Can I Volunteer Remotely? How to Find Virtual Volunteer Work

Yes. You can volunteer for a nonprofit from your couch, your kitchen table or your lunch break. Remote volunteering is a real and growing part of how Americans give their time.

How common remote volunteering is

Between September 2022 and September 2023, 28.3% of people in the U.S., about 75.8 million, volunteered through an organization (Associated Press, 2024). Of those formal volunteers, about one in five did some or all of it online (AmeriCorps, 2024):

About 82% volunteered only in person.
About 17% were hybrid, mixing online and in-person work.
About 1% volunteered fully online.
More than 13.4 million Americans volunteered fully or partly online.

Remote and hybrid volunteers also gave more time. They averaged 95 hours a year, compared with 64 hours for in-person-only volunteers, and together contributed more than 1.2 billion hours (AmeriCorps, 2024).

Flexibility is a big reason why. Remote work can fit around a job, child care or a disability. In 2023, 20% of volunteers with a disability served virtually or in a hybrid way, compared with 18% of volunteers without one.

Types of remote volunteer work

Common remote volunteer roles
Role	What you might do	Good fit if you
Content and writing	Blog posts, newsletters, fact sheets	Write clearly and meet deadlines
Grant writing	Research funders, draft proposals	Have grant or business writing experience
Social media	Schedule posts, answer comments, make graphics	Already manage accounts for work or fun
Design	Flyers, logos, slide decks, websites	Know design tools
Data and research	Clean spreadsheets, build reports, track policy	Like numbers and detail
Translation	Translate materials and forms	Are fluent in more than one language
Mentoring and tutoring	Video calls with a student or job seeker	Can commit to a regular time

Many organizations especially want skills-based volunteers: people who bring professional experience in marketing, web development, design, data, project management or law.

Laptop open on a tree stump in the woods, a reminder that remote volunteering works from anywhere

Where to find remote volunteer opportunities

Idealist lists volunteer roles you can filter by remote. VolunteerMatch merged into Idealist, so its listings now live there too (Idealist).
Catchafire matches professionals with skills-based projects for nonprofits.
UN Volunteers posts online volunteering assignments for organizations around the world.
Points of Light connects people with volunteer opportunities and local volunteer centers.
Go direct. Many women's organizations, shelters and advocacy groups take volunteers but never post on a platform. Find organizations near you in our Find Help directory and check their websites.

One note for work with survivors: hotline and direct-service roles at domestic violence and sexual assault programs usually require training and a background check, even when the work is remote. That is there to protect callers. Expect it.

How to get started

List your skills and your hours. Be honest about how much time you have each week.
Pick a cause. You will stick with it longer if you care about it.
Research the organization. Look at what it does, who runs it and how it reports its results.
Do the orientation. Good organizations train their volunteers. Take it seriously.
Start small. Try one project before you commit to a standing role.

Tips for remote volunteers

Communicate. Agree on how and when you will check in, and send updates without being asked.
Protect your time. Block volunteer hours on your calendar the way you would a meeting.
Keep things organized. Use the organization's shared folders and tools, not your personal accounts.
Ask for feedback. Knowing what helped tells you where to put your time next.

On the Shoulders of Medusa doesn't run a volunteer program. The best way to stay connected with us is the Weekly Report: what's happening to women's rights each week, with real ways to act, many of which you can do from home.

Questions people ask