Low Commitment Volunteer Opportunities — and How to Volunteer When You’re Too Busy

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Living amidst the dumpster fire like we are, what helps me cope a bit is volunteer work (and protesting), and that's true for a lot of people. Today we're sharing some great low commitment volunteer opportunities, as well as tips on how to volunteer when you're really busy — four options that don't involve a lot of commitment, training, or meetings, though YMMV!

There are so many other benefits, too. Not only are you helping people while feeling fulfilled yourself, but volunteering, no matter what kind, can benefit you by improving your skills (or teaching you new ones), boosting your resume, and connecting you with new friends and potential career contacts.

Previously, we've talked about strategic volunteering, how to get on a board, joining professional organizations, and very timely posts about small political actions to take each week and resources for women running for office, but we haven't highlighted this kind of volunteering before.

For those readers that do it, how do you volunteer when you're really busy? How often do you lend a hand?

Low Commitment Volunteer Opportunities

Signing Up for “Be My Eyes”

Be My Eyes is such a cool program for people who are blind or have low vision, and everyone I've heard from (online) who's participated has had great experiences helping the tool's users. This free service connects users with sighted volunteers who help them with various tasks in real time. Available in 150 countries, Be My Eyes is free, anonymous, and available 24/7 for people who need a hand with a task.

A couple of examples of user requests that volunteers have shared online are helping to put together a color-coordinated outfit or reading information on a food package.

Note that with millions of volunteers signed up, requests for your help will likely be rare — but if you're really busy, it's a great fit.

Sorting Donations of Food &Toiletry

As I assume most readers do, my community has a local nonprofit that collects toiletries and personal care items for clients of local shelters and other human service agencies, and it needs regular help sorting donations. Training isn't complicated; in my case, I toss expired, dirty, half-used (yep), or unwanted items and sort the rest into categories like “men,” “women,” “general,” etc.

If you're someone who enjoys sorting and organizing, you may end up loving this task like I do. The org I volunteer for typically asks each volunteer to pick two times a year to come in and sort, and my mom and I do sorting sessions together. For us, it's fun!

Sorting donated food is a similar, although the opportunities I've seen (locally) prefer that people volunteer as a group. Older kids are sometimes welcomed, too, so you can probably take your kids/nieces/nephews. (Obviously, ask the volunteer manager first!)

Collect In-Kind Donations for Organizations

On the other side of things, one nice “good deed” is to collect food, toiletries, or items for a local animal shelter from your neighborhood. You can do this as often or as infrequently as you want, though TOO often is not ideal, as people tend to get donation fatigue from being repeatedly asked.

You can either go old-school by physically distributing the organization's wish list (almost always easy to find online), or using social media to spread the word. I once asked for donations for a citywide holiday food drive by posting in our neighborhood's Facebook group, and I got a good number of donations, partly because it was a holiday-themed drive. (People dropped off stuff at my doorstep, and I think I picked up from a couple people.)

If your office doesn't mind you hosting a drive at the office, that can work, too.

A key part of this kind of charity task is to SCREEN the items you receive before you drop them off at the organization. As a volunteer and former nonprofit staffer, I've seen some people donate, for example, very expired food and/or items that the nonprofit doesn't want.

Joining a Medical Study

I recently started doing this — specifically, I'm a participant in a study for an experimental HIV vaccine. (Who knows whether the university will get their NIH grants snatched away, but for now they're all good. *sigh*).

To find out if you can take part in a study, contact your local university's medical center (for example) to see what you're eligible for, or simply google “medical research volunteers [your city].”

Typically, you'll complete an online screening, then a phone screening, and if you're accepted, then a series of appointments. If you decide the study's not for you, you can always decline! You'll also receive compensation, which varies significantly. If you're not the right fit for certain research, staff can usually enter your info into a database to be considered for future opportunities.

Readers, have you found low-commitment volunteer opportunities for when you're really busy? How often do you volunteer, and what do you do? Is it in person, online, or on the phone?

Stock photo via Stencil.