Volunteer
The best place for UC volunteers to start is volunteer.uc.edu. Service hours logged through volunteer.uc.edu are shared with the Scholarship and New Student Financial Aid Center for the renewal of certain scholarships.
Whether you are outside of the Cincinnati area or just looking for something different, we understand that volunteer.uc.edu has its limitations. See the list below for resources that can help you identify additional opportunities. If you plan to use community service to fulfill a course, organizational, or scholarship requirement be sure the opportunities you choose meet the guidelines. Cincinnatus, UC Global, International Outreach, and National Outreach students can find their guidelines on the Financial Aid website.
University resources and local partners:
volunteer.uc.edu
Through volunteer.uc.edu, students use their UC credentials to login and connect to local volunteer opportunities that are both online and in-person. Students should use volunteer.uc.edu to track community service hours for the purpose of scholarship reporting. In addition, volunteer.uc.edu will generate a volunteer resume to help students meet their personal goals related to employment, graduate and professional school applications, organizational involvement, or other purposes.
Cincinnati Cares
Cincinnati Cares is the region's only public-facing search-and-discover guide to the active nonprofits in the Greater Cincinnati region. This service provides information about both in-person and virtual volunteer opportunities. Cincinnati Cares also has an option for a volunteer to fill out a form and be matched with virtual volunteering opportunities related to their skills and interests.
Last Mile Food Rescue Cincinnati
Have 90 minutes, a car and a drive to make a change? Download our app and sign up to rescue perfectly good food from ending up in landfills and transport it to one of our nonprofit partners that fight food insecurity in our Greater Cincinnati community.
United Way of Greater Cincinnati Volunteer Connection
Hundreds of volunteer opportunities are available via United Way Volunteer Connection, whether it's helping children achieve their highest potential, helping families build financial stability, or helping someone achieve maximum independence and better health.
National and International resources:
AllForGood.org
Points of Light’s digital hub for volunteerism and community engagement pulls data from many sources to provide the most comprehensive database of volunteer opportunities in the world.
Building Impact
Building Impact introduces an online platform to help fill pressing needs of our local community partners. Connect directly with our neighbors in need, while maintaining everyone's safety and well being!
Catchafire
Catchafire strengthens the social good sector by matching students and professionals who want to donate their time with nonprofits who need their skills. Opportunities through Catchafire are exclusively online. Each project has a timeline that can range from an hour to multiple weeks.
Crisis Text Line
Students in the Unites States, Ireland and the UK can become a Crisis Text Line volunteer and offer support for those in need. If you are at least 18 and can commit to volunteering four hours each week, you can apply to be trained for free
Dosomething.org
9 places to volunteer online and make a real impact.
Hire Heroes USA
Service opportunities to support veterans and their families.
Idealist
Includes a collection of virtual volunteering resources
Meals on Wheels
Meals on Wheels is a nationwide network of community-based, non-profit programs dedicated to providing seniors in their communities with the support that enables them to remain living in their own homes, where they want to be. This support is typically a nutritious meal, a friendly visit and a quick safety check.
Red Cross Volunteer Match: Role Finder
Case monitoring, translation, talent acquisition, coding, and digital tool testing are all things that the Red Cross is regularly looking for help with – search by keyword or role by typing “virtual” or “NHQ”
Smithsonian Digital Volunteers
Technology makes it possible for people who believe in the Smithsonian mission to make significant contributions online. "Digital Volunteers" can now take on important assignments to expand access to the Smithsonian's massive collections, and can participate in a variety of research programs. Some roles require special knowledge or skill, but many do not.
Taproot Foundation
Taproot nourishes social change organizations by connecting them with the expertise and insights of skilled volunteers, enabling both to thrive.
Translators without Borders
Translators without Borders is a non-profit working towards a world where knowledge knows no language barriers. For students fluent in more than one language, working with Translators without Borders combines language skills with humanitarian aid. Volunteers provide translations (10 million words a year) to international organizations that focus on crisis relief, health, and education.
United Nations Volunteers
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Online volunteering allows organizations and volunteers to team up to address sustainable development challenges – anywhere in the world, from any device.
VolunteerMatch
Access VolunteerMatch to provide students with access to millions of remote and virtual opportunities; 60% of VolunteerMatch opportunities are virtual!
Zooniverse
The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research. This research is made possible by volunteers — more than a million people around the world who come together to assist professional researchers. Our goal is to enable research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications.
Opportunities based on specific content, issue, or skill areas:
Transcription: Smithsonian Institute, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, TechSoup Global
Mentoring: Upchieve, Business Council for Peace Inc., CareerVillage
Elder support: TimeSlips, Love for the Elderly, Family Eldercare Inc
Translating: Tarjimly, Translators Without Borders
Crisis intervention: Crisis Text Line, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Become a Crisis Counsellor, The Trevor Project
Additional opportunities organized by skill area/issue: Amnesty Decoders (research and expose human rights violations), National Park Service (U.S.)
Global engagement: