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Volunteer!

Rhode Islanders voluntarily do an amazing amount of work to take care of our place. Volunteering is an important part of the state's economy. Given that Rhode Island's economy has been famously in the doldrums, let's get out there and pitch in. Turn the place around! All hands on deck!

How to be a great volunteer

  • Choose volunteer work that you love and enjoy
  • Be willing to do what is needed at times the help is needed
  • Go to orientation sessions and do what is requested
  • Be consistent, on time, and focused on others

Where to find places to volunteer

Serve RI is a centralized resource used by many nonprofits in Rhode Island. Especially see the Serve RI Volunteer signup page and register there to be alerted of new requests for help. Notices of volunteer opportunities go out to the mailing lists of dozens of environmental groups, so you could subscribe directly to your favorite group's eNews.

Providential Gardener collects and highlights some volunteer opportunities and activities on this page. A few of these are in the calendar (when Rhode Islanders add them to the calendar).

If you know of resources that should be on this page, send information to skorte@providentialgardener.com. I can't build this whole site fast enough, and there is so much that could be in here! But I am open to suggestions and welcome your contributions.

RI Volunteer Opportunities

This list is a mix of Adult Education and Environment-related volunteer opportunities. See the Adult Education page to find out why there's this unusual combination.

Volunteer Info Categories
Aquidneck Island Adult Learning Center

Volunteers are referred to Literacy Volunteers of the East Bay.

Audubon Society of RI - HQ

Volunteer Opportunities

Blackstone River Watershed Council

This group has occasional cleanups and is attacking the invasive knotweed along the river.

Brown University Herbarium

People who are interested in plant diversity and herbarium work and would like to be involved with volunteer projects at the herbarium are invited to inquire.

Burrillville Green Team

Team Up to Clean Up!
If you would like to join the Green Team and are looking for an area to clean up please send email to Andrea Hall or call 568-4440 x12.

Clean Bays

Become a Volunteer

Clean Bays depends on its loyal and ambitious team of volunteers to help with debris removal. If you would like to join our team, please sign up here, and you will be contacted with a list of dates when help is needed. We need help in the field, but we can always use help in the office too! Let us know if you are interested in coordinating fundraisers, or helping with other events or activities.

Click here to volunteer online.

Community Action Partnership of Providence (CAPP)

Volunteer Needs: Computer Instructor Intern. See this page and fill out the 2016 volunteer application.

Cozy Rhody Litter Clean-up

Find cleanup notices in this group's Meetup page.

East Bay Food Pantry & Thrift Shop

Our goal is to involve YOU in our work!

As more caring community members like you join our circle, our impact in the East Bay grows. With your sustaining support, we can provide assistance to those affected by financial hardship. Your generosity will empower the East Bay Food Pantry to care for our most vulnerable neighbors.

East Bay Food Pantry Community Farm

Each spring, The RI Food Bank's community farms begin accepting volunteers to help prepare the land, plant and harvest. No experience is necessary and all ages are welcome. It’s a great activity for families, schools, businesses and civic groups!

To volunteer, contact the coordinator.

Food4Good

Things Needed

Franklin Farm

Each spring, The RI Food Bank's community farms begin accepting volunteers to help prepare the land, plant and harvest. No experience is necessary and all ages are welcome. It’s a great activity for families, schools, businesses and civic groups!

To volunteer, contact the coordinator.

Genesis Center

Volunteers Needed: Workforce Training/Mock Interview Day, conversation tutor, citizenship tutor, student support center tutors, ESL tutors, computer lab volunteer, financial literacy volunteer, garden volunteer

God's Little Acre

Each spring, the RI Community Food Bank farms begin accepting volunteers to help prepare the land, plant and harvest. No experience is necessary and all ages are welcome. It’s a great activity for families, schools, businesses and civic groups! To volunteer, contact the coordinator. - 2017

"Located behind St. Philip School, God’s Little Acre is one of many efforts sponsored by the parish to provide fresh, nutritious food for those in need throughout the local community.  Distributed through the parish’s St. Vincent de Paul Society, excess harvest from this important ministry is provided to the R.I. Community Food Bank.  For more information on how you can help tend to God’s Little Acre, please contact the parish office at 401-949-1500." - From the website, April 8, 2021.

