Term-of-Service Opportunities
Make a difference while getting to know the nonprofit world from the inside. As always on this site, if you know of other programs that should be listed here, please contact us here. If you notice any broken links or bugs, please email web@idealist.org.
Also, be sure to check out our other term-of-service resources here.
Amate House
A year-long volunteer program that supports and develops men and women rooted in faith, dedicated to service, and committed to building a more just and loving society. Volunteers are placed in schools, parishes, and social service agencies throughout Chicago and live in intentional communities of six to twelve people.
AmeriCorps
This government-affiliated service program includes the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and AmeriCorps*NCCC programs. For more information on AmeriCorps*VISTA, visit the Friends of VISTA website.
AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps
A year-long, full-time program that combines Jewish learning with social activism and community building in low-income neighborhoods in New York City and Washington, DC.
Camphill Soltane
A residential community made up of 85 people, including 40 young adults with special needs (called companions), 35 long-term volunteers (called coworkers), and ten coworker children. Coworkers come from all over the world, and range in age from 20 to 76. Coworkers stay at Soltane for a minimum of one year and serve in a variety of capacities, from supervising work and craft stations to direct care-giving. Coworkers are supported in their basic needs by the economic life of the community.
Christian Appalachian Project (CAP)
An interdenominational, nonprofit Christian organization committed to serving people in need in Appalachia by providing physical, spiritual, and emotional support through a wide variety of programs and services. Various volunteer positions available.
City Year
A national service program that unites young adults, ages 17 to 24, from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds for a year of full-time community service, leadership development, and civic engagement.
Experience Corps
Active in 19 cities across the United States, this program engages people aged 55+ as tutors and mentors of elementary school children struggling to learn to read.
Green Corps' Environmental Leadership Training Program
A paid, 13-month, full-time, field school for environmental organizing and activism. The program features classroom, field work, and career placement components.
Inner-City Teaching Corps of Chicago
A volunteer service program that places outstanding recent college graduates as teachers in inner-city Chicago classrooms. The ICTC also offers other opportunities for service-based professional development.
JDC Jewish Service Corps
The JDC Jewish Service Corps (JSC) offers qualified individuals the chance to serve a Jewish community abroad in such areas as Jewish outreach, community development, health, and social welfare. Volunteers are selected to match the particular needs of overseas communities.
Jesuit Volunteer Corps
Offers one-year commitments in the United States or two-year commitments internationally at hundreds of grassroots organizations that provide essential services to low-income people.
Jewish Organizing Initiative
A one-year service program working with Boston area community and labor organizations. The year includes a commitment to regular sessions in community building among the ten or more "fellows" of the JOI, mostly young adults in their twenties. The sessions include training in community organizing, Jewish identity and tradition, and group projects in the community.
Learn and Serve America
Supports service-learning programs in schools, colleges, and community organizations that engage nearly one million youth in the areas of education, public safety, the environment, and other human needs.
Lutheran Service Corps
An urban ministry that matches full-time vounteers with programs that serve people in need in the Omaha, NE area.
Lutheran Volunteer Corps
Open to mature individuals 21 and over who are willing to commit to at least one year of full-time service in urban social justice organizations in ten cities across the United States.
MATCH Corps
An ambitious, intensive, one-on-one tutoring program designed to fully close the Achievement Gap between minority and non-minority students, and between economically disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers. Each MATCH Corps member is assigned four urban high school students with whom they build an in-depth relationship throughout the year, as they work together towards clear goals in academic classes and on key exams like the MCAS, SAT, and AP.
Mercy Volunteer Corps
A year-long service program in the United States in both urban and rural regions. All Mercy volunteers work with those who are economically poor or marginalized in a spirit of solidarity and mutuality, live simply in community, and commit to personal and communal spiritual growth. Volunteers are placed in service fields compatible with their gifts/skills and the needs of the site.
Milwaukee Community Service Corps
Engages 18 to 23 year old residents of the Milwaukee, WI area in community service continuing education.
National Association of Service and Conservation Corps
Serves as an advocate and central reference point, and provider of training and technical assistance, for youth service and conservation corps programs across the country.
New Sector Residency in Social Enterprise (RISE)
New Sector's staff works with Boston-area nonprofit organizations to structure substantive, meaningful strategic planning projects and equips talented young leaders to complete them. Our residency offers recent college graduates the opportunity to have significant social impact while developing their own professional and leadership skills.
Northwest Youth Corps
An Oregon-based nonprofit job training, alternative/outdoor education, employment, and youth development organization that has served nearly 7,700 young people since it was established in 1984.
Peace Corps
A U.S. government organization of men and women who live in another country for two years, working at the grass-roots level to help solve some of the most important challenges facing the developing world.
Philly Fellows
A one-year post-graduate fellowship program that connects graduates of area colleges with meaningful positions in partnering nonprofits, where they can build capacity, develop new professional skills, and make a difference in the city of Philadelphia.
Public Allies
A program for young adults, aged 18 to 30, who commit to ten months of intensive leadership training and a professional apprenticeship. Allies receive a living allowance, health and child care benefits, and an educational award.
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps
A job training and advocacy program that provides 16 to 19 year-olds in northwest Colorado the opportunity to gain self-awareness and insight, outdoor skills, job ethics, financial management skills, and community and independent living skills.
San Francisco Conservation Corps
A job and academic training organization serving young people ages 11 to 26, corps members develop their job skills, leadership abilities, and environmental awareness by completing outreach, conservation, and community service projects throughout the city.
Senior Corps
This organization runs three programs—Foster Grandparent, Senior Companion, and RSVP—that link U.S. nationals aged 55+ to volunteer service opportunities in their communities. Small stipends are available for certain programs.
Student Conservation Association
Fosters lifelong stewardship of the environment by offering opportunities for education, leadership, and personal development while providing public service in natural resource management, cultural preservation, environmental protection, and conservation.
Teach for America
The national corps of recent college graduates, of all academic majors, who commit two years to teach in under-resourced urban and rural public schools with the overall aim of eliminating educational inequity.
United Planet (UP)
Is an international nonprofit organization devoted to inspiring global citizenship and cross-cultural understanding through a range of diverse initiatives, such as one- to twelve-week, six-month, and one-year volunteer service programs in over 50 countries.
The University for the Study of Human Goodness
This year-long service-learning program is entitled "Soul-Centered Education for a Lifetime." It combines service, study, and reflection in a unique, service-oriented community.
Vincentian Service Corps
The Vincentian Service Corps is for men and women who want to give one year of their lives to serve the poor, live in community with other Corps members, and experience a simple lifestyle.
Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO) Canada
This program looks for experienced applicants and is open to U.S. citizens. They are active in more than 30 developing countries and offer both short- and long-term assignments (both with financial assistance).
This page was last updated in November 2008.
