Every year, Americans contribute $193 billion worth of time to community service and volunteering. Community service is an important way to pour back into the place that you live, people that have made an impact on you, or neighbors that happen to need a helping hand. People are eager to give back to the community.…
Every year, Americans contribute $193 billion worth of time to community service and volunteering. Community service is an important way to pour back into the place that you live, people that have made an impact on you, or neighbors that happen to need a helping hand.
People are eager to give back to the community. All they require is the right opportunity. When done in some fun and effective ways, community service can engage people and make them come back to it again and again.
As a nonprofit or an individual who wants to help the community, it’s your job. You should always have ideas for how to incorporate community service into team building or always have ideas of unique ways you can provide opportunities for volunteers to serve.
There are so many ways to help, and it can be overwhelming. Where do you start?… Why not try with these 50 creative community service and project ideas?
Before you ever start serving your community, you need to ask yourself a few questions and consider some facts:
Once you have gone through the above facts and answered the questions, it will be much easier to determine what community service project is right for you and/or your team!
For your ease of understanding, we have divided the 50 ideas into separate sections/categories. Each section tells you what the primary objective of the ideas is and how the different ideas can help you serve your community effectively.
Have a look at the following categories:-
Donation drives are an easy way to collect items that you, partners in the community or people in the community, need. Typically, you come up with a very specific ask. So, if your organization or another entity in the community is in need of silverware for your shelter: come up with exactly how much silverware you need, determine EXACTLY how and who this will help, then spread the word.
For example, you might determine you need 20 sets of silverware, and that you will give this to 10 people from your shelter who are getting rehoused soon. Spread this ask on social media, and give a very specific drop-off location and the date you need it by.
Here are 10 ideas for community donation drives-
1. Host a school supplies drive for kids in need in your community before school is back in session.
2. Host a perishable food drive for the hungry.
3. Around the holidays, host a donation drive for toys, decorations, or other items to make the holidays special for families in your community.
4. Host a donation drive for GED books to donate to a high school completion study group.
5. Ask corporate organizations in your area to partner with you to host a professional clothing drive to donate to people in need for job interviews.
6. Around valentine’s day, host a drive for stuffed animals to donate to kids in the community who might not otherwise get any gifts.
7. If there is a large homeless population in your area, host a donation drive to create hygiene bags to hand out.
8. Host a donation drive to help local hospitals have access to needed supplies, asking people to scour local stores to find masks, sanitizer, and other necessities.
9. Are you passionate about helping animals? Host a donation drive to help supply food and toys to a local shelter.
10. Domestic and sexual violence shelters often need feminine hygiene products, other hygiene products, pillows, towels, and other basic items. Host a donation drive to help meet these needs.
Pro tip: Ask people to drop items off at a specific location, create an Amazon wish list or a Walmart wish list so people can ship items you need directly to you. You can add the required items to these wish lists and inform people about them. But if getting the specific items from people becomes difficult, consider creating an online donation campaign. There you raise the funds and buy exactly what you need for the lives in need.
Example: Uniquely Made LLC conducted its 7th Annual Toy Drive in Christmas 2021 to cheer up less privileged kids in the community with gifts. The campaign is online, looks simple, and has a suggestive and recurring donation form, along with an apt description.
It’s no secret that manual labor is not right for everyone, and that’s ok! But there are some unique benefits to manual labor, such as reducing stress and having a tangible measure of the impact of your work! Some people in your community are not physically able to help themselves or do needed chores.
Also, some organizations have so little manpower and don’t have a strong volunteer base, and they need extra help. Whatever your reason, helping them with physical labor can be effective and helpful.
Here are 15 community service ideas that involves physical labor:
11. Mow an elderly person’s lawn.
12. If local community centers or other important buildings have been tarnished by graffiti, cover up the graffiti with a fresh coat of paint.
13. Organize a car wash and ask for donations to give to a charity, killing two birds with one stone!
14. Offer free child care for refugee families who are taking language classes or going to job interviews.
15. After COVID is over, help out at a community parade, help create a float, or help organize the event.
16. If there is a local issue or political candidate you are particularly passionate about, canvass for them!
17. Spend a day working in your community garden.
18. If your church is going through an expansion, offer to help with gardening, arranging new furniture, or something else that they need.
19. Volunteer at a thrift store and help sort donations.
20. If there are kids who are experiencing bullying at school, offer to walk home with them a few days a week.
21. Organize books at a library.
22. Help organize a community event and table at the event for the nonprofit you are working with.
23. Drive meals to people who cannot cook for themselves.
24. Help clean up a park, river, or ocean, depending on where you live.
25. Knit scarves, socks, and blankets for a local homeless shelter!
Pro tip: Make a list of needed supplies. Ask the organization you are working with, or the individual, if they have all the items on your list. If they do not, create a Facebook fundraiser or an online campaign for the items so you and your team do not have to pay for them. The following creative ideas will get you started –
Example: Friends of Lowndes Park is a community group that, through the below campaign, asks people to join their membership drive to help shape the park for future generations via repair, maintenance, re-design, and more improvements. They also have a textbox option on their donation form asking people if they’d want to volunteer. You should check this donation page out for inspiration in case your community is in need of such improvements.
Let’s face it, nonprofits are running on limited budgets and have limited resources. There are some luxuries nonprofits or community organizations simply cannot afford. Skilled volunteers expand an organization’s reach by 35%, and their efficiency and effectiveness by 28%, according to True Impact.
