Volunteering to work with children can be a gratifying experience.
Volunteering with a nonprofit or charity that works with children is a great way to help give back to your community, as well as meet new people, develop new skills and be directly involved with change. It can also be a great way to gain work experience of you are starting your career or are contemplating changing careers into education or social work. Volunteer opportunities can be regular, long-term direct service positions or periodic, project-based opportunities.
Instructions
1. Determine the type of work you are interested in and can commit to. Some volunteer positions require you to keep a fairly regular schedule of service, while others can be more periodic. It's important that you understand the time commitment you can provide before looking for a volunteer opening.
2. Consider the age group and cause you'd like to work with. There are nonprofits and charities that work specifically with infants, toddlers, elementary school aged children or teenagers, as well as those that work on, for example, literacy skills, with foster children, with at-risk youth or with youngsters who have special needs.
3. Access the volunteer opportunities available in your area. Use a service like Idealist.org or VolunteerMatch to search a wide variety of volunteer positions online or compile a list of organizations with whom you'd like to work.
4. Contact the organizations through Idealist.org or VolunteerMatch, or contact the volunteer coordinator directly. You can usually find a phone number or email address for the volunteer coordinator on the organization's website.
5. Attend any informational meetings or orientations available, or spend some time at the organization, talking to other volunteers and staff and observing the work they do. This can help you make the decision if this volunteer position is a good fit.
6. Begin training for your perfect volunteer position working with children.
Tags: with children, Idealist VolunteerMatch, like work, that work, volunteer coordinator, volunteer position, volunteer positions