Ask anyone at any nonprofit, and they will all agree – volunteers are the heart of every organization. Volunteers even make up one-third of the nonprofit workforce.
Volunteers provide a much-needed service while gaining a variety of physical, mental, and social benefits – stress reduction, improvement in physical and mental health, improved self-worth, increased social circle, and more.
With more than 2,200 nonprofits in Philadelphia alone, finding the perfect match can feel overwhelming.
According to Volunteer Pro, there are three kinds of skills – basic skills, people skills, and technical skills. From their website, “The design of any volunteer role should include a shortlist of the minimum skills required in each category.” Before you swipe right on an organization, let’s build your “profile.”
We’ve put together the ultimate guide to green volunteer opportunities in Philly. Want to help local nonprofits but are short on time? You’ll also find other ways to support nonprofits below.
Promoting bicycling as an environmentally friendly, healthy, and economical form of transportation and recreation through advocacy and education.
As Philadelphia’s oldest environmental non-profit, the Council has been fighting for everyone’s right to breathe clean air since 1967.
Protect our air, water, and land, and empower citizens to build sustainable communities for future generations.
To provide education and adventure programs that inspire self-discovery, foster personal achievement, and build community across Philadelphia.
Overbrook Environmental Education Center
To remove barriers from the public’s full appreciation of our region’s technological and environmental resources.
To inspire meaningful connections between people and nature.
To partner with grocery stores, restaurants, wholesalers, and farmers to deliver surplus food to a network of nonprofits, food banks, and community organizations.
Share Food Program: Philly Food Rescue
Philly Food Rescue is the sustainability, food recovery, and donations arm of the Share Food Program.
Diverts post-consumer glass from landfills by upcycling, downcycling, and reusing bottles and jars, while educating our community about the lifecycle of everyday materials.
To drive growth of a thriving circular economy in the greater Philadelphia region through advocacy, education, infrastructure development, and collaboration.
Endeavors to end commercial textile “waste” and maximize the value of unused fabric.
To promote community involvement and engagement throughout Philadelphia by targeting issues within the community and devising a plan to recruit local volunteers, businesses, organizations and community leaders to help us in working toward a solution.
To steward the relationships between Nature, history, and community, and continue to tell its story.
To create equitable relationships among people and nature through immersive, community-driven experiences that activate the Bartram legacy, Garden, and House, on land and on the Schuylkill River, in Southwest Philadelphia.
To restore and maintain Philadelphia’s parks.
To conserve the natural beauty and wildness of the Wissahickon Valley and stimulate public interest therein.
To support communities in activating Philly’s neighborhood parks and watershed natural areas, with a special focus on inviting Philadelphians to get involved by volunteering.
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
To support communities in activating Philly’s neighborhood parks and watershed natural areas, with a special focus on inviting Philadelphians to get involved by volunteering.
Philly Goat Project Inc.
To provide education, therapy, job training, wellness, and community engagement activities in partnership with the dynamic and delightful capacities of goats.
POP has planted orchards with a diverse range of community-based organizations throughout Philadelphia.
To win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table.
To foster stewardship of our shared water resources by encouraging informed decisions about the use of land and water.
Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed (TTF)
To improve the health and vitality of our watershed by collaborating with our municipalities and leading our communities in education, stewardship, restoration, and advocacy.
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