Service Opportunities & Resources

This page will present you with an extensive list of opportunities for creating meaning through service.
Here you’ll find links to organizations, volunteer pathways, meaningful work, etc.
It will start with a descriptive list, and under that will be a quick ‘short-list’ of links as well.

Travel

International Aid, Rescue & Relief Services

American Red Cross – Red Cross volunteers and staff work to deliver vital services – from providing relief and support to those in crisis, to helping you be prepared to respond in emergencies.

International Rescue Committee – IRC responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises in a great variety of roles.

Catholic Relief Service – CRS works with organizations around the world to help poor and vulnerable people overcome emergencies, earn a living through agriculture and access affordable health care.

World Wildlife Fund – WWF’s unique way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science, involves action at every level from local to global, and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature.

Nature Conservancy –  The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.

Mountain Rescue Association – MRA is an organization of teams dedicated to saving lives through rescue and mountain safety education.

Non-Profit Work

SERVEnet – Find Volunteer Opportunities in Your Community

Foundation List – Foundation List is a job board specifically designed for listing opportunities within the nonprofit employment sector! It’s mission is to connect foundations, organizations, associations, and educational institutions to passionate mission-minded job seekers.

Young Nonprofit Professionals Network – The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) activates emerging leaders by connecting them with resources, people, and ideas.

Nonprofit Career Center – Nonprofit Career Network has been created to fill the needs of the nonprofit sector.

Idealist – Idealist is all about connecting idealists – people who want to do good – with opportunities for action and collaboration.

Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth – an advocacy group for people enrolled in residential treatment programs for at-risk teenagers.

The National Council of Nonprofits – The National Council of Nonprofits is a trusted resource and advocate for America’s charitable nonprofits. Through our powerful network of State Associations and 25,000-plus members – the nation’s largest network of nonprofits – we serve as a central coordinator and mobilizer to help nonprofits achieve greater collective impact in local communities across the country. We identify emerging trends, share proven practices, and promote solutions that benefit charitable nonprofits and the communities they serve.

New York Nonprofit Media – New York Nonprofit Media is the must-read news source for New York’s nonprofits. The publication has served the industry for 12 years as New York Nonprofit Press.

HERC – HERC is the only non-profit organization devoted to connecting exceptional professionals with careers at higher education and affiliated employers that have a shared mission to promote equity and inclusion, support dual-career couples and create a future shaped by diversity of thought and perspectives.

Devex – A social enterprise, they connect and inform 700,000+ global development professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities.

Non-Profit Jobs Council on Foundations – A nonprofit membership association of grant=making foundations and corporations, with a mission is to promote responsible and effective philanthropy.

National Job Boards

Quotes

Kahil Gibran: On Service
You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.
You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, “he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet.”
But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”~ Gandhi

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

“Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.” ~ Dan Dennett

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” ~ Albert Einstein

“Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame but greatness, because greatness is determined by service.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“It only stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.”  {let your service come from your heart} ~ Ayn Rand