Volunteer

Want to change the world?

You've come to the right place.

By volunteering with Room to Read, you can be part of a worldwide network of passionate people working together to eradicate global illiteracy and gender inequality in education — right from your own community.

Education is a human right denied to millions of children. It is also the most effective tool for solving the world’s greatest challenges — poverty, disease, environmental degradation, exploitation and inequality.

Room to Read volunteers make it possible for young people all over the world to gain skills that enable them to become changemakers and create pathways to solve tough problems in novel ways.

Read on to see how you can accelerate positive change for children and their families and create a safer, more equitable and prosperous world through education.

What does a volunteer do?

Room to Read volunteers can do something no one else can: build a movement.

We know how to improve literacy and gender equality in education. We know how to solve the global learning crisis. But we can only do it if enough people understand the issues and get involved.

As a volunteer, your goal will be to engage your community on behalf of all children who face deep gender and educational inequities. Our goal is to make that as easy as possible for you.

Building a Movement

There are countless ways to engage your community and build support for global education. Your goal will be to encourage your community to GIVE to Room to Read, SHARE Room to Read’s mission or sign up to VOLUNTEER alongside you. Here are a few ways volunteers take action:

Get Creative

There is no shortage of ways to make a difference. Whether you inspire one person or 100 people to join the movement and support our work, you will have moved us closer to a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality.

“Volunteering with Room to Read has enabled me to meet other volunteers and form lifelong friendships with people who share my value of helping children to read, learn and thrive.”

Jane Baker Sydney, Australia

The value of volunteering with Room to Read

Our volunteers live and promote Room to Read’s core values in the following ways:

Collaboration

Engage with globally-minded individuals in your community and around the world.

Action

Channel your passion into activities that support children's education.

Respect

Learn about different cultures and expand your knowledge of education as a tool to solve many of the world’s pressing problems and share that knowledge with others.

Education

Gain new experiences and grow your own skills while teaching others about the inequities that exist for children in historically low-income communities and the power of education to transform lives.

Scale

Help Room to Read grow our community of supporters exponentially until every child, regardless of the circumstances they were born into, can access quality education and unlock their full potential.

Interested in getting involved?

Becoming a WorldChanger starts here.
After you click "next," complete our Volunteer Interest Form to tell us more
about why you want to serve with Room to Read.

FAQs

Are there other volunteers in my area? How can I connect with them?

Depending on where you live, there may already be Room to Read volunteers in your local area! In some cities, groups of volunteers work together and this is called a Chapter. Email us at volunteer@roomtoread.org if you’d like to see if there is a Chapter or if there are other volunteers in your area.

Is there a time or money commitment to being a volunteer?

There is no minimum time commitment or financial commitment for Room to Read volunteers. Each volunteer determines the amount of time they would like to invest in serving.

Do you have office-based volunteer opportunities?

At this time, we do not have any office-based volunteer opportunities.

Do you have volunteer opportunities in the countries or schools where you work?

We do not offer overseas opportunities for visitors from outside the country of service to volunteer within our country offices. We encourage the local communities to get involved and co-own the projects we help establish. We have found this model significantly impacts the long-term sustainability of these projects.