UCLA Volunteer Center

The UCLA Volunteer Center's mission is to inspire the more than 400,000 members of the extended UCLA family, as well as the community at large, to create social change through lifelong participation in volunteer programs and civic engagement.

The UCLA Volunteer Center coordinates service activities on campus and throughout greater Los Angeles to inspire members of the extended UCLA family to give of their time and talent.

At UCLA, there are many ways to give back to the community. Through the Volunteer Center, students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members can participate in ongoing and annual service opportunities, suggest volunteer site locations, and lead service projects. The Volunteer Center also maintains an online listing of campus-wide service groups, and a volunteer database of community service opportunities.

The Center was launched by its first project: UCLA Volunteer Day on September 22, 2009, which has become the nation’s largest service project for new university students. A project that began with 4,000 participants with eight service projects has grown to involve more than 8,000 UCLA community members at sites that reach every major community in the city.

The Volunteer Center has expanded to organize more than seven other unique annual programs and events that involve the greater Bruin community in civic engagement. And though its website and use of social media, the Center also serves as a hub for community planning material, how-to guides, recognition of community leadership, opportunities for volunteers to share their experience and connect with others, and access to an interactive database and calendar of volunteer opportunities in Los Angeles.

The Volunteer Center also serves as a model for the planning, design, implementation, and management of large-scale community projects that can be replicated by other universities, companies, and organizations.