Local opportunities
Volunteering in Manchester
Browse live roles in Manchester, meet the organisations behind them, and find a way to contribute that fits your interests, time, and next step.
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Opportunities in Manchester
Showing the most recent live roles first.
The Bread and Butter Thing
Community SupportHelp us redistribute food to local communities in the North West
Volunteering takes place at our warehouse in Eccles, this is where food comes in from our partners and we select the stock and load the vans ready to go out into the community.
Wheels for All
Community SupportSupport inclusive cycling sessions in Wythenshawe delivered by Simply Cycling Wythenshawe
Support participants during our cycling sessions by helping with equipment, offering encouragement, and ensuring a safe, inclusive environment.
Wheels for All
Community SupportSupport inclusive cycling sessions in Boggart delivered by Simply Cycling - Boggart
Support participants during our cycling sessions by helping with equipment, offering encouragement, and ensuring a safe, inclusive environment.
Wheels for All
Community SupportSupport Inclusive cycling sessions in Debdale Park delivered by Wheels for All
Support participants during our cycling sessions by helping with equipment, offering encouragement, and ensuring a safe, inclusive environment.
Wheels for All
Community SupportSupport Inclusive cycling sessions in Salford delivered by Wheels for All
Support participants during our cycling sessions by helping with equipment, offering encouragement, and ensuring a safe, inclusive environment.
Alzheimer's Society
Community SupportManchester Marathon - Cheer Team Volunteer - Sunday 19th April
Want to make a difference without breaking a sweat? Join our incredible team of Cheer Team Volunteers and help support runners taking part in the Manchester Marathon to raise money for Alzheimer's Society.
Guide Dogs
Disability InclusionJoin your local Guide Dogs Fundraising Group
Join the pack. Lend a hand. Change lives. Join your local fundraising group as a volunteer - opportunities across the UK. Are you looking for a volunteering opportunity where you can meet new people and raise funds that will change lives? Join a Guide Dogs group near you for fun, fundraising and four-legged friends.
Guide Dogs
Animal WelfareFoster a trainee guide dog
Are you a dog lover with room in your home to look after a dog during evenings and weekends? This could be the perfect role for you! As a training dog fosterer, you'll be giving a dog in training a loving home whilst they embark on their journey to become a guide dog. You'll get to see the progress your furry companion is making in their training and be a vital part of their journey, without the commitment of looking after a dog full time.
Guide Dogs
Animal WelfarePuppy raiser
Are you a dog lover? Do you have the time to help raise a life-changing puppy? Would you like to make a difference to someone's life? If you've answered yes to these questions, then this role could be perfect for you! As a Puppy Raiser, you'll provide a 6-8 week-old puppy with the vital foundation for its future role as a guide dog. You'll be looking after a puppy for 12-16 months and will guide him or her through training, socialisation, the introduction of new environments and experiences while providing a loving home. There might be the odd chewed slipper along the way, but nothing beats the rewarding feeling of loving and raising a puppy who will go on to make an enormous difference to someone living with sight loss.
434th Manchester Scout Group
Community SupportYouth Leader - Team Member
The Section Team plans, delivers, and runs quality programmes safely. They make sure all young people can take part in the programme and gain skills for life. They also help young people work towards their Top Awards. With a brilliant programme, each young person can make a positive impact in society as they step up, speak up, and find their place in the world.
No Panic
Civic EngagementStudent Ambassador
No Panic are recruiting Student Ambassadors to raise awareness in universities, of anxiety, and the support No Panic can provide to students who have anxiety.
Blue Cross
Animal WelfareAugust 2024 Pet Food Bank Supporter
Who you would be helping
Organisations in Manchester
Vinspired
215 volunteer hours logged
No Panic
Recruiting volunteers now
The Air Ambulance Service
Recruiting volunteers now
Teenage Cancer Trust
Recruiting volunteers now
The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals - PDSA
Recruiting volunteers now
FoodCycle
Recruiting volunteers now
Cancer Research UK London Winter Run
Recruiting volunteers now
Abbeyfield
Recruiting volunteers now
Blue Cross
Recruiting volunteers now
Alzheimer's Society
Recruiting volunteers now
ATE Superweeks
Recruiting volunteers now
Royal Mencap Society
Recruiting volunteers now
Wherever you are
Remote volunteering
Roles you can do from home, on your own schedule.
Narrow it down
Volunteering in Manchester by cause and skill
Manchester has a long habit of organising itself. From the co operative movement to today’s homelessness charities and community food projects, the city’s response to a problem has usually been to set something up, and those groups still run on volunteers.
Popular causes in Manchester
- Homelessness, where Manchester’s outreach teams, night shelters and day centres are among the busiest outside London
- Food poverty, through neighbourhood pantries and community meal projects
- Arts and culture, with festivals, galleries and grassroots venues that recruit volunteers each season
- Mental health and peer support, including listening services and community wellbeing groups
- Sport and youth activity, in a city where club football and community sport reach deep into every district
Browse every cause on the impact areas page, or start from a skill you want to build.
How to start volunteering in Manchester
- Browse the live roles on this page and open anything that looks like your kind of thing.
- Apply in a couple of minutes. There is no CV stage and no interview for most roles.
- Log your hours as you go, so your contribution becomes a record you can show.
- Earn verified badges and certificates for your CV, your UCAS application, or your LinkedIn profile.
About volunteering in Manchester
Manchester’s voluntary sector has a strong centre of gravity. The city’s council for voluntary service, Macc, coordinates a lot of it, and there is a genuine sense of a sector that talks to itself: organisations refer volunteers on, share training and run joint campaigns. For someone starting out, that means a first role often leads to a second one you would never have found by searching.
Homelessness is the cause the city is best known for organising around, and volunteering here is more varied than people expect. Alongside the visible work of shelters and street outreach there are advice sessions, move on support, catering, and the administrative and fundraising roles that keep those services running. Manchester also has a large arts and events scene, and festivals, venues and galleries take on volunteers in numbers each summer, which is a good route in if you want something time limited to begin with.
Greater Manchester’s ten boroughs mean the city’s edges matter as much as the centre. Salford, Stockport, Oldham and the rest each have their own volunteer infrastructure and their own priorities, so it is worth looking at the borough you actually live in rather than defaulting to the city centre. The commute you do not have to make is usually the difference between volunteering once and volunteering every week.
Common questions about volunteering in Manchester
What kind of volunteering is Manchester known for?
Homelessness and food poverty projects have the highest profile, and the city has an unusually well connected voluntary sector around them. Manchester’s arts and events scene is the other big employer of volunteer time, particularly over the summer festival season.
Do I need experience to start volunteering?
Almost never. Most organisations are looking for reliability and interest rather than a background in the work, and they will show you what to do. If a role does need a specific skill or a DBS check, it says so on the listing.
How much time do I have to give?
As much or as little as suits you. Some roles are a single afternoon, some are a couple of hours a week, and some are one off events. You can filter by how much time you have before you apply.