Many of us have spare time that we would like to use to make the world a better place, but don't know where to start.
This is a currated list of projects where online volunteers can make a difference, mostly from the comfort of their own home. With this list, you can make the world a better place!
If you would like to contribute to this list, please read the Contribution Guide.
Project Categories
- Art
- Audio
- Biology
- Design
- Disaster
- MapSwipe
- Respond Crisis Translation
- Humanitarian Data Exchange
- Missing Maps
- The Red Cross
- Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
- CEDR Digital Corps
- Translators Without Borders
- Entrepreneurship
- Genealogy
- History
- NYPL Map Warper
- The Distributed Game
- National Archives Citizen Archivist
- Ancestry World Archives Program
- Smithsonian Digital Volunteer Program
- Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens
- NLW Crowd - Welsh Heritage Crowdsourcing Projects
- JewishGen
- Zooniverse
- Language
- Literature
- Mapping
- NYPL Map Warper
- The Distributed Game
- MapRoulette
- MapSwipe
- The National Map Corps
- Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens
- NLW Crowd - Welsh Heritage Crowdsourcing Projects
- Mozilla Location Service
- Missing Maps
- Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
- StreetComplete
- OpenStreetMap
- Mentoring
- Narration
- Openstreetmap
- Photo
- Photos
- Proofreading
- Reading
- Science
- Teaching
- Transcription
- National Archives Citizen Archivist
- Ancestry World Archives Program
- Smithsonian Digital Volunteer Program
- NLW Crowd - Welsh Heritage Crowdsourcing Projects
- Translation
- Video
- Wikimedia
- Women
Project Directory
Ancestry World Archives Program
Categories: Genealogy, History, Transcription,
Ancestry.com runs a project to allow volunteers to transcribe genealogy data into a format that can use used to search and index information about people's families.
It appears that the data is under the Creative Commons Attribution-Only license, but in order to interact with the data, volunteers must run proprietary software.
Website: blogs.ancestry.com/worldarchivesproject
Audiopedia
Audiopedia is a resource containing answers to many questions for illiterate women around the world in audio/spoken form.
Website: audiopedia.org
Be My Eyes
Categories: Literature, Proofreading,
Be My Eyes connects visually impaired individuals with volunteers through their app. Volunteers help by solving a variety of visual tasks, including identifying objects, reading,and more.
Website: www.bemyeyes.com
Bookshare
Categories: Literature, Proofreading,
Bookshare helps make reading more accessible for those with reading disabilities. It does this through making specialized versions of the book material, or making them available as audiobooks for those who need it. You can volunteer as a person to scan books, to proofread them, or by helping organize others into getting involved.
Website: bookshare.org
CEDR Digital Corps
Categories: Disaster,
CEDR Digital Corps is a group of volunteers who help during disasters by using technology and social media to collect and share important information. This helps first responders and people in affected areas stay safe and get the help they need.
Website: cedrdigitalcorps.org
Cherie Blair Foundation For Women
Categories: Entrepreneurship, Mentoring, Women,
The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women matches enterpreneurs from low and middle income countries with mentors (both women and men) from all over the world. They work together for a period of a year on the mentee's business and personal goals, which in turn helps not only the mentee, but their family and community as well.
Website: cherieblairfoundation.org
Distributed Proofreaders
Categories: Literature, Proofreading,
Distributed Proofreaders works to make books available on Project Gutenberg, the largest collection of Public Domain works on the Internet. Volunteers proofread already scanned and OCRed texts for errors together until a book is ready tobe placed in the collection.
Website: pgdp.net
ENGin
Categories: Language, Teaching,
ENGin helps young Ukranians learn/improve their spoken English and other intercultural skills by pairing Ukranians with volunteers from around the world.
Website: www.enginprogram.org
Freesound
Categories: Audio,
Freesound is a collection of freely licensed sound effects that you can use in your work. This collection includes nature sounds, everyday sound, cartoony sounds, and everything in between. You can record and submit your own audio clips for inclusion in this database for people to use in their audio or video projects.
Website: freesound.org
Grow Movement
Categories: Entrepreneurship,
Volunteers from around the world consult with African entrepreneurs, helping them develop business skills and improve their businesses, making them more efficient and profitable, which in turn creates more opportunities in their communities.
Website: growmovement.org
Humanitarian Data Exchange
Categories: Disaster,
Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) is a platform for extracting critical data from documents, many of which are in PDF form. Volunteers go through this data, marking it with online tools that make it easier for organizations and individuals to work with this data and collaborate.
