Please note that these sites are only intended to give you an idea of the opportunities available. It is up to you to research each organization and find the one that is best for you. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to you on your quest.
* Where marked with anasterisk proficiency in Spanish is required with few exceptions
Alaska State Parks Volunteer Program
If you enjoy helping people, sharing your skills and talents, and spending time in the outdoors, then Alaska state parks has a place for you!
Amate House
Young adult Catholics can participate in community and sharing in opportunities for educational and spiritual growth in Chicago
American Red Cross
Make a yearly commitment. All are welcome. Training is provided if necessary.
Americorps
Comprehensive index of various service opportunities.
Amigos De Las Americas
Promotes community health and facilitates cross cultural understanding for the people of the Americas. Service is primarily abroad.
ArtCorps
Volunteer artists work in developing country to help deliver their message on health, protection of the environment, sustainable agriculture, etc. Stipend provided for airfare and supplies.
Benedictine Appalachian Volunteer Program
Provides lay men and women an opportunity to answer the call to serve in South Dakota.*
Boys Hope Girls Hope
Help children who are at risk yet, academically capable, realize their potential by providing value-centered, family-like homes, and quality education through college.*
Camphill
Experience the satisfaction of contributing your service to a caring community in the UK.
Casa de Esperanza
Volunteers from all parts of the world with different backgrounds devote their time to live and work with the children in the Houston area.
Christ House
A medical facility for the homeless based in Washington D.C. that seeks year-long commitments for such positions as staff nurses, patient activities coordinators, administrative aides.
Christian Appalachian Project
An interdenominational service organization founded to assist people in the Appalachian Region in Kentucky.
Christian Foundation for Children and Aging
Responsibilities may include teaching, translating (Spanish-English), childcare, healthcare, or parish work. Volunteers primarily serve in Central and South America and in India.
City Year Unites young adults from diverse backgrounds for a demanding year of full-time community service.
Claretian Lay Volunteer Ministries
From a diversity of faiths and backgrounds, volunteers minister with creativity and flexibility to varied populations with an emphasis on serving and empowering the poor and oppressed.*
Community Aid Abroad
Opportunities for volunteer service in Australia.
Concern America
Seeks volunteers who offer abilities or a degree/experience in public health, medicine, nutrition, nursing, agriculture, community development, education, or appropriate technology.
Covenant House
Offers protection and safeguards for children of the street. Locations served include Alaska, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., and locations in Canada.
Cross Cultural Solutions
Each volunteer contributes to sustained social development through fostering cultural understanding, creating self sufficiency, and empowerment of people in India and Africa.
Doctors of the World
A national and international organization which employs over 12,000 medical professionals committed to the cause of peace and reconciliation through medical care.
Eckard Youth Alternatives
A leader in early intervention, wilderness camp, and juvenile justice programs for troubled and at-risk children. Volunteers commit themselves as AmeriCorps participants who engage in conflict-resolution skills training, after school activities, and family outreach initiatives.
Eirene
Germany's ecumenical international peace and development service organization: volunteers work in a variety of projects in many countries helping to build solidarity, provide relief, and establish just systems and structures in the third world countries. Commitments are two years.
Explorations in Travel
Immerse yourself in a different culture, practice and improve your foreign language skills, meet people of various walks of life. Explorations in Travel arranges volunteer placements under supervision of established conservation reserve, school, private business or service agency. Application fees apply.
Frontiers Foundation
Canadian based organization which sponsors education and construction development projects in the western hemisphere. Current work areas range from Haiti and Bolivia to various regions in Canada.
Good Shepherd Volunteers Christian volunteers work in direct service with the poor, particularly with adolescents and families. Opportunities are available in major north eastern cities.*
Gould Farm
America's oldest therapeutic community for people with mental illness, volunteers provide a compassionate, respectful, family environment where people with mental illness learn to build more meaningful lives for themselves. Based in Monterey, Mass.
Habitat for Humanity
Through AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity volunteers can work on low income housing construction projects in any of the 50 U.S. states while receiving living stipends and educational grants.
Happy Horizons Children's Ranch
Volunteers aid in the efforts of rehabilitation and defense of street children in the Philippines. On Happy Horizon's Web site, scroll down to "Volunteer" to obtain information.