Literacy Volunteers of East Bay (LVEB)

Volunteers Needed: Literacy tutors

Literacy Volunteers of Kent County

Our 18-hour tutor training workshop teaches the skills needed to effectively work one-to-one with an adult student. Once the workshop is underway, volunteers are matched with a student and they meet in a public location on their own schedule for 2 hours a week. Prospective tutors must be 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED. Lessons are typically conducted in libraries, churches, or community centers.

Literacy Volunteers of Washington County - Westerly

Volunteers Needed: Tutors, office help, fundraiser organizers, committee members

McCoy Community Farm

Each spring, The RI Food Bank's community farms begin accepting volunteers to help prepare the land, plant and harvest. No experience is necessary and all ages are welcome. It’s a great activity for families, schools, businesses and civic groups!

To volunteer, contact the coordinator.

MyCoast RI

RI Coastal Resources Management Council needs your help to capture photographs of King Tide events and storm flooding sites. RICRMC will evaluate your photographs and include them in its long-term analysis of coastal vulnerability and planning initiatives with municipalities. RICRMC may also use your photographs in presentations, publications, and on its website.

Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy has several opportunities for volunteers.

Neighborhood Alliance of Pawtucket

NAP organizes cleanups for Earth Day in Pawtucket. They also participate in the Buy Nothing Day Coat Drive.

New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP)

Volunteers needed: The organization is heavily dependent on Plant Conservation Volunteers (PVCs) for monitoring local populations of rare and endangered plants. Expertise is not required, just a will to help and learn new things.

Oyster Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement

Become an OGRE

Conservation, Critters, Ecology, Habitat, Food, Pollution, Water
Project Learn

ADULT EDUCATION: "Without the help of our volunteers, we would not be able to help the hundreds of people in our community learn to communicate more effectively. Project Learn serves adults locally and can certainly use the help in our computer lab, our one on one learning tutors and many other administrative areas if you like. Learn more about how you can help adult readers in your community. Learn more about how you can make a difference in the local community through sharing your knowledge. Connect through the form on the Adult Education Volunteer Page.

Also see the Donate page for giving newer computers and books (but call first).

Adult Education, Education
Project Learn (Community Care Alliance)

Adult Ed: Volunteer tutors are needed.

Adult Education, Education, Social Justice
Providence Community Tree Keepers

This is a volunteer opportunity for people who have taken the RI Tree Steward course or comparable training, as well as the PVD Tree Keeper training.

Providence Parent Academy

Are you interested in offering a course through the Providence Parent Academy? If so, please contact them.

Education, Social Justice
RI College Outreach Program ,
RI Natural History Survey

Annual BioBlitz orientation for volunteer participants is in early May each year. RI BioBlitz is an early June 24-hour period on a Friday and Saturday.

Conservation, Critters, Ecology, Habitat, Education, Recreation & Exploration, History ~ Natural History, Invasives, Plants
Salt Ponds Coalition

Become a Salt Pond Steward

Save the Bay

See the Volunteer Page for details of current needs.

Conservation, Education, Pollution, Water
Smithfield Stewards

Work on trail blazing and maintenance of Smithfield Land Trust preserves.

Conservation, Land
South County Museum

"We seek volunteers interested in helping us interpret, preserve, and present local history and assisting in various capacities.... We are looking for year-round, seasonal and special event volunteers." - from the website, July 6, 2018

URI Watershed Watch

Volunteer environmental monitoring can be a great family activity, a good excuse to get out on the water, or simply a good way to learn about pollution of water, and how to protect your favorite waterbody. Our volunteers come from diverse educational backgrounds and experiences, with some holding advanced degrees in science, and others still in high school. No previous education or training is required order to participate, simply a way to get to your monitoring site, and a desire to help out, and get a little wet. URI Watershed Watch provides all the training (classroom and field), equipment and laboratory analyses. Read more...

Conservation, Health & Safety, Water
We Share Hope

This organization is a food rescuer, whose mission is to locate, gather, and distribute food to groups that feed the poor, distressed, and the underprivileged. Volunteers are needed for all kinds of work, from driving trucks to helping out in the office.

Economy, Food, Social Justice, Waste
Westbay Community Action
Westbay Farm

Volunteers needed to help grow food.

Farming, Food, Social Justice
What Cheer Flower Farm

Donations and volunteers needed!

Become a friend of the What Cheer Flower Farm in Providence!

  • In-kind donations
  • Plant, water, weed and harvest
  • Drive flowers to nonprofits
  • Assist with fundraising