Volunteering: where to start and what it gives back

Of all the ways to rebuild a social life after 50, volunteering is the one we would put first. Not because it is worthy — though it is — but because it solves the hard problem. Walking into a room of strangers is difficult. Walking into a room with a job to do is not. The role gives you a reason to be there, a thing to talk about, and the same people every week. Friendship follows.

Finding a role in the UK

Start with NCVO (the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the umbrella body for charities in England). Its “I want to volunteer” page does not list roles itself but points you to the places that do: your local volunteer centre, which NCVO has on a map, and the national directories.

The biggest of those is Do IT (doit.life), the national database of volunteering opportunities, searchable by interest, activity or postcode. It lists roles from national charities — the Scouts, RSPB, Macmillan, Oxfam — down to small community groups near you.

Royal Voluntary Service runs its own roles across England, Scotland and Wales: hospital volunteering, helping people settle back at home after a hospital stay, lunch clubs and community support. You apply through its app, and some roles need a DBS check (the UK criminal-record check; PVG in Scotland). It reports that 88% of its volunteers say their wellbeing improved.

Age UK offers a Telephone Friendship Service — a weekly call of around 30 minutes with an older person who would like the company — as well as helpline, shop and local roles. It is one of the easiest ways to start if getting out is difficult.

Your local library, hospital, hospice, foodbank and parkrun will also each have a volunteer coordinator. Asking in person works.

Finding a role in the US

AmeriCorps Seniors is the federal programme for volunteers aged 55 and over, designed for exactly this stage of life. It has three strands: the Foster Grandparent Program (mentoring children with extra needs), the Senior Companion Program (befriending older adults who want to stay independent at home) and RSVP, a flexible programme that matches your existing skills to local needs. Around 140,000 people volunteer through it each year. Modest stipends are available for some lower-income volunteers, and most programmes include accident and liability insurance.

VolunteerMatch, a nonprofit founded in 1998 that merged with Idealist in 2025, is the general-purpose directory: free for volunteers, searchable by cause and location.

Skills-based volunteering

Thirty or forty years of working life gives you something charities badly need and rarely get: competence. Bookkeeping, HR, IT, project management, writing, teaching, driving, plumbing — every small organisation has a gap where one of those should be. A few hours a month setting up a charity’s accounts properly may matter more to them than a weekly shift, and it puts you alongside the people who run the place.

Boards and trustees

The most senior version is joining a board. Every UK charity has trustees; every US nonprofit has directors. They are unpaid, meet a handful of times a year, and organisations struggle to fill the seats — which is why NCVO’s directory includes Step on Board, a service for matching people to trustee roles. A trusteeship carries legal duties, so it is not a first step. But if you have run a team or managed a budget, you are more qualified than you think.

What it gives back

Here is what the surveys say.

NCVO’s Time Well Spent 2023, a national survey of volunteers in England, found that 89% said they enjoyed it, 88% got a sense of achievement, 87% said it increased their social connection, and 75% said it improved their mental health and wellbeing. Overall, 92% were very or fairly satisfied.

In the US, AmeriCorps Seniors reports that 84% of its volunteers describe their health as stable or improving after a year, and that 88% of those who felt a lack of companionship at the start reported fewer feelings of isolation afterwards.

These are self-reported figures from people who chose to volunteer, so they do not prove that volunteering causes wellbeing. They do show that the great majority of people who try it are glad they did.

Your first month

Week one: shortlist. Search Do IT or VolunteerMatch, or ask at your local volunteer centre. Pick three roles you could genuinely do, given your time, mobility and appetite for people.

Week two: apply. Apply to one. Expect a short form, possibly a chat, and for some roles a criminal-record check — normal, not a judgement. If it goes quiet, chase; small charities are run by busy people.

Week three: turn up. Go to the induction or the first shift. Learn two names and where the kettle is. You will feel new. Everyone did.

Week four: decide. After two or three sessions, ask honestly whether it fits. If not, say so kindly and try the next on your shortlist. A role that does not suit you is information, not failure.

If you want help choosing between people-facing, skills-based and behind-the-scenes roles, our Reconnect course includes a short worksheet for exactly that. For the wider picture, start with our complete guide to friendship and community after 50 or the companion piece on making new friends without the awkwardness.

This week

1. Search one directory for roles within five miles.
2. List two things you are good at that an organisation might need.
3. Apply for one role today.