Community Organisations
Trinity College Dublin is committed to promoting, encouraging and incentivising greater civic engagement and volunteering on the part of members of the College community. Such activites are of mutual benefit in that the community organisation gains an investment of time, energy, enthusiasm, skills and expertise by students and staff of College in a way that supports their objectives and work. Meanwhile, staff and students also learn and develop their skills and understanding through giving back to the community. Volunteers often report additional benefits such as stronger connnection with society, improved motivation and increased confidence and self esteem.
If you would like to involve TCD volunteers in your work, you should
- Consider your target group
- Agree to uphold the TCD Volunteer Charter (DOC 48KB)
- Fill out the organisation information sheet (DOC 20KB)
- Send this to the TCD Civic Engagement Officer to see if your opportunity is appropriate for inclusion in the Current opportunities section of this website.
A voluntary opportunities bulletin is circulated to a student mailing list on a monthly basis during term. The deadline for notices is the 5th of the month from October to April. Notices should take the format of a title (up to 6 words) and an explanatory paragraph (less than 100 words) which would include contact details for your organisation. Pure fundraising opportunities will not be included in the mail out.
TCD Civic Engagement does not usually promote fundraising opportunities as there are already a variety of worthy campus based causes and fundraising activities for which students and staff collect money. Instead we look for well supported, fully insured opportunities which help volunteers to develop their confidence, transferable skills (communication, teambuilding etc.) and/or which enhance their understanding of their area of study.
From time to time, the Civic Engagement Office arranges an outreach day where students, staff and alumni get their hands dirty to help out a community organisation to get something done. In the academic year 2009/2010, Trinity volunteers helped weed and plant a garden for an older person's day care centre in Finglas and a youth residential service in Inchicore, paint a community centre in Drimnagh and wash down and clear out a not-for-profit arts space in Ringsend. See what 'The Factory' in Ringsend had to say about us.
Trinity College Dublin Volunteer Fair
The Annual Trinity College Dublin Volunteer Fair took place in October 2011 and was a chance for organisations to showcase non-fundraising* voluntary opportunities to the College community. Places were limited to the first 35 organisations who completed the registration form (available by clicking here DOC 20KB). The 2012 fair will be held in October and details of participation will be available closer to the time. Please note the terms and conditions to participate in this event below:
1. It is not possible to showcase pure fundraising opportunities (bucket shaking, flag days, bag packing etc.) as there are already a variety of worthy campus based causes and fundraising activities which students collect money for. Instead we look for well supported, fully insured opportunities which help students develop their confidence, transferable skills (communication, teambuilding etc.) and/or which enhance their understanding of their area of study.
2. All organisations attending the event must endorse the TCD Volunteer Charter (DOC 47KB) in their interactions with TCD Volunteers. The document is based on the Volunteering Ireland Charter for Effective Volunteering and it is likely that you already uphold the principles outlined therein as part of your volunteer programmes. Please also bear in mind that due to student exams, class timetables and vacation periods, student volunteers may have restricted availability at certain times of the year. For more on this, see https://www.tcd.ie/Community/organisations/volunteering/designing.php .
3. Any organisations which hope to showcase opportunities to volunteer abroad should become signatories to the Comhlámh Code of Good Practice for Volunteering Sending organisations if this is not already the case. For more information on the Code, see http://www.volunteeringoptions.org/WhatWeDo/CodeofGoodPractice/tabid/75/...