If you have a special skill set, consider using it to help an organization you are passionate about at one of their fundraising events, or donate your skill and teach people the organization serves about your skill. Host monthly, quarterly, or annual classes: it can be as simple or involved as you like using one or a few of these ideas!
Here are 10 community service ideas for skilled volunteers:
26. Are you a videographer or photographer? Use these skills to document your favorite nonprofit’s signature fundraising event.
27. If you are an artist, consider teaching children (or adults) how to paint or draw.
28. Are you a self-defense instructor? Donate this skill to a local domestic violence center.
29. If you sing or play an instrument, consider entertaining some residents at a nursing home.
30. Make quilts or other special gifts for children who are in a hospital or long-term care.
31. Write thank you cards to people who are serving in the military.
32. If you can build furniture or something simpler like birdhouses, consider donating this skill to help furnish a local shelter, or bring joy to someone living in a nursing home.
33. Do you like organizing events? Reach out to local community organizers and see how they could use your skills.
34. If you are on a local sports team, dedicate one of your home matches to a nonprofit. Invite people who benefit from the organization as your guests. Also, consider donating some of the profits from the game to the nonprofit.
35. Speaking of sports, consider refereeing community sporting events, especially events for kids!
Example: Skillmation Community Connections is a volunteer-based organization that helps build a bridge between people with specific skills and those in need of them within the community. They created a donation page to support the education services of needy students in the community. As you can see in the image below, each of the suggested amounts in their donation form has the possible impact written below it. This can be a great way to fund the supplies you need to teach your skills or to help create something (an item or event) with your skills.
Anniversaries, holidays, birthdays, family reunions. There are a plethora of family gatherings or important occurrences in your life that you could use to benefit the community. Crowdfunding is when you reach out to family, friends, acquaintances, or other people in your connection circle to ask for donations.
With the right tool, crowdfunding can be incredibly successful. Tap into your Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn following to spread the word!
Here are 10 community project ideas that involve crowdfunding:
36. Raise funds on your birthday for a local nonprofit.
37. If you have a marriage or relationship anniversary coming up, ask people to contribute to your favorite nonprofit. Is it your 30th anniversary? Ask for $300. Your 10th? Ask for $100.
38. Do you have a special religious or historical observation coming up? Christmas, Juneteenth, or International Women’s Day could be great days to raise funds for your nonprofit!
39. If you’re coming up on the anniversary of the loss of someone, ask people to donate in their honor to your nonprofit of choice.
40. Keep in mind your nonprofit’s special anniversaries. For example, if it is the nonprofit’s 30th anniversary, crowdfund on that day.
41. Are you getting married? Crowdfund on your wedding instead of asking for traditional gifts.
42. If there is a day in your life that you needed the nonprofit you are crowdfunding for, crowdfund on that day. For example, the day you heard you were in remission.
43. When the nonprofit you are donating to has a special event, ask people to donate towards that event in your honor.
44. Should a crisis arise, such as a natural disaster or unexpected lack of funding, raise funds for it.
45. Lastly, if there is a day within a particular movement that you are passionate about, crowdfund on that day. For example, you can crowdfund on Arbor Day.
Pro tip: When crowdfunding, set a specific goal, and talk about what inspires you to support a nonprofit or this particular cause. If possible, you can share some pictures of you working with the nonprofit in the past. This helps increase the interest and trust of your followers and friends. They will tend to give more to your campaign when they see how involved you’re in it. Check out Donorbox’s crowdfunding feature which is helping hundreds of organizations raise funds quickly for Do you want to raise $500? Let your followers know that in your caption, and share your story.
Example: Wingren Study Center helps young men with character and professional development in schools and colleges. After the devastation brought in by Hurricane Laura and Delta in Lake Charles, LA, they created a crowdfunding campaign to help homeless families. 20 students, with help from local charities, were to repair and renovate the houses. This crowdfunding campaign has a goal meter to create a sense of urgency as well as an ‘updates’ tab to keep the kind donors posted.
If none of the other options for community service sound interesting or involved enough for you, consider going the extra mile and hosting your own event. Hosting an event provides some fun, an outlet for you to see friends, and a chance to give back. Sounds like a win, win, win!
46. Host a bake sale.
47. Keep a breakfast at your house and ask your friends to donate all the money they would normally spend on coffee every week to your nonprofit of choice instead.
48. Host a book club and collect donations at every meeting.
49. Run a fashion show.
50. Host a trade swap party but have guests bring multiple items and stockpile items to give to charity.
Example: Maddie’s Book Club, in collaboration with Chester Upland Youth Soccer, was an individual effort to discuss books with kids through Zoom calls. The idea was to impart good knowledge and lessons to deserving children in the community. The fundraiser, Maddie created this online campaign to raise some funds to gift the kids with a gift box before the book club meetings. During the pandemic situation, this virtual book club was an amazing idea for individuals or nonprofits. But this can still be as effective. Have a look at this simple, suggestive, and recurring donation form in the image below –
Whether you’re working with or for a nonprofit, or simply, want to do something for the community to give back, these 50 creative community service ideas can surely spark things up. But it’s important to remember that you’d need a team of volunteers in most cases.
Here are some more service ideas that you can check out.
If these ideas have inspired you, wait no more, go out and serve your community!
Check out the rest of our nonprofit blog for some useful tips and resources on nonprofit management.
Do check out Donorbox if you’re wondering about how to raise donations for your community or the nonprofit you’re helping! We have simple yet exciting features to help you serve your community.
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Megan Koontz
