Opportunities From: United Way of Central Iowa

A Neighborhood Coordinator creates a strong support network where neighbors help neighbors, fostering unity and connection. Instead of individual donations, it’s many at one time - amplifying impact! Your vision inspires others to step up to fill a need, while strengthening community bonds with every food drive and delivery.

You will be the main contact for your community, recruiting food donors, supporting volunteers, and organizing monthly food drives. Neighborhood coordinators spread the word about the designated day for the food drives, pick up donations from neighborhood porches, and move food from porch to pantry. You will create and support a strong partnership with your local pantry ensuring they have the food they need, when they need it, to feed neighbors in need.

High school students should ask about joining the Student Ambassador program

The Botanical Artisan Guild is looking for a volunteer to help develop and coordinate a project to make block printing art to support the Guild.  

This person will be responsible for organizing regularly scheduled sessions with interested volunteers for training, carving and printing.  Additionally, they will be responsible for developing ideas for relief printing products, organizing tools and supplies and communicating with volunteers.   

Successful candidates should have the following qualifications:

--Enjoy working with others to create art that can be sold in the Garden Shop

--Experience in block printing either from school or home hobby projects

--Be willing to train others in the skills of linocut carving and relief printing on paper and fabric

--Availability during daytime hours

The Botanical Artisans Guild is a group of volunteers who create arts and crafts to sell in the garden shop.  Their inspiration comes from the plants and gardens at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden.

If interested, applicants can drop an email to  artisanguild@dmbotanicalgarden.com for more information.

Families Forward New Directions Shelter has several flower beds in front our family shelter (giant, 3-story red brick house) and several behind. We are looking for a volunteer (or a small group) that is interested in helping us plan perennials into these flower beds to make maintenance and support of these flower beds easier. The family shelter is located at 3001 Grand Avenue, Des Moines Iowa 50315. 

We have numerous perennials at our other location where our child development center and pantry are located. Volunteers have done a wonderful job over the last ten years of donating and planting numerous perennials. The plants could potentially be split and planted at the family shelter. 

We have many volunteers that love to help us with our projects. We are just looking for some plant-savvy volunteers to help us create a diagram, or plan, of which plants should go into which flower beds. We want to allow these plants to thrive and create a beautiful yard for the children to play in and their families to enjoy. 

Timing for this project is flexible, and we can meet with you during the week, evenings or weekends. Volunteers can be involved in the planting, but not required. We also would welcome the donation of perennial plants. 

About Families Forward: Families Forward (previously Bidwell Riverside Center and Hawthorn Hill) has four main programs: Bidwell Pantry, Child Development Center, New Directions Shelter (emergency housing), and The Home Connection (long-term housing). For over 100 years, our mission has been to provide compassionate, life-changing assistance to families and their path to self-sufficiency.

Please volunteer to assist students with virtual math tutoring either during the school day or after school.

Marketing & Communications Intern (Unpaid)
Part-Time - 10 hours weekly | In-person - West Des Moines, IA | Flexible Schedule

About Community Support Advocates:
Community Support Advocates is a 501c3 mission-driven nonprofit serving individuals with mental health diagnoses and disabilities through innovative programming, advocacy, and the arts. 

We’re looking for a creative, motivated, and detail-oriented Marketing & Communications Intern to support our outreach and engagement efforts. This is a great opportunity to gain hands-on experience in nonprofit marketing and communications. We encourage anyone with interest to apply. The Marketing & Communications Intern will report directly to the Director of Development.

Key Responsibilities: 

Draft clear, compelling content for newsletters, blog posts, and website updates

Manage and schedule social media content using Hootsuite across multiple platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)

Respond to social media comments in a professional and timely manner

Identify gaps in social media strategy and additional ways to engage our audience

Design promotional graphics and social media posts using Canva

Assist in developing communication strategies for events, campaigns, and special initiatives

Monitor and report on social media engagement and analytics

Ensure brand consistency across all communications materials

Support development and fundraising initiatives including but not limited to grant research, campaign development, and more.

Requirements:

Strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills

Familiarity with major social media platforms and trends

Basic graphic design skills using Canva or other design software

Ability to manage time and meet deadlines independently

Detail-oriented, creative, and eager to learn

Willingness to commit to a minimum of a 3 month tenure - 6 or 12 months is preferred

Must be able to navigate and utilize the Google Suite platform to find and save files

Fundraising & Research Intern (Unpaid)
Part-Time | 5- 10 hours weekly | In-person with the potential to move into a hybrid arrangement once established  - West Des Moines, IA | Flexible Schedule

About Community Support Advocates:
Community Support Advocates is a 501c3 mission-driven nonprofit serving individuals with mental health diagnoses and disabilities through innovative programming, advocacy, and the arts. 

