Volunteer and service opportunities attract individuals who want to make a difference. Oftentimes, nonprofit organizations can seem difficult to break into. While OU Career Services does not endorse any particular organization, the information below will provide you with helpful links to various volunteer or service organizations that have contacted our office.

Top Ten Largest Non-Profit Organizations

According to the NonProfit Times in 2007

1. American Red Cross
2. YMCA of the USA
3. United Jewish Communities
4. Catholic Charities USA
5. The Salvation Army
6. Goodwill Industries International
7. Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center
8. Boys & Girls Clubs of America
9. Habitat for Humanity International
10. Boy Scouts of America

Idealist.org
Platform that allows nonprofit organizations to post event information, volunteering opportunities, jobs, resources and services; individuals can then search this information and sign up for volunteering opportunities, apply for jobs, etc. The web site also provides information produced by the nonprofit itself, such as information on volunteering abroad.

AmeriCorps VISTA
AmeriCorps VISTA is the national service program designed specifically to fight poverty. Founded as Volunteers in Service to America in 1965 and incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of programs in 1993, VISTA has been on the front lines in the fight against poverty in America for more than 40 years. VISTA members commit to serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, strengthen community groups, and much more.

AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps is an opportunity to make a big difference in your life and in the lives of those around you. It’s a chance to apply your skills and ideals toward helping others and meeting critical needs in the community. Each year, AmeriCorps offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. Whether your service makes a community safer, gives a child a second chance, or helps protect the environment, you’ll be getting things done through AmeriCorps!

Peace Corp
Peace Corps service is a life-defining leadership experience. Since 1961, the Peace Corps has shared with the world America's most precious resource – its people. Volunteers serve in 77 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Peace Corps Volunteers live, learn, and work with a community overseas for 27 months, providing technical assistance in six program areas: education, youth and community development, health, business and information and communications technology, agriculture, and environment.

Teach for America
Teach For America provides a critical source of well-trained teachers who are helping break the cycle of educational inequity. These teachers, called corps members, commit to teach for two years in one of 39 urban and rural regions across the country, going above and beyond traditional expectations to help their students to achieve at high levels.

The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is one of the best-known charitable organizations in the world. It is also one of the largest, with over 1.7 million volunteers contributing to its goals and services, and one of the oldest; U.S. service dates from 1880. The Army educates the public in its mission through the production and distribution of pamphlets and brochures. It also provides programs in Christian education and assists local chapters in the establishment of their own programs.

JET Programme
The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, now in its 24th year, is aimed at promoting grass-roots international exchange between Japan and other nations. JET participants develop strong relationships with their local communities through foreign language education and international exchange activities. After completing their time on the Programme, many former JET participants use their experiences in Japan to continue enhancing relations between Japan and their home countries.

The Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency, engages more than 5 million Americans in results-driven service through 70,000 community and faith-based organizations each year. These Americans improve the lives of millions of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, solve community problems, strengthen the nonprofit sector, and transform their own lives.

Nonprofitlist.org
At Nonprofitlist.org, our goal is to connect the good people on the Internet with the good causes in the real World. We know that you want to make a difference, and that often times, you just don't know where to start. And we also know that you don't always have to travel across the globe to make a difference in someone's life. Many times there are already great nonprofit organizations who provide service and learning opportunities in your home town. These organizations work tirelessly to assist the people in your community, and they need your support.

Opportunity Knocks
Opportunity Knocks is a national online job site, HR resource and career development destination focused exclusively on the nonprofit community. We are committed to lead and support efforts that help further nonprofit careers and promote a robust workforce that enables organizations to complete their missions.

TaLK
TaLK is a Korean Government scholarship program known as Teach and Learn in Korea. The program’s main objective is to invite and train native English teachers and overseas Koreans to teach practical English in after-school classes at the rural elementary school. Participants of the program, known as TaLK scholars, are given the opportunity for personal and professional enrichment through the duties & responsibilities set forth by the Korean Government.

EPIK
EPIK, affiliated to the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology was established in 1995 that places native speakers of English in public schools throughout Korea to (theoretically) teach English alongside Korean English teachers. EPIK was created to improve the English speaking ability of students and teachers in Korea, to foster international exchanges, and to reform teaching methodologies employed in Korean schools.

Global Impact Corps
Unite For Sight’s Global Impact Corps is a high-impact immersive global health experience for students and for professionals. Unite For Sight is renowned as the highest quality global health experience for our Global Impact Fellows, coupled with the highest quality of healthcare delivery programs with our local clinic partners.

For local opportunities, please click here.