Happy New Year! Have you set your New Year’s resolution, or are you still looking for some inspiration? If you are the latter…Why not choose to volunteer? 

When you volunteer, not only do you give back to your community, but there are significant positive health benefits (both physical and mental) for the volunteer.

One of those benefits is the way your brain responds when you give back. Research shows volunteering triggers the same reward pathway and has the same neurological response as eating food or having sex.

So volunteering is not only good for your community, but good for you too!

Where to start?

Start the year the right way by volunteering for a start-up. At Collaborate, we have heaps of volunteering opportunities for new charities and social enterprises. Volunteering for a start-up is an unique experience: you get to drive real change.

Regenerate Magazine

Regenerate Magazine is a new social enterprise that has been set up to help the poverty stricken of Wellington. It provides them with a source of income, and a purposeful activity (a part time job). They need people to help design, create and distribute the magazine to the vendors from a fixed location for an hour in the morning or the evening.

Magazine Designer, Editor, Distributor and more
Ongoing
Varied hours
Wellington
Volunteering Ref: 60, 61, 62, 65

Colour Our Story

Colour Our Story is a creative, global movement founded about 3 years ago. It facilitates the creation of colouring story books by children for children in many corners of the world. These precious books are designed to empower, inspire and create a real sense of connection and global citizenship through the magical powers of storytelling and creativity. Via Colour Our Story, children exchange books with other children in a different part of the world and then more books are created and sold to the public. All proceeds provide creative opportunities, supplies and art therapy for children in the most need; they may be orphans, refugees, hospital patients, those recovering from trauma or disadvantaged in other ways. Colour Our Story needs help making a professional video that successfully communicates the overall essence of this social enterprise.

Video Editor
Project Based
Approximately a days work
Central Auckland or Online
Volunteering Ref: 284

Blue Syndicate Limited

Blue Syndicate Limited is a new organisation established by Blanche Kaira, recently emigrated from Uganda to New Zealand as an Edmund Hillary Fellow. Her mission is to fight global antibiotic-resistant superbugs using a personalised digital front-line medical device called Musawo. The device will be made available to everybody in the world and its use will lead to a reduction in disease. For her mission to succeed, Blanche needs global participation in the form of a change in human behaviour. To grow awareness of her work, she needs a website that will enable any interested persons or organisations to work with her in her mission to democratise medicine through meaningful collaborative partnerships.

Website Designer
Project-based
Approximately 8 hours
Wellington
Volunteering Ref: 326

Step Changers

Step Changers have a vision to make corporate social responsibility normal. As an all rounders, you can work project by project as it suits you to help achieve this. Pick from a Trello board where all of their upcoming projects live. Tasks relate to communications, strategy, projects and evaluation, corporate social responsibility research, content creation, or anything in between. If this style of working sounds like something you'd be keen on hearing more about - let them know!

All rounder
Ongoing
As many hours or as little as you can give
Anywhere you are in New Zealand, but we're based between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, and Tauranga.
Volunteering Ref: 165

P.S. Our Beaches

P.S. Our Beaches (Plastic Solution for Our Beaches) is an organisation working to rid our environment of single-use plastics. Since its establishment in 2016, P.S. Our Beaches has expanded with members right across the country and as far as Portugal and Thailand. In this time, P.S Our Beaches has initiated litter audits, awareness posts on sustainability initiatives and short interviews with organisations such as DoC and UNESCO to raise the profile of environmental issues. 

They are looking for graphic designers, bloggers, beach-cleaners and anyone passionate about reducing plastic pollution. What you’ll get: monthly update of happenings, invitations to beach-clean-ups and events, and networking sessions with people just like you.

P.S. Our Beaches - Members!
Ongoing
Give what you can
Christchurch
Volunteering Ref: 329

Youth Arts NZ

Youth Arts New Zealand facilitates interconnectivity between young artists and the opportunities and resources that can further their creative ambitions.

Want to gain social media skills, and work for a creative start-up charity? Youth Arts New Zealand has an ongoing volunteer position available for social media management! We connect and support young creatives, and would love someone to come on board to help spread the word about the organisation.

Social Media Manager
Ongoing
4 hours per week
Online (preferably in Auckland)
Volunteering Ref: 321

Collaborate

With over 1,000 volunteers and hundreds of community organisations part of the Collaborate Community, there is a huge amount of good happening all over New Zealand. We want to capture these stories and share them with the world. If you have a keen eye for grammar, enjoy writing emotive pieces and sharing stories, we want you! Join our the Collaborate Volunteer team today.

Creative Writer/ Story Teller
Ongoing
5-10 hours per week
Remote
Volunteering Ref: 324

Collaborate

Join the Collaborate team as a regional lead! You will work with one or two other leads in your region and other leads around the country to spread the movement. As a Regional Lead you need to be independently motivated, passionate about our cause and excited to promote change. We are particularly seeking someone who can work flexibly, is able to follow up on leads, cold call organisations and is great at time/event management. The ability to adapt and make the role your own is important.

Regional Leads
Ongoing
5-10 hours per week
Auckland, Nelson, Wellington, Hamilton
Volunteering Ref: 330 - 333

Collaborate

We believe everybody has a skill that can make a difference and that doing good should be easy and fun. Through our values we are transforming the landscape of volunteering. We are looking for a marketing manager who can help drive this movement and engage people from all backgrounds and walks of life.

Marketing Manager
Ongoing
5-10 hours per week
Remote
Volunteering Ref: 334

Taimahi Trust

Taimahi creates micro-enterprises to support young adults with disabilities into meaningful work. It is a newly established charity with no website or promotional material to support fundraising and philanthropy nor a channel to tell their stories as they build successful micro-enterprises for disabled youth. They are looking for a marketer par excellence who will help develop their position, brand and build the website content and marketing story and develop their marketing strategy.

Marketing and Branding expert for new charity
Project-based
20 hours
Remote
Volunteering Ref: 168

Digital Seniors

Digital Seniors is a new Trust to help reduce NZ's senior digital divide. They’re a community programme supporting seniors (aged 65 and over) with technology. They need a volunteer to develop and maintain their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You will have ongoing guidance and support from their Marketing Advisor and Creative Director. In conjunction to this, they are developing their website now. These sites will be important in their creation of positive experiences and stereotypes of seniors with technology, which can really enrich seniors’ lives, especially their social isolation and health deterioration. If you can build awesome Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages and would like to help seniors, they’d love to hear from you!

Social networking sites required for Digital Seniors
Ongoing
Approximately 10 hours a week
Remote
Volunteering Ref: 240

Cliente Limited

Cliente Limited is seeking a business support analyst to assist with modelling, BPlan, business case and financial analysis fact checking. This role commences immediately and requires some Wellington CBD meetings and offline analysis. You will hold skills in assessing community, social enterprise and revenue generating ventures which hold a purpose and ethos. Cliente is a social enterprise builder. They are working on creating enduring value through lasting community relationships.

Seeking business support analyst
Ongoing
2 hours per week
Wellington
Volunteering Ref: 318

Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments below.