HDX's back end software is Free/Open Source and the data it works with is under a variety of licenses, explained at https://data.humdata.org/about/license.
Website: data.humdata.org
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
Categories: Disaster, Mapping, Openstreetmap,
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) assists in the mapping of disasters worldwide. It does this through coordinated on-the-ground efforts as well as the collective mapping from individuals located anywhere in the world using OpenStreetMap as a base layer, but using HOT-specific tools.
Website: www.hotosm.org
JewishGen
Categories: History,
The JewishGen database, from the Museum of Jewish Heritage, is a searchable database of Jewish genealogical records. You can collect records and submit them to the database, increasing knowledge about Jewish families around the world.
Website: www.jewishgen.org
Learning Ally
Categories: Literature, Proofreading, Reading,
Learning Ally helps students with reading disabilities in a number of ways, including emotional and educational support. Volunteer opportunities exist for a number of rolls, including narration and proofreader.
Website: learningally.org
LibriVox
Categories: Audio, Literature, Narration, Proofreading,
VibriVox helps make written public domain material more accessible by turning books into narrated audiobooks made by the general public. You can help either by narrating or prooflistening (ie editing) the audiobooks!
Website: librivox.org
MapRoulette
Categories: Mapping, Openstreetmap,
MapRoulette is a game where you can fix OpenSteetMap one small problem at a time. With these bite-sized edits, your small efforts can make big changes!
Website: maproulette.org
MapSwipe
Categories: Disaster, Mapping, Openstreetmap,
MapSwipe is a mobile app that empowers volunteers to identfiy and map potential disaster areas before a disaster happens by contributing information on vulnerable locations around the world. Just download the mobile app and start mapping the most vulnerable places, or volunteer to do outreach or help in other ways!
The license for the application is the Apache 2.0 license and as the map data is part of OpenStreetMap, is under the ODbL.
Website: mapswipe.org
Missing Maps
Categories: Disaster, Mapping, Openstreetmap,
Missing Maps identifies places in OpenStreetMap that have not been mapped well and organizes coordinated mapping efforts to get them mapped more completely by coordinating with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.
Website: www.missingmaps.org
Mozilla
Categories: Translation,
Do you use the popular Mozilla Firefox browser, or one of the other Mozilla programs? You can contribute to the Mozilla in a variety of ways, from contributing directly to the source code, translatingprogram elements, documentation or generally helping with their online knowledge base!
Website: mozilla.org
Mozilla Location Service
Categories: Mapping,
The Mozilla Location service operates an as an alternative to proprietary location services from companies like Google and Apple, allowing an application to know your phyical location, which is useful for everything from directions to driving applications.
Contributing is as easy as running one of the client applications on your phone or laptop and moving around.
Website: location.services.mozilla.com
NASA's Citizen Science
Categories: Science,
NASA's Citizen Science portal connects science-minded citizens with NASA supported projects around the world where they can contribute and collaborate in helping learn more about the universe, understand climate change, monitor asteroids and exoplanets, and more.
Website: science.nasa.gov/citizenscience
NLW Crowd - Welsh Heritage Crowdsourcing Projects
Categories: History, Mapping, Photos, Transcription,
The NLW Crowd - Welsh Heritage Crowdsourcing Projects from the National Library of Wales is a platform allowing citizens to help capture and preserve Welsh culture in a variety of ways, including tagging photos, transcription or identifying locations in historical maps.
Website: torf.llyfrgell.cymru/s/llgc/page/Home
NYPL Map Warper
The New York Public License Map Warper tool allows volunteers to digitially re-align (ie "rectify") maps from the past onto today's more precise maps, giving visitors and historians a better idea of the geography of New York City.
Website: maps.nypl.org/warper
National Archives Citizen Archivist
Categories: History, Photo, Transcription,
The Citizen Archivist program from the National Archives gives everyday citizens the opportunity to contribute to the collective knowledge of the United States through photo tagging and transcription projects.
Website: www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/volunteers
Nepris
Nepris is a classroom learning tool that connects educators with experts in a field. These experts schedule a session with an educator to talk about their passion and subject matter to the classroom. Educators may also browse videos of precious sessions. Volunteer experts can sign up to present their material.
Website: nepris.com
OpenClipArt
Categories: Art,
OpenClipArt is a collection of vector graphics that you can use without restriction in your projects with absolutely no restrictions. You can download and use any of the clip art, or contribute your own works to the project!
