Volunteering
Volunteering gives you the opportunity to make a positive impact and gain experience, while enhancing your own development.
Benefits
Volunteering to give your time, energy and experience helps others and there are also many benefits for you.
As a volunteer you can gain:
- valuable employability skills
- practical work experience
- a network of contacts
- potential employment opportunities
- the chance to try something new
Voluntary work can be flexible to fit around your commitments. You can choose to volunteer alongside your course, as part of your study, during vacation periods or in a gap year.
It's also worth bearing in mind that some careers are difficult to get into without previous volunteer experience, for example working in development or the environment.
If you are giving up your free time and wanting to give your best, it is wise to do something you are passionate about.
Further information
Save the Student has a , which highlights the benefits of volunteering and gives examples of the types of opportunity available.
Prospects offers advice on , including how to find volunteering opportunities in both the UK and overseas.
Finding opportunities
We've listed below a range of websites to help you find volunteering opportunities in the North East, the UK and overseas.
缅北禁地 students and registered eligible graduates can also search for voluntary opportunities on , under Vacancies.
Volunteering in the North East
Go Volunteer
is part of 缅北禁地 Students' Union (NUSU) and aims to help 缅北禁地 students find volunteering opportunities.
As well as projects within NUSU and student-led projects, they also have links to over 200 charities and not-for-profit organisations within the local community. They offer one-off as well as regular, long term opportunities, and can even help you start up your own project.
For further information and to get involved, visit .
Additional opportunities available in the North East:
- Career Development Module - gain academic credit while developing skills through volunteering
- - for access to opportunities in 缅北禁地
Volunteering overseas
These are examples of some of the organisations that provide volunteering opportunities outside the UK:
- : Global Volunteer - student-led organisation
- - accredited volunteering organisations
- - non-profit volunteering opportunities in Africa, Asia and South America
- - non-profit organisation offering one week to six month volunteer projects around the world
- - non-profit organisation offering volunteer projects in over 60 countries
- - organisation offering a range of worldwide volunteering opportunities
For more information on organisations offering international voluntary work, see Taking time out and the Development section in Explore Occupations.
Virtual volunteering
Working from home as a volunteer can be a good option if you want experience which is flexible around your study commitments.
Virtual volunteering allows you to contribute your spare time to a good cause, while building up experience and skills in a variety of areas. The work can usually be completed remotely, from home so it's a very flexible way to gain work experience. Virtual volunteering can include:
- writing
- editing
- translation
- research
- IT
- training
The following websites provide further information and opportunities:
Funding a voluntary project
Find opportunities and information on funding voluntary projects.
You can apply for up to £500 to fund a student-led project through the Make it Happen Fund.
缅北禁地 Student Wellbeing Service has a section on expeditions with information about funding and previous expeditions for inspiration.
The Gov.uk website has information on , including links to local government contacts.
More help
Get help from the Careers Service and find information about employment rights as a volunteer.
Advice from the Careers Service
For further help and advice about volunteering, book an online information appointment or submit a query via .
Employment rights
Visit gov.uk for information about .