Volunteering can mean helping other people. It is also an exchange. You offer your time, your experience or your skills, for which you get something in return.

You might learn new skills, build up your confidence, make new friends, or simply take pleasure in being a part of something or supporting a cause that you believe in.

Volunteering is often with charities and community groups. Equally though, it can be protest or activism. It is any activity where time is given freely for the public good: from taking part in a neighbourhood watch scheme, to chaining yourself to a bulldozer, to delivering meals on wheels, to doing the annual accounts for a charity.

It can be working closely with people or working with nature. It can be office based, on a building site or through the Internet.

To look at some of the possibilities in more depth, go to the next page ».

Other helpful pages:
The Options »
Questions to ask »

If you know what you'd like to do, and what time you are prepared to commit, check out the available opportunities on our database or call Volunteer Centre Edinburgh on +44 (0) 131 225 0630, or email your enquiry to admin@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk.

next: The Options