How can you be an advocate for an issue that's important to you, when it's just you that wants to do this?

• Start educating yourself about the issue you feel strongly about. Find organizations that are addressing the issue and visit their web sites, and read those web sites THOROUGHLY. Subscribe to their email newsletters, if they have such, and read them. If they have public events focused on learning about their work (rather than fundraising events), attend them. Your goal is to become knowledgeable about the issue so that you don't unintentionally spread misinformation. For instance, even though you might care deeply about people who are homeless, you may not fully understand why people are homeless, the different ways people experience homeless, that people living in hotels or in campers they park on city streets or parking lots are considered homeless, etc.

• If an organization that is addressing a cause you care about involves volunteers, then sign up to volunteer and participate in some activities. If you aren't sure if they involve volunteers, because their web site wasn't clear about that, write them and tell them how you would like to help them as a volunteer and say what you could do.

• Never say or imply to anyone, in any social media post, in any email or in any conversation, that you are somehow an official representative of any organization, even if you are volunteering with the organization. You are a concerned individual, but you are NOT a representative of any organization.

• Invite your friends to volunteer with you, or to go with you to an event by the organization. By taking others with you, you are helping to educate others about the issue. 

• Occasionally use your status update on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram and any other online social networking site you use to talk about what these organizations are doing, what they are concerned about, misinformation they are trying to counter, etc. It can be this simple:

  Our local animal shelter is looking for volunteers this Saturday to help at such-and-such event. If you are interested, call xxx-xxxx.

  So-and-so organization is working in Haiti. Have a look at their web site and read about their program to employ local people in rebuilding their own houses, hospitals and schools.

  Did you know that you can save money by growing your own victory garden, just like your grandparents? Visit the so-and-so web site for free information on how to do this.

  Did you know that most teenagers being trafficked for sex were not abducted - they were lured into the life by someone they cared about or admired, or that they thought cared about them? Here's more information...

• Turn your birthday party into a fundraiser for your cause. Invite friends to your house or to a restaurant, and ask in your invitation that, in lieu of gifts, people make donations to a nonprofit organization addressing the cause you support.

• Host a party, cookout or reception at your home, invite your friends (and encourage them to invite their friends), and show a SHORT film or documentary relating to the cause you want to educate your friends about. In your invitation, note clearly that this is a fundraiser for a particular organization and that you will be asking for donations; do NOT wait until the party, cookout or reception to tell invitees that you have invited them there in order to ask for donations.

• Walk the talk when it comes to the cause you believe in. If you want to advocate for people to commute to work by bicycle, for instance, you need to be commuting by bicycle. If you want people to use less electrical energy, you need to use less electrical energy and show your friends what you are doing. If you want people to use less plastic, you need to be using much less yourself (not just getting rid of straws).
  

• With permission from an organization addressing the cause you support, have a garage sale to raise money for the organization. Ask friends, relatives, neighbors and others to donate items for your sale. Have large signs at the garage sale that say you are raising money for a particular organization. Make it clear to those who buy items that they will not receive any tax deduction for purchasing any item, nor for making any donations directly to you. Write down the amount of every sale and what the person bought.

• Work a series of jobs in the informal sector (walk dogs, pet sit, provide child care/baby sit, do yard work for neighbors and friends, etc.) and save some or all of the money you make for your cause. Make it clear to those who buy items that they will not receive any tax deduction for employing your services, nor for making any donations directly to you.

• Sell items on eBay. Ask friends, relatives, neighbors and others to donate items for your sale. Take the money that you raise and donate it to the organization.

If you are seeking volunteering in order to fulfill a community service obligation from a court or for a school graduation requirement, see this resource.

Detailed information on for teens that want or need to find community service or volunteering tasks.

You are NOT too young to volunteer! Ways you can volunteer, no matter how young you are.

Advice for family volunteering - volunteering by families with children.

How to find volunteering opportunities, a resource for adults who want to volunteer.

Advice for volunteering as a group / volunteering in a group.

Group volunteering for atheist and secular volunteers - how to find welcoming opportunities for groups of volunteers that are not religious-based.

How to find or create volunteering opportunities to help seniors / elders / the elderly.

Advice for finding volunteer activities during the holidays (spoiler alert: start looking in as early as August - not even kidding).

Online Volunteering / Virtual Volunteering: finding volunteering tasks you can do from wherever you are in the world. Also called remote volunteering, crowdsourcing for good, microvolunteering, digital volunteering, etc. This is the most comprehensive advice and list you will find regarding this type of volunteering.

Volunteering to help after major disasters - if you have ever wanted to help people affected by a sudden event like an earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane, fire or human-caused event, this resource details what you need to do NOW. 

Volunteering to address your own mental health - This resource is designed to help you have realistic expectations for volunteering to address your loneliness, depression, anxiety, etc., and to avoid an experience that will make you feel worse instead of better.

Volunteering with organizations that help animals and wildlife. There are opportunities much closer to you than you might think.

Volunteering on public lands in the USA (national parks, national forests, national monuments, federally-managed historic sites, Bureau of Land Management land, state parks, wetlands, etc.)

Using your business skills for good - volunteering your business management skills, to help people start, expand or improve small businesses / micro enterprises, to help people building businesses in high-poverty areas, and to help people entering or re-entering the work force.

Volunteering in pursuit of a medical, veterinary or social work degree / career - volunteering that will help build your skills and give you experience applying skills to work in these fields.

Ideas for Leadership Volunteering Activities
These are more than just do-it-yourself volunteering - these are ideas to create or lead a sustainable, lasting benefit to a community, recruiting others to help and to have a leadership role as a volunteer. These can also be activities for a Capstone project, the Girl Scouts Gold Award, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (U.K.), a mitzvah project, or even scholarship consideration.


Ideas for creating your own volunteering activity. If you haven't been able to find the opportunity you want to do, why not create your own?

How to Get a Paid Job with the United Nations or other international humanitarian or development organization.


Packing advice for first-time humanitarians & aid workers
What you should pack before you head out on your first mission trip.

Fund raising for a cause or organization - how to raise money for a nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO), charity or program you care about.

Crowdfunding for a personal cause: raising money to help with health care costs for a sick family member, someone in a dire financial crisis, etc. (as opposed to raising money for a nonprofit)

Donating things instead of cash or time (in-kind contributions) - do people living in poverty, or people after a disaster, really want your used shoes, your used clothes, your used car, etc.?

Creating or holding a successful community event or fund raising event - before you throw a concert or marathon or comedy show or whatever to raise money, read this.

Careers working with animals (for the benefit of animals) - how to volunteer and study to get this type of paid job in the future.

How to make a difference internationally / globally/ in another country Without going abroad. Yes, there really are ways you can help without moving or traveling.

Ideas for Funding Your Volunteering Abroad Trip. This resource includes suggestions of ethical programs and questions to ask any program that wants your money to give you your feel-good short-term volunteering experience in another country.

How to complain about your volunteering experience.

Tax credits for volunteering - advice for residents of the USA.

Helping People Address Their Problems with Plastic
How to mobilize a community to clean up plastic bottles, plastic bags and other plastic waste from their environment, and how to reduce their use of such items in the future

How to Live Car-less/Car-free in the USA (or, at least, ways you can live and work and use a car less day-to-day)