Looking to Give Back in 2011? VolunteerMatch Makes It Easy

Jan. 5, 2011 - PRLog -- It’s a new year, and millions of Americans are pledging to volunteer in 2011. If getting involved at a local organization is one of your resolutions, here’s an invitation to get started at http://www.volunteermatch.org. With more than 60,000 active listings from U.S. nonprofits, VolunteerMatch is the easiest way to find and connect with charities that are making a difference where you live.

From the Snow Belt to the Sun Belt, more organizations list their volunteer needs at VolunteerMatch than anywhere else. Since the site launched in 1998, millions of volunteers have signed up to care for the sick, clean our parks, help animals and any number of great projects. VolunteerMatch works because the service is easy: Kids, parents, and older adults can simply type in their location and a few words describing the kind of work they’d like to do. Then just click “I want to help,” and get ready to be involved.

So what’s our prediction for 2011 volunteering? In a word: innovative! This coming year volunteers will have more opportunities to help more organizations than ever before – including ways to give back without ever leaving home.

Here are a few ideas to get your New Year’s resolution started right:

* Virtual Volunteering - If you can’t participate in person this year, no problem. There are thousands of ways to help as a virtual volunteer. For example, you can do graphic design to help cure cancer, “adopt a mom” to help birth mothers adjust after adoption, or translate Spanish to save turtles.

* Voluntourism - If the daily grind has you running to the airport to get away from it all, consider a trip that will allow you to fuel your travel bug while also indulging in philanthropic possibilities. “Voluntourism” combines domestic or international travel with community involvement, enabling you to see more of the real world while also helping to solve local problems. At VolunteerMatch, look for trips from Cross-Cultural Solutions, among other agencies.  

* Go Micro – You probably haven’t heard of “microvolunteering” yet. It’s a new type of volunteering where nonprofits slice and dice a project up so that it’s super-convenient, bite-sized, and crowd-friendly. At VolunteerMatch, keep an eye open for projects like updating a map of oil slick impacts, contributing your info for a health survey, or tagging these images from Flickr.

* Make a Date - The calendar is dotted with nationally recognized service days that provide great opportunities to become involved or organize your family or friends to get involved. MLK Day of Service is coming up on January 17, but don’t forget about National Volunteer Week n April and Family Volunteer Day in November.

Here at VolunteerMatch, our resolution for 2011 is to make it easier than ever for you to make a difference. With 200 new participating organizations joining our community each week, we’re confident you’ll find something to match your passions.

To get involved with these and many other opportunities, visit:
http://www.volunteermatch.org.

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VolunteerMatch is a national nonprofit dedicated to strengthening communities by helping good people and good causes to connect. Its award-winning online service makes it easy to find a way to make a difference by location, expertise, or availability. VolunteerMatch also provides many of the nation's most recognized businesses, campuses and organizations with Web-based solutions to facilitate and track volunteer engagement at local and national levels.