Volunteering & Volunteer Students

Volunteering has always been a great way of giving back to society and using your skills to help others who are less fortunate. But it isn’t just a one-sided affair of offering your free time without getting anything back. Helping out with charitable or community projects can be immensely rewarding and great fun, too. The months before Christmas are traditionally the busiest season for most nonprofits and especially the smaller ones are often desperate for people to donate their time. And don’t worry, you don’t have to commit to sticking with a project for a long period of time. Many volunteer jobs require people helping out for a weekend or even a day only. Our checklist helps you find the right placement for you.

How to find a volunteer placement that’s perfect for you:

1. Choose a project that you’re passionate about. There are an incredible number of charities in Ireland that cover anything from helping children to environmental issues, animal protection, health or human rights. Pick one that you can identify with and volunteering is guaranteed to be a brilliant experience.
2. Make sure you know what your skills and strengths are and look for a project that needs help with exactly that. If you really enjoy working with people, pick a job that doesn’t involve just sorting donations, but lets you get involved directly with the people you’re helping.
3. Volunteer locally. Check out what placements are available on one of the websites listed at the end of this article. Try and find a charity that’s in your area, so you don’t need to spend a lot of time commuting. If you can’t find what you’re looking for or you want to get more details, email or phone individual charities to get a better idea of what their needs are.
4. Don’t overcommit. Now that you’re excited about making a difference, don’t forget to check how much time you actually have to help out. An hour once per week might not sound like a lot of time now, but are you really able to commit to it over a longer period of time if required?
5. Add to your skills. Choose a placement that not only makes use of your existing skills, but also lets you develop some new ones. If you would like to improve your leadership skills for instance, offer to supervise or coordinate other volunteers.
6. Be patient and keep motivated. Every charity is organised differently and some are chronically understaffed. If you’re helping out for the first time, keep your expectations low and don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t seem all that exciting to start with. Remember that the people you work with don’t know (yet) what a great organiser or donation collector you are. Give them time to get used to how you work and to appreciate your unique skills.
7. Make new friends. Volunteering is a great way of meeting likeminded people, so network as much as you can. Many volunteers are involved in more than one project and can give you great tips on where to help out next.
8. Above all: have fun! What’s so great about helping out for free is that the people you volunteer for really, really appreciate your help. And that’s one of the best feelings you can possibly get. Now that is a Christmas present you can’t just buy in a shop.

Useful links:

http://www.activelink.ie/ce/active_section.php?id=5 

http://www.volunteeringireland.ie/ 

http://www.volunteerdublin.ie 

http://www.indexireland.com/society_and_politics/charities/ 

Have you been volunteering with a particularly great project? Tell us about it!