Community Service Organizations & Search Engines

  • JustServe

    -Great resource to search for volunteer organizations. Make a free account!

     

    Community Service Organizations
    American Red Cross
    Prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.
    Amplify Life
    Provides life-changing programs with educational and therapeutic benefits that are not only designed to enhance the quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities but also provide much-needed respite for caregivers.
    Boys and Girls Club of Truckee Meadows
    Enhancing the quality of life for children, ages 0 to 18.
    Eddy House
    Promotes self-sufficiency and empowerment to homeless, runaway, foster, and at-risk youth ages 18-24 by providing safety, basic needs, and access to community resources in Northern Nevada. Can manage no more than five (5) Nevada Promise volunteers at a time on a first-
    come first-served basis.
    FIRST Nevada
    Inspires young people to become science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that instill innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.
    Food Bank of Northern Nevada
    Feeding the hungry today and solving hunger for tomorrow through community partnership.
    For Kids Foundation
    Fills in the gaps created by other programs to provide one-time funding for the urgent, unmet needs of Northern Nevada children (from birth to age 21) when there is no other known resource available.
    Friends of Nevada Wilderness
    Dedicated to preserving all qualified Nevada public lands as wilderness, protecting all present and potential wilderness from ongoing threats, informing the public about the values of and need for wilderness, and restoring and improving the management of wildlands.
    Geo Trash
    Collect trash in your community and place it into designated bags for pick up.
    Girls on the Run Sierras
    Inspiring girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running, envisioning a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to boldly pursue her dreams.
    Good Shepherd’s Clothes Closet
    Provides clothing for free to people in need, only requiring a valid ID to shop.
    Healthy Young NV
    Empowering young Nevadans by providing comprehensive health and wellness resources, paving the road toward healthy lifestyles.
    High Sierra AHEC
    Addressing Nevada’s healthcare workforce shortages through recruiting, training, and retaining health professionals committed to increasing access to primary care in underserved urban and rural communities.
    Immunize Nevada
    A 501c3 nonprofit that receives educational grants and funding toward achieving our goal of eradicating vaccine-preventable disease throughout Nevada.
    JUSTin Hope Foundation
    Dedicated to building a community of inclusion, empowerment, and support for families and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through various educational and support programs.
    Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful
    Creating a cleaner, more beautiful region through education and active community involvement.
    Kiwanis Bike Program
    Teaching bike safety and repair, donating the majority of the refurbished bikes to youth organizations and schools of Northern Nevada.
    Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
    Join MADD’s legacy of extraordinary activists saving lives and preventing injuries since 1980. Whether you’re interested in volunteering a couple times a year or a couple times a week, there is a place for you at Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
    Nevada Hands and Voices
    Exists to support, encourage, and educate families of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children, so that they can be empowered to make choices that will enable their children to achieve their full potential.
    Nevada Museum of Art
    Striving to offer meaningful art and cultural experiences, and foster new knowledge in the visual arts by encouraging interdisciplinary investigation.
    Northern Nevada RAVE
    Providing respite to families caring for children with special needs while training high school volunteers to work with these very special children.
    Note-Able Music Therapy Services
    Creating lasting changes in the lives of people of all abilities through music.
    Our Center
    Establishing and maintaining a safe, empowering, and supportive center in Northern Nevada that addresses advocacy, education and services.
    Pay it Forward One 2 Another
    Supporting Yerington and other rural Nevada communities by volunteering, mentoring, and inspiring others to develop local programs.
    Project 150 Reno
    Providing basic needs to homeless, displaced and disadvantaged high school students allowing them to focus on education and graduate from high school.
    Reno Little Theater
    Producing high-quality theatrical experiences that inspire, entertain, and enrich our diverse community.
    Ronald McDonald House
    Creates and supports programs that directly improve the health, education and well-being of children and families.
    Safe Embrace
    Dedicated to educating our community and providing services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence
    Senior Outreach Services Program (Sanford Center for Aging)
    Visit weekly with an isolated elder to talk, take a walk or just hang out. Give a ride to shop or pick up a prescription. Provide emotional support and advocacy. Note: this is a longer-term commitment than simply 8 hours a semester.
    Sierra Arts
    Strives to provide educational opportunities for artists of all ages, as well as development and training, financial support and promotional and marketing assistance.
    Sierra Nevada Journeys
    Delivering innovative outdoor, science-based education programs for youth to develop critical thinking skills and to inspire natural resource stewardship.
    Sierra Nevada Zoological Park
    Educates and entertains young and old alike.
    Soulful Seeds
    Dedicated to providing those in need with healthy food and an opportunity to learn and support others. An overarching goal to teach others how to grow gardens that can provide healthy food for themselves, their families and others.
    Sparks Heritage Museum
    Preserves the historical and cultural heritage of Sparks and the Truckee Meadows for the education and enjoyment of present and future generations.
    SPCA of Northern Nevada
    Connecting people and homeless pets to bring joy, love, and compassion to our community.
    Special Olympics Nevada
    Dedicated to enriching the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities through sports, education and athlete health.
    Spread the Word Nevada
    Spread the Word Nevada is dedicated to advancing childhood literacy within low-income communities by changing lives one book at a time.
    St. Vincent's Dining Room with Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada
    The largest food pantry in Nevada serves more than 15,000 people each month. We offer non-perishable, canned and packaged food products to individuals and families in need at no cost.
    Tahoe Ability
    Designed to create community inclusion, foster independence and promote progress for people with developmental disabilities within their community.
    Truckee Meadows Park Foundation
    Strives to improve the lives of northern Nevadans by enhancing the quality and sustainability of our local parks.
    United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra
    We link the community's will and resources to improve lives.
    Urban Roots
    Founded on the idea that food is a powerful tool for academic and sustainable agriculture instruction.
    Volunteer Transportation Program (Sanford Center for Aging)
    Volunteer to use your vehicle to drive people age 60+ who need a ride to appointments, errands and social activities. Share a smile, get a meaningful break from work or study. Must be 18 or over. Note: does reimburse for mileage.
    Volunteers of America: Northern CA & Northern NV
    Our mission is to change individual lives, instill hope, increase self-worth, and facilitate independence through quality housing, employment, and related supportive services. 
    Washoe County Regional Parks
    Providing exceptional parks, open space and recreational opportunities while preserving our natural, historical and cultural resources.
    WCSD Volunteer Services
    Providing safe, productive community volunteers, volunteer programs, no-cost worker resources, and other resources for the academic support of all of Washoe County School District in a cooperative, efficient and friendly manner.