Website: openclipart.org
OpenGameArt
Categories: Art,
OpenGameArt is a collection of artwork designed for and usable in a video game. This includes sprites, backgrounds, 3d art, and sound effects. You can use any of the art in OpenGameArt in your own project, or submit your artwork to the project and help promote more freely licensed video games.
Website: opengameart.org
OpenStreetMap
Categories: Mapping, Openstreetmap,
OpenStreetMap is a free map that anyone can contribute to. There are many ways to contribute to the project, including editing the map through the online editor, collecting information using local knowledge, tracing imagery and more. Many geographical projects use OpenStreetMap as their foundation.
Website: openstreetmap.org
Paper Airplanes
Categories: Language, Teaching,
Paper Airplanes volunteers provide English language lessons and speaking practice to students from conflict-affected countries, such as Syria and Ukraine. There are also opportunities to mentor new coders studying in the Women in Tech program. For the English program, the commitment is 2+ hours per week for an 18-week semester, using the curriculum provided.
Website: www.paper-airplanes.org
Respond Crisis Translation
Categories: Disaster, Translation,
Respond Crisis Translation helps human rights organizations, NGOs, non-profits, and migrants by translating documents of all kinds. You can join their team of skilled translators from around the world.
Website: respondcrisistranslation.org
SCORE
Categories: Entrepreneurship,
SCORE offers free business education to small businesses around the United States. To do this, they rely on volunteer mentors, subject matter experts, presenters and local chapter support.
Website: score.org
Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens
Categories: History, Mapping, Photo,
The Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens is an archive of thousands of gardens around the world. Among their collection are images of gardens that are not identified. If you can identify the location of the gardens, the Smithonian will use this knowledge to improve it's collections.
Website: collections.si.edu/search/gallery.htm?og=archives-of-american-gardens&p=mystery-gardens-2
Smithsonian Digital Volunteer Program
Categories: History, Transcription,
The Smithsonian Archive is one of the lagest archive of historical documents in the world. You can help make the archives more accessible by transcribing the various historical documents, allowing people to read and search them more easily.
Website: transcription.si.edu
StreetComplete
Categories: Mapping, Openstreetmap,
StreetComplete helps you find incomplete or incorrect data around you and fix it in OpenStreetMap with your mobile phone.
Website: wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete
The Distributed Game
Categories: History, Mapping, Wikimedia,
Wikidata provides structured data to the Wikipedia project on nearly every topic. The Distributed Game looks for inconsistencies in the data and provides a fun way to help correct information in Wikidata, which feeds into both it and Wikipedia.
Website: wikidata-game.toolforge.org/distributed
The National Map Corps
Categories: Mapping,
The National Map Corps (TNS Corps) asks volunteers to collect or correct information on structures (buildings, bridges, etc.) in TheNational Map database.
Website: www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/tnm-corps
The Red Cross
Categories: Disaster,
The Red Cross has many opportunities for volunteers, including ones you can do online.
Website: redcross.org
The Resolution Project
Categories: Entrepreneurship,
The Resolution Project works with business Mentors and Guides to help mentor Fellows to launch ventures that help support themselves and their communities.
Website: resolutionproject.org
Thingverse
Thingiverse is a website for downloading, making and sharing designs which can be printed using a 3D printer.On Thingiverse, you can find the design that fits your needs or upload a design that may help someone else!
Website: www.thingiverse.com
Translators Without Borders
Categories: Disaster, Translation,
Translators Without Borders helps provide translations of documents, especially in the area of vulnerable populations and disaster response. You can sign up to be a translator and help people by ensuring critical information gets to people who need it!
Website: translatorswithoutborders.org
Wikipedia
Categories: Wikimedia,
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia written and edited by thousands of worldwide volunteers. Contributors to Wikipedia, known as editors, come from all walks of life. In addition to contributing new articles, volunteers may contribute to existing articles, or translate articles from one language to another.
Website: www.wikipedia.org
Wikivoyage
Categories: Wikimedia,
Wikivoyage is a free online travel guide created and currated by thousands of worldwide volunteers. As an Wikimedia project, it runs the same software and has the same interface as Wikipedia, making it easy to start contributing.
Website: wikivoyage.org
Zooniverse
Categories: Art, Biology, History, Science,
Zooniverse is a platform for citizens to contribute to a wide variety of research programs. It is the largest platform of its kind, providing opportunities to contribute across a wide variety of academic endeavours, from the arts, history, humanities, biology, environmental science and more.
Website: www.zooniverse.org