Youth Volunteer Opportunities Overseas and At Home

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If spending the summer overseas isn't an option, consider volunteer opportunities in your own community. "Ask yourself what's the issue that you're most interested in, what do you care most about? What is going to motivate you to get up and do the work?," says Finklestein. Volunteer jobs are work, but they should be enjoyable work, and if you're not getting what you want out of a job, you should talk to your supervisor about doing something different." Working with a less high profile organization will probably give you a wider range of tasks, bigger orgs have more people volunteering, so you'll have less opportunity to do some real work, and have real responsibility."

Resources:

idealist.org—An extensive volunteer database, connections to local nonprofits, financial aid information, internships, and a kids and teens page.

takingitglobal.org—An online community of young activists around the world. Contains a volunteer database, financial aid and scholarship information, forums, and testimonals.

VolunteerMatch.org—A good starting point to help you decide where to volunteer locally. Allows you to look up volunteer opportunities by zip code, interest, and duration.

national.unitedway.org—A local volunteer database, links to local, state, and international volunteer agencies.

earthwatch.org—Earthwatch has environmental research programs and expeditions for volunteer interns 16 and up.

The following are overseas volunteer databases, specifically designed for young people looking to volunteer or work overseas. Many offer paid expenses or scholarships.

volunteerabroad.com
crossculturalsolutions.org
i-to-i.com

One way to look for volunteer opportunites or job opportunties is to contact the state association of nonprofits in the area you are interested in working in. This also gives you a chance to verify that these organizations are legitimate, and the state association will be able to give you this information about any organization in its database. For help, see these organizations:

National Council of Non-Profit Associations, ncna.org

Internet Nonprofit Center, nonprofits.org

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