Volunteer.gov – Use the Platform to Find Volunteering Opportunities

Active people with an interest in the great outdoors, history, politics, and environmental protection can use Volunteer.gov to find amazing parent volunteer opportunities.

The volunteering opportunity website from the US government only offers projects from partner groups. These include the Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, and US Geological Survey. You are not going to find local soup kitchens, community clean-ups, or options to spend time at a nearby pet shelter.

Why Use Volunteer.gov to Find New Opportunities

In most cases, parent volunteers have limited time and ability to travel to project sites. This may move Volunteer.gov down on the list of beneficial search platforms. However, there are still many options you can find in your local area or state. In fact, getting involved with these can foster a greater sense of pride in the unique locations near your home.

The website offers extremely thorough information about the specific tasks and how physically fit you need to be to complete them. Many are quite active, but there are also administrative and visitor center help positions that are more accessible.

Using the Volunteering Search Engine on the Site

The easiest way to use the platform is to simply type some general terms or your location into the search bar on the home page. Keep in mind that you will not find certain types of parent volunteer options that you might at a more general site. These are primarily for forests, land services, or historical and cultural sites.

After you do the initial search, you will end up on a page with results on the right and more robust search options on the left. Take the time to fill these in to narrow down your options. These include the types of activities, whether lodging is available, physical ability levels, and dates and times. If you have always dreamed of working at a specific park or scenic location, you can narrow things down even further.

Then click on the “More Info” button, read all about the opportunity, contact the office directly, or use the “Apply Now” button. Yes, you do have to actually apply for these government volunteering positions. They want to make sure they get people who can actually provide the most benefit.

Volunteer.gov Benefits for Parent Volunteers

One major benefit of using an official government platform to discover volunteering opportunities and parent community service projects is that you know the groups are carefully vetted. Each involves an official state or national organization that needs help from people all around the country.

This site offers an easy and comfortable way to get involved with projects that support things like the National Parks system or historical monuments close to home. Although Volunteer.gov lacks quite a few causes that may interest you, there are still plenty of options to get involved as an individual or as part of a whole family project.