or people after a disaster, really want your used shoes, your used clothes, your used car, etc.?

Creating or holding a successful community event or fund raising event - before you throw a concert or marathon or comedy show or whatever to raise money, read this.

Careers working with animals (for the benefit of animals) - how to volunteer and study to get this type of paid job in the future.

How to make a difference internationally / globally/ in another country Without going abroad. Yes, there really are ways you can help without moving or traveling.

Ideas for Funding Your Volunteering Abroad Trip & How to Engage in RESPECTFUL "Voluntourism." This resource includes suggestions of ethical programs and questions to ask any program that wants your money to give you your feel-good short-term volunteering experience in another country. 

How to complain about your volunteering experience.

Tax credits for volunteering - advice for residents of the USA.


How you can advocate for an issue important to you. If there is something you want to tell people about, to prompt them to care, even to prompt them to action, this resource is for you.

Helping People Address Their Problems with Plastic
How to mobilize a community to clean up plastic bottles, plastic bags and other plastic waste from their environment, and how to reduce their use of such items in the future

Also, I have these self-help pages based on questions I've seen frequently on Quora, Reddit and YahooAnswer - resources that don't follow the theme of this section of my web site, and resources meant to counter the many, many scam pages on these subjects out there:

For People That Want Refugee or Asylum Status: Realities You Need to Know.

If you want to be a refugee or asylum seeker DO NOT WRITE ME. Here is all the advice I have for you if you are seeking asylum or refugee status or want to study abroad.

This material is provided as is, with no expressed or implied warranty.

See my web site's privacy policy.