Inner City Teaching Corps
A two year volunteer service program utilizing outstanding college grads to energize inner city Catholic elementary schools in Chicago.*
International Medical Volunteer Association
Provides information about dozens of organizations that require medical or medical support personnel to help carry out their humanitarian missions. Volunteers are a varied group and include doctors, nurses, therapists, students, technicians, religious missionaries, and other dedicated persons with non-medical training.
International Volunteer Program Association
IVPA is an alliance of nonprofit, non-governmental organizations based in the Americas, that are involved in international volunteer and internship exchanges. IVPA encourages excellence and responsibility in the field of international volunteerism and promotes public awareness of and greater access to international volunteer programs. IVPA offers a forum for international volunteer program representatives (staff, board members, etc.) to share information and resources, develop new skills, and collaborate on cost-saving initiatives.
Jesuit Volunteer Corps
The largest Catholic lay volunteer program in the country, Jesuit volunteers serve the homeless, unemployed, refugees, people with aids, elderly, street youth, abused women and children, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled. Placements available across the nation and around the globe.
KNOM
An Alaskan radio station. Volunteers work in a variety of on-air positions and news reporting. Travel, training, and living expenses are covered. Community living.
Lasallian Volunteers
Volunteers serve in areas of education and related human development services. Limited international opportunities available.*
Mercy Corps
Invites men and women to join with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas in giving service to the poor, sick, and uneducated.*
Mercy Ships
Volunteers traverse the world while providing numerous services, training provided, helping the needy in port cities.
Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos
Qualified volunteers help raise and educate over 550 children who come from difficult backgrounds. Operating houses in Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua and Honduras.
Paraclete Center
Neighborhood based educational enrichment program for youth serving in an inner city environment.*
Passionist Lay Missioners
One to two year programs designed to allow men and women an opportunity to integrate full-time service with the poor, community living, faith, reflection, and social action.
Peace Brigades International
Implement nonviolent approaches to peacekeeping in areas of violent conflict and repression. They offer unarmed protective accompaniment to individuals, organizations and communities threatened with violence and human rights abuses.
Peace Corps
Official home page. Numerous opportunities exist in a variety of service positions around the globe.
Red Cloud Volunteers
Volunteers teach Sioux Indian children how to read and write. Potential volunteers with college degree and an adventurous spirit are a plus.
Catholic Network of Volunteer Service
Directory of Catholic volunteer service opportunities.
Service Civil International
Volunteer for a year overseas engaging in a work camp. Work camps fall under two main categories social: working with children, elderly, special needs, or art-related projects, and physical: construction, housing repair, and maintenance.
Simon Community of Ireland
Volunteers work with the homeless in Ireland providing various outreach services; nightly soup-runs, establishing emergency shelters and long-stay residential houses, and other projects.
Student Partnership Worldwide Runs school-based and environmental grass-roots development programs in Africa and Asia. Some social development programs available.
Student Volunteer Association
An environmental conservation organization that posts links to various other environmental organizations in the country offering year long opportunities. List updated often!
United Childrens Fund Inc.
Volunteers teach in Uganda's local schools assisting teachers and caring for the disabled children while in the classroom, or helping them to and from school. Teaching experience is not required.
U.S. Department of the Interior
Numerous volunteer opportunities include: Indian affairs, land management, reclamation, minerals management, national park service, fish and wildlife, and geological survey.
Visions in Action
International nonprofit organization offering volunteer positions in five African countries and Mexico. Positions needed are in health care and housing, small business, youth and children, scientific research, social science research, journalism, and democratization.
Volunteers in Asia
Volunteers teach English at colleges and universities in Indonesia, China, Vietnam, or Laos.
Volunteer Vacations
Hands-on service -- in your own community or across the globe -- can be a very satisfying experience. Traveling as a volunteer -- on a "volunteer vacation" -- with Global Volunteers departs from conventional adventure travel and cultural immersion experiences in one very important way. The purpose of "service-learning" travel is foremost to serve, and thereby, to learn first-hand about the host community and its people. It is not simply an alternative to a standard vacation, but an opportunity to use your skills and interests in an unconventional setting to benefit others
VSO
The largest independent volunteer sending charity in the world has sent over 27,000 volunteers to work in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and Eastern Europe since 1958. Numerous types of opportunities and positions are available.
World Teach
Spend a year overseas providing valuable service, experiencing life in another culture while participating in international development.
World Wide Volunteering
The WWV database enables volunteers to build an on-screen profile of their ideal volunteer placement which is then matched against the requirements of over 1400 organisations with more than 1,000,000 placements each year throughout the world.