Individual Volunteering

Volunteering. The most direct way to help your community.

HandsOn Shanghai is a platform that removes the barriers of engaging citizens in the community, and regardless of whether you want to volunteer your time to educate a child, read a story to a child at the hospital, play Bingo! at an elderly care center, or do some handcrafts with mentally challenged people HandsOn Shanghai is the platform for you. It is a platform where you can choose the issues you want to address, at a time and location that you prefer and volunteer with others who are just like you.

With a primary objective of providing flexible volunteer opportunities for people of all kinds of backgrounds and serving local charities in needs, HOS manages a big group of volunteers and a diverse range of community service projects in Shanghai.While we love to see our volunteers come back, many of the programs for individual volunteers do not require you to commit beyond the few hours necessary for your selected project of interest. If you are looking to make a bigger commitment of time, then we hope that you will consider becoming a project coordinator.

Why become a HandsOn Shanghai individual volunteer?

  • Many Opportunities:We’ve done the foot-work for you by finding and scheduling high-impact projects at nonprofits, schools and other partners that need your help. Choose from 70+ opportunities a month!
  • New Friends: You won’t be on your own. Our projects are group-based, so you’ll be working alongside other volunteers from HandsOn Shanghai. You’ll have the chance to make many new friends with people who are just like you, who want to contribute to their community.
  • Flexible: HandsOn projects occur on weekday evenings and weekends, in Pudong and Puxi, to accommodate busy schedules and locations.
  • Short Term: You don’t have to make a long-term commitment, unless you want to. (We do ask that you only sign up for those projects you intend on attending. Our projects are in high-demand!)
  • Trained Coordinator: Every HandsOn project will be led by a trained HandsOn Project Coordinator who will serve as your contact in case you have questions before, during and after your project, and will be on site with you to make sure your volunteer experience is filled with impact.

To learn how to get started, the first step is to read through our New Volunteer’s Guide, create your HandsOn profile, and then attend one of our monthly regular orientation sessions. Once you have completed these steps, then please go to our program calendar, and RSVP for an event.

Should you have any questions, feel free to email us at volunteer@handsonshanghai.org

Be the Change! Volunteer!