Ways to Volunteer

Volunteering is everywhere!  

There are so many ways you can volunteer. Some key sectors include:  

• administration  

• arts and music  

• assisting at school or club excursions  

• community service  

• elderly care  

• wildlife and animal care  

• emergency volunteering  

• sport and recreation  

• environment and conservation  

• teaching and supervising  

• event volunteering 

Ideas kick-starter  

Are you ready to give back but not sure where to start? We’ve compiled this list to help kick-start your volunteering journey.  

Want to help the environment, animals or local wildlife?  

• Spend an hour picking up rubbish in your local park, beach, or waterway  

• Plant or prune trees with your local Landcare  

• Spend a morning caring for animals in a local shelter and/or support the animals at the RSPCA or WIRES  

• Volunteer to walk a dog at your local shelter  

• Join a National Park conservation and rehabilitation group  

• Collect sheets, towels or rags for your local animal shelter  

Want to help your neighbours?  

• Spend time with an elderly neighbour for a friendly catch up or to help with their shopping or driving to appointments  

• Donate to your local street library  

• Start a community garden working bee  

Want to volunteer from home?  

• Write letters to refugees in detention or older people in aged care  

• Knit blankets for the homeless or rescue animals 

• Offer time helping a local charity with admin tasks like accounting, or answering phones 

Want to help out at your local school or club? 

• Bake cupcakes for your local school fete or club to raise money for them 

• Spend a day at your local school helping at the tuck shop, sports carnivals/fetes, excursions, teaching ethics, joining the P&C 

• Volunteer with your local sporting club for a match/game  

Fancy finding out about local history?  

• Offer your time to become a heritage ambassador with your local national trust branch 

• Volunteer an hour or two a week over summer as a volunteer lifeguard  

• Help out at a local music festival or community festival 

Want to provide company to the elderly? 

• Write cards to people in aged care  

• Spend a morning calling or visiting people in aged care to help prevent loneliness and isolation 

• Volunteer to run bingo at your local aged care home, or teach an aged care art class, or teach technology to older people at your local library/ community centre  

Want to help someone in need?  

• Pack boxes for your local food bank  

• Spend an afternoon or evening helping to cook at a local food share/soup kitchen  

• Read books with students at your local school or library  

• Allow 90 minutes to donate blood to your local blood bank  

• Spend an afternoon helping with homework for kids in foster care  

• Run a book drive and donate books to your local community centre or ‘street library’  

• Cull your wardrobe, spring clean your house and donate items that are in good, sellable condition to your local op shop 

• Collect toys via your network to donate to a local toy library or volunteer to help distribute them 

• Spend a Saturday helping a newly settled refugee in your area get to know their new community  

• Get your hands dirty with volunteer gardening or maintenance at a local charity  

• Donate a couple of hours a fortnight as a driver of a car or van for a local charity group 

Want to volunteer with friends or family?  

• Host a crafternoon with your friends and knit trauma teddies for the red cross  

• Knit a patch and collect patches between friends to create warm rugs to give to the homeless this winter  

• Donate your time with your local park run/charity fun run  

• Teaching someone to drive who doesn’t have access to a car or teacher  

Want to help your local community during emergencies?  

• Become an emergency services volunteer and find out how you can assist in a cyclone, flood, bushfires or other emergencies 

• Visit the ABC Emergency website to find out more about how you can help.