Focus Area
Civic Engagement Volunteer Opportunities in Central Oregon
Matching organizations, in a different order on every visit
Connect Central Oregon is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that strengthens communities in Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties (plus Warm Springs) by connecting people with volunteer opportunities, board positions, and mentorship. It promotes civic engagement, community leadership, and innovation through platforms like Central Oregon Volunteer Connect.
Volunteers help run CCO's community events, from volunteer and board fairs to robotics and drone expositions, support community media production, and help keep the Volunteer Central Oregon directory accurate by reviewing organization listings. Students and groups are welcome, and CCO can sign off on community service hours.
Central Oregon Volunteer Connect
also known as COVC, Volunteer Connect, Volunteer Central Oregon
Central Oregon Volunteer Connect is a program of Connect Central Oregon representing one of their four pillars - alongside Mentoring, Innovation, and Partnership. It's a regional infrastructure, shaped and stewarded by community leaders over more than two decades connecting organizations, volunteers, emerging leaders, and community energy across Central Oregon. Along with direct partnership outreach across the region, most notably the Connect Central Oregon Volunteer & Board Fair — the in-person event connecting volunteers and organizations face to face, their Volunteer Central Oregon directory allows browsing or searching to find organizations across Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties, and Warm Springs looking for volunteers, donors, and community partners.
Connect Central Oregon is always looking for leaders who want to help connect individuals, groups, and organizations to each other and strengthen our community. One of the most important roles within the entire organization, serving as a "Connector" represents the very purpose of ConnectCO and serves as the primary method of our community engagement...using very literally every resource ConnectCO and its leadership team have to offer.
Oregon Natural Desert Association
also known as ONDA
Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) is a Bend-based nonprofit that has protected, defended, and restored Oregon's high desert public lands, waters, and wildlife since 1987. Nearly half of Oregon is high desert, and ONDA's work spans the Central Oregon backcountry, the John Day River Basin, the Greater Hart-Sheldon region, Steens Mountain, the Owyhee Canyonlands, and the 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail. That's why many of its volunteer projects take Central Oregonians well beyond the region's home counties. It combines conservation advocacy, science-based restoration, and public engagement, with offices in Bend and Portland.
Free spring and fall stewardship trips restore streams, plant willows, and pull old fence from the Central Oregon backcountry to Steens Mountain and the Owyhee, with tools and training provided and no experience needed. Closer to home, volunteers join the Bend office crew, mail the Wild Desert Calendar, staff events like the High Desert Hootenanny, and lend photo, video, and writing skills. Schools, businesses, and groups can volunteer together.
Great Old Broads for Wilderness – Bitterbrush Broadband
also known as Bitterbrush Broads, Bitterbrush Broadband, Great Old Broads for Wilderness Central Oregon
Central and Eastern Oregon chapter ("Broadband") of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, a national organization led by elder women that harnesses the energy and experience of its members to protect and restore wild lands. Formed in 2013, the Bitterbrush Broads focus on advocacy, education, stewardship, and fun: protecting old-growth forests and wildlife habitat, restoring rivers, and addressing climate change, in partnership with groups like Central Oregon LandWatch and Oregon Wild.
Members join about 20 BroadWalk hikes and campouts a year from the Cascade crest to the Owyhee Canyonlands, and 3–5 BroadWorks stewardship projects: monitoring grazing and roads on public lands, restoring habitat, planting natives, and pulling noxious weeds. Others help write public comments and letters, attend BroadChats, and organize advocacy for wild lands.
The Rotary Club of Sunriver brings together community members from Sunriver and south Deschutes County for fellowship and local and international service projects under Rotary's motto of Service Above Self, supported by the Sunriver Rotary Club Foundation.
Rotarians volunteer together on local service projects, fundraisers, scholarships, and community grants in Sunriver and south Deschutes County, and on international service. The main way to get involved is to visit a club meeting and join.
The Rotary Club of Bend is Bend's Rotary club of business and community leaders who meet regularly for fellowship and carry out local and international service projects under Rotary's motto of Service Above Self. It is part of Rotary District 5110, and its charitable work is supported by the Bend Rotary Club Foundation.
Rotarians volunteer together on local service projects, fundraisers, and community grants, and on international service. The main way to get involved is to visit a club meeting and join.
Crook County Sheriff Search and Rescue is the all-volunteer search and rescue team of the Crook County Sheriff's Office, finding and helping lost, injured, and stranded people across the county's backcountry, Ochoco Mountains, reservoirs, and high desert, and teaching the public about outdoor safety and preparedness.
Volunteers respond to backcountry, wilderness, and stranded-motorist rescues throughout Crook County, using vehicles, snowmobiles, and tracked rescue equipment. Search and Rescue also provides community education on outdoor safety and preparedness.
The Bend chapter is where the Oregon Band of Brothers began in 2006, when a few World War II veterans started meeting for coffee. Today its weekly gatherings draw veterans of every era, along with current service members and their families, for friendship, camaraderie, and mutual support. The chapter raises funds for veterans in need and provides the Flag Line honor guard at funerals and memorial observances.
Veterans, current service members, and their spouses and close family join the chapter's weekly meetings and help with its service work: the Flag Line honor guard at veterans' funerals and memorial ceremonies, fundraising to assist veterans in need, and support for Honor Flight and other veterans' organizations. There are no dues. Non-veterans who help local veterans can be welcomed as associates.
Deschutes Democrats
also known as Deschutes County Democratic Party
Deschutes Democrats is the Democratic Party of Deschutes County, the local party organization that supports Democratic candidates, organizes precinct committee persons and neighborhood leaders, and holds monthly meetings.
Volunteers help with phone calling, canvassing, literature drops, letter writing, voter registration, mailings, data entry, office support, fundraising, and lawn signs, and staff events and booths. Roles fit every skill and commitment level, and no political experience is needed. Sign up through the volunteer form, or become a precinct committee person or neighborhood leader.
Sierra Club Juniper Group
also known as Juniper Group
The Juniper Group is the Central Oregon group of the Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter, bringing together people who care about the region's forests, high desert, rivers, and wildlife. It works to protect wild places through public-lands advocacy, education, and community outreach, and runs an outings program of hikes, snowshoe and Nordic ski trips, and campouts that is open to members and non-members alike.
Volunteers lead and join hikes, snowshoe, and Nordic ski outings (free outdoor leadership training is offered for new trip leaders), table at community events, give presentations at local schools, write for the newsletter, capture photos and video, and help with conservation research and public-lands comments. No experience is necessary, just an enthusiasm for wild nature.
Central Oregon Open Programming
also known as COOP
Central Oregon Open Programming (COOP), a program of Connect Central Oregon, promotes community engagement by amplifying local voices through open programming: community-produced media and content made by and for people across Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties and Warm Springs.
Energize Bend
also known as Energize Bend Coalition
Community coalition of local organizations and individuals working to move Bend to clean energy through home and building electrification. Founded in 2022, it combines community outreach, education about electrifying homes and vehicles, and advocacy for local policies that support healthier homes, lower energy bills, and Bend's climate goals.
Volunteers do community outreach and tabling, help neighbors learn about home electrification and solar, write and share stories about clean energy, attend and speak at public meetings, and help plan creative community events. There are pathways for individuals of all ages as well as partner organizations.
You haven't seen them all yet. There are more organizations below.