These days our televisions and newspapers are riddled with articles about human injustice, politics, immigrants and the sad conditions that people live in both within the US and internationally. Regardless of what side of the political aisle you’re on, there are certain issues we can all agree are important, such as literacy, homelessness and hunger. If you sometimes feel like you wish you could do more, but are unsure how to get started, then Volunteer Match is a great start.
This website allows you to create an account, put in your location, skills, cause interests and more and then links you to potential volunteer opportunities in your area that you may be interested in.
While it’s important for organizations to get their name out there, a lot of us actually don’t have interest in standing on street corners handing out flyers or cold calling people. And this is why Volunteer Match is so awesome. Rather than doing grunt work that’s no fun and leaves you feeling like you’ve done nothing, Volunteer Match actually allows you to use your skillset to help non-profits advance their efforts.
Are you a social media expert? Lend a few hours a month to an organization to help them build up their social media presence and gain a larger audience and thus more donations. Maybe you’re a graphic designer. Organizations are always looking for help in designing flyers or other simple tasks. Maybe you’re a photographer, if so, there are always organizations looking for photographers to help photograph events, people or anything else.
Of course you won’t be paid for these efforts, but that’s not what volunteering is. For just a few hours a week or month (depending how dedicated you are) you can use skills you already have and enjoy in order to help people in need.
The website acts sort of like a job site where organizations post ads for what they’re looking for and you can just send them a message explaining why you’re interested and why you think you’d be a good fit. Almost all of them state that they’re happy to be flexible and work with you’re schedule since you’re doing them a favor.
Volunteering has never been so easy, nor has it been so fun. You no longer need to think of volunteering as doing boring grunt work, and this is why Volunteer Match is so wonderful. When people can have fun using their specialized skill set, they’re more likely to volunteer and organizations will be better off.
Even if you can only sacrifice one hour a month, it’s always worth checking. Volunteering brings people so much joy and satisfaction and can really open your eyes. When it’s so simple, there’s no reason to not do it.