    Virtual community service hours must first be approved by the Nevada Promise team at least one month before the deadline. Please contact us to request permission to complete virtual community service hours. Students under special situations may be permitted to complete their hours in this manner, but must submit their hours earlier than the standard deadline due to increased processing time.

    If approved, please note that many virtual organizations do not track your participation hours, but rather the projects you completed. It will be your responsibility to track the amount of time you spend volunteering. Please take screenshots/pictures of the times you log into these websites to volunteer and attach them to your community service submission. In addition, you may not have a traditional supervisor as you would with in-person volunteering. In this case, you may add the Nevada Promise Team’s contact information in lieu of on-site supervisors.  

    Virtual Community Organizations
    Amnesty Decoders
    Aims to inspire a new generation of digital activists – people who are keen to contribute to human rights work in a meaningful way by using new technologies
    DoSomething.org
    Using our digital platform, members join our volunteer, social change, and civic action campaigns to make a real-world impact on causes they care about.
    Librivox
    Aims to make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet. Volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain, and then they are released in audio files back onto the net for free.
    Smithsonian Digital Volunteers
    Seeks to engage the public in making our collections more accessible. Volunteers transcribe historic documents and collection records to facilitate research and excite the learning in everyone.
    Translators Without Borders
    Offering language and translation support for humanitarian and development agencies, and other non-profit organizations on a global scale.
    United Nations Volunteers
    Contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteering allows organizations and volunteers to team up to address sustainable development challenges – anywhere in the world, from any device.
    Volunteer Match
    Matches inspired people with inspiring causes. It's how volunteers and nonprofits connect to achieve remarkable outcomes.
    Zooniverse
    Enables research that would not be possible, or practical, otherwise. Zooniverse research results in new discoveries, datasets useful to the wider research community, and many publications.

    The inclusion of an organization on this list does not indicate endorsement. 


  • What Counts as Community Service

    Community service is time contributed to a nonprofit or public service organization. The community should be benefiting from the work you do! 

    Community service performed to satisfy the requirements for participation in the Nevada Promise Scholarship Program must not:

    • Result in compensation, payment or remuneration of any kind for the student.
    • Directly benefit a member of the family of the applicant or student, as applicable.
    • Include paid or unpaid internships.
    • Include donation of money or items as community service.
    • Include participation in fund-raising events, but may include volunteering to assist in the administration of the event. For example, participating as a "walker" in a "cancer walk" to raise money for cancer research does not qualify as community service; but volunteering to assist with registration, set-up or similar activities at the event may qualify as community service.

    Community service may be performed with or under the direction of a faith-based organization, but must not include religious proselytizing or persuasion.