We’re looking for a detail-oriented and motivated Fundraising & Research Intern to support our development team. This unpaid internship offers hands-on experience in nonprofit fundraising, prospect research, and donor data management.The Fundraising & Research Intern will report directly to the Director of Development.

Key Responsibilities:

Research individual donors, grant opportunities, corporate giving programs, and foundations

Compile, analyze, and organize donor and prospect lists

Systematize donor outreach protocols

Assist with light database management and data entry

Help identify key funding strategies and giving priorities

Provide general administrative support related to fundraising projects and events

Ideal Candidate:

Strong research, analytical, and organizational skills

Comfortable using spreadsheets and online research tools such as Instrumental and Foundation Directory Online

Interest in fundraising, nonprofit management, or related fields

Familiarity with CRM systems such as Bloomerang is a plus, but not required

Commitment:

5–10 hours per week, flexible schedule

Minimum 3 month commitment

Hybrid work options may be considered

What You’ll Gain:

Experience in nonprofit development and fundraising strategy

Skills in prospect research and data management

Insight into donor engagement and philanthropy in Central Iowa

Mentorship and networking opportunities

Letter of Recommendation upon successful completion of internship

To Apply:
Please send your resume and a brief note about your interest to katelyng@teamcsa.org.

This volunteer would assist in administrative tasks such as data entry, sending letters etc.  Individual should be comfortable with typing, excel and working independently.

This individual will assist in marketing efforts for Willkie House.  Tasks would vary based on individual skills.  Assistance with social media marketing, design of printed and virtual materials etc

The Volunteer English Instructor would be responsible for facilitating high-quality English for adult learners. Facilitate classes for ELL students in English “instruct

‘ and collaborate with multilingual co-teachers to interpret important class announcements and/or communication. Collaborate with RIVA AmeriCorps members to adapt lesson plans and learning activities to meet students’ needs and interests.

The Pet Project helps keep pets with their families and out of shelters through proactive programming. 

We are looking for someone with experience managing social media accounts and updating a Wordpress website who would like to join our organization as a volunteer (possibility for board membership if desired)! Our current social media manager needs some help to be able to accomplish everything we want to do. The common actives include creating posts, managing our social media account, and updating our website as needed.

If you prefer just volunteering without a board commitment, this work is volunteer and can be done fully remote if desired.

Optional board opportunity:

Our organization does not require a financial commitment to join the board, but we actively participate in the operation and serving our clients.

Commitment would be to attend one-hour board meeting monthly, work a pantry shift on Saturday approximately every other month, and flexible hours to manage the finances.

Dorothy's House is looking for energetic volunteers who support our mission, have great communication skills and have experience in fundraising (or willingness to learn). Good handwriting is also a plus!

Our new Director of Development is seeking dedicated volunteers to support fundraising efforts such as writing thank you letters to donors, publicizing events and recruiting new sponsors.

Depending on the task, fundraising volunteers will meet with staff biweekly or monthly - either in person or virtually.

Do you have a heart for helping and time and talents to offer?

Volunteers are a special part of the mix at Dorothy's House. Providing survivors with an environment for recovery and restoration requires many hands, minds and hearts. We look to the community to bring a variety of backgrounds, interests, and skills to share with our participants.

Through our residential programs, Dorothy's House for those whose lives have been interrupted by human trafficking, exploitation and prostitution.

We are looking for volunteer interpreters to either come in person or have on our contact list to call for interpretation. Languages include; Swahili, Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Spanish, and French. Please contact tconway@refugees.org if you are interested. 

DEITY Fastpitch is looking for current and former softball coaches and players to conduct and/or assist with DEITY FP camps and programs. This opportunity is well-suited towards those who played at the college level and/or has significant coaching experience and want to stay connected, give back, and help grow the numbers, quality, and inclusiveness of softball.

SUMMARY: DEITY Fastpitch volunteer coaches will aid in the organization’s mission to introduce, teach and promote softball at an early age to girls from underrepresented communities, with the goal of the participating players taking advantage of the interpersonal, health, and educational opportunities the sport has to offer. Volunteer coaches will collaborate with board leadership, key volunteers, and local players to conduct and/or assist with DEITY FP camps, lessons, and programs.

As a volunteer coach with DEITY FP, you will have the ability to pass along your affinity for the game of softball to a new generation of players and families. Programming will cover elementary through high school participants, which will allow for a diversity of volunteer experience. Volunteer coaches may be asked to assist with on-site (indoor or outdoor) event set-up and administration.