Want to volunteer for a cause? Reach out to “iVolunteer”, a social enterprise, and they connect you to non-governmental organisations for sharing your time, skills and passions to promote social development. As of now, iVolunteer serves over 10,000 volunteers every year through its various programmes.
Ms Amrutha Reddy, Programme Associate, told Deccan Chronicle, “Our volunteer programmes are supported by credible charitable foundations and we have also developed strategic employee volunteering partnerships with some of the top companies. We want to recruit the best and the brightest. We look for professionals who have a passion for a particular issue and are driven to make a difference in the community. We believe in nurturing the talent and providing opportunities to such volunteers."
The organisation partners with over 300 non-profits across the country through iVolunteer centres in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune. It focuses on 12 core areas of education, poverty alleviation, environment, health, HIV-AIDS, gender equality, human rights, disability, youth welfare, elderly welfare, child welfare and active citizenship. It works closely with its volunteers and NGOs that work in these impact areas.
“In Bengaluru, we are focusing on government schools by revamping the look of classrooms and making children learn the fun way through arts, crafts and mentoring. Everyone can make a difference in someone's life by volunteering,” Ms Reddy said.
The aim is to motivate people to take up voluntary social work and to get them involved in their communities. Its partnership with NGOs helps in bringing about long-lasting changes in society. It also instils the concept of volunteering at a young age by encouraging children to serve meals to the low-income and underprivileged families. It also teaches children how to care for the environment and to respond to critical needs.
“Over the last few decades, the government has recognised the contribution of volunteering, and promoted it to combat social exclusion and to deliver high-quality public services. We connect at the grassroots level and work towards increasing the efficiency of our partner organisations through volunteers, thereby increasing their impact,” a volunteer said.
iVolunteer verifies the organisations, and supports the volunteer and the NGO in getting the right match. It charges no fee from the volunteers. Also, any NGO can use its platform to post its volunteering opportunities. Volunteers can directly apply to the NGO and understand the organisation and its volunteering requirements.
