New York is home to an unceasing volume of volunteer opportunities, from museum docents to trash collectors to volunteer lawyers. Depending upon your interests, there will be an opportunity for you to volunteer in just about every field. You do not need a work visa to volunteer but it is a good idea to ask the organisation for which you are volunteering how long their waiting list is, just in case it exceeds your time in New York. Some organisations have lists so long that volunteers can wait months for a position, such as the American Museum of Natural History, whose volunteers wait up to a year to be placed.

Volunteer Organisations

Good places to start looking for work are sites that bring together opportunities from non-profits all over the city.
New York Cares organises non-profits according to industry and allows volunteers to search through their database for opportunities. You can search through their projects at www.nycares.org or call 212 228 5000.

Volunteer NYC sorts opportunities by neighbourhood and interest and has a searchable data base at www.volunteernyc.org (212 251 4016).

Street Project is a charity group catering to busy professionals looking to volunteer during their spare time to various charities (www.streetproject.org).