Choose for fit
Reliability is worth more to a nonprofit than enthusiasm. Training a volunteer costs staff time, and a person who disappears after two visits is a net loss. Pick one organization, a schedule you could keep in your busiest month, and a task suited to your temperament. Some people want to work with the public and some would prefer to sort a warehouse in silence, and both kinds are needed.
Expect an application, an orientation and, for any work with children, elderly people or finances, a background check. Mentoring programs typically ask for a one-year commitment, because a mentor who quits does real harm.
Where help is short
- Food banks and meal programs need sorters and drivers on weekdays, when most volunteers are at work.
- Election offices recruit poll workers before every election, train them, usually pay a modest stipend and require strict neutrality while on duty.
- The IRS trains and certifies volunteers to prepare free tax returns for lower-income households each winter.
- Courts in many counties train volunteer advocates to speak for children in foster care.
- Volunteer departments supply a majority of the country's firefighters and provide the training themselves.
- Blood centers can take a whole blood donation from a healthy adult every 56 days.
The holidays are oversubscribed everywhere. February and August are when the shelves and the schedules are empty.
Offer your profession
An accountant who serves as a small nonprofit's treasurer, a designer who rebuilds its website, or a fluent speaker who translates at a legal clinic gives something that the organization would otherwise have to buy. Cities and counties also appoint residents to planning commissions, library boards and parks committees, and those seats often go unfilled for lack of applicants. The clerk's office keeps the list of vacancies.
For those who can give a year, AmeriCorps places members in full-time service with a living allowance and an education award at the end.
Check the organization
Tax-exempt organizations must file an annual Form 990, which is public and shows revenue, spending and executive pay. The IRS offers a free online search that confirms whether a group is actually tax exempt. If you are giving goods, ask what is needed first. Food banks buy in bulk at a fraction of retail prices, so a cash gift usually feeds more people than the same money spent on cans.
Note You cannot deduct the value of your time. If you itemize, you can deduct unreimbursed expenses such as supplies and mileage driven for a qualified charity, so keep a simple log.
