Region
Volunteer Opportunities in Warm Springs, 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.
Think Wild is Central and Eastern Oregon's only public wildlife hospital and conservation center, located on four acres on Bend's east side. Its veterinary staff and volunteers rescue, treat, and release hundreds of injured and orphaned native animals each year, from hummingbirds and flying squirrels to bald eagles and bobcats. Think Wild also runs a wildlife hotline, humane wildlife conflict help, Beaver Works Oregon habitat restoration, and education programs and camps for youth and the community. Found injured or orphaned wildlife? Call the hotline at 541-241-8680 (8am–6pm daily).
Volunteers help in the wildlife hospital with animal care, diet prep, and enclosure upkeep; rescue and transport injured wildlife; care for ambassador animals; support education programs, camps, and community events; and assist with humane wildlife conflict projects. Youth and family volunteering is available for kids and teens, and families and groups can join habitat restoration through Beaver Works Oregon. Training is provided.
Caldera, founded in 1996 by Dan Wieden and Priscilla Bernard Wieden, inspires and supports youth from underserved urban and rural communities by awakening the potential of their creative voice. Its free, long-term youth program pairs kids with artists and mentors for seven-plus years through school-year programming and summer camps at its campus on Blue Lake west of Sisters, blending art, music, dance, writing, film, and time in nature. It also hosts an Artists in Residence program. In 2015 it was the first Oregon nonprofit to win the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, presented at the White House.
Volunteers support events and workshops that bring the community together, help in operational roles that keep programs running, and take on youth program support roles, sharing their knowledge and creativity with students ages 12 to 18. Commitments range from a few hours a month to more, year-round, in Central Oregon communities and the Portland area.
Mutual aid group, co-led by Warm Springs tribal members, that works with Tribal Emergency Management to deliver clean drinking water to households on the Warm Springs Reservation while its aging water system is rebuilt. When the 2026 Bench Fire struck, the coalition grew to about 130 volunteers, shifting from quarterly to daily water runs and coordinating supply drives from Portland to Central Oregon.
Volunteers deliver drinking water to households on the reservation, run donation drives and drop-off sites around the region, sort and distribute supplies, and help track changing community needs. People can also join the steering committee, and the coalition especially welcomes Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to get involved.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Central Oregon
also known as BBBSCO
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon (BBBSCO) is a non-profit organization, part of J Bar J Youth Services, that creates one-to-one, life-changing mentoring relationships between adult volunteers ("Bigs") and children ("Littles") ages 6–17. Serving Bend, Redmond, Madras, Prineville, and La Pine, it aims to empower youth through consistent, 2–4 times a month friendship-based activities.
Volunteers ("Bigs") are matched one-to-one with a child ("Little") and commit to spending time together 2–4 times a month for at least a year — sharing activities like sports, hobbies, or just hanging out. Mentors must be 18+ and complete a background check and interview process before being matched.
Warm Springs Nation Little League
also known as WSNLL
Volunteer-run Little League serving kids on the Warm Springs Reservation, with T-ball, minors, majors, and juniors divisions in baseball and softball for boys and girls. Its all-star teams regularly compete at the state tournament.
Volunteers coach and manage teams (each team needs a manager and two coaches), umpire games, even just a handful, and serve on the league board in roles like safety officer, equipment manager, concessions, and fundraising. Coaches and umpires complete volunteer forms, training, and a background check, and volunteers get a free registration for one family member.
Seed to Table works to increase health and wellness across Central Oregon through equitable access to locally grown, farm-fresh produce and hands-on farm education. Started in 2013 by Sisters High School graduate Audrey Tehan with the Sisters Science Club, it now runs a four-acre farm in Sisters, grows and distributes produce to people of all income levels, including local food banks, brings thousands of students, including partner classes from Warm Springs, to the farm for nutrition and science education, and manages the Sisters Farmers Market.
Volunteers work alongside staff on the four-acre farm, planting, weeding, harvesting, and washing and packing produce for families and food banks; help with farm field trips for visiting students; staff the Sisters Farmers Market, which Seed to Table manages; and help put on the annual Fall Harvest Dinner. No farming experience needed.
The Warm Springs Community Action Team works to build economic self-sufficiency on the Warm Springs Reservation, supporting local entrepreneurs and small businesses, homeownership and home repair, financial education, and community development.
Volunteers share professional skills as business mentors and coaches, help with community events and markets, and support home-repair and financial education programs.
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.
Museum at Warm Springs
also known as Middle Oregon Indian Historical Society
Oregon's first tribal museum, opened in 1993 by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, home to one of the country's largest tribally owned collections of Native artifacts, art, photographs, and documents. It preserves and shares the living traditions of the Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute people through exhibits, cultural demonstrations, and education programs, with walking trails and an outdoor amphitheater along Shitike Creek.
Volunteers help with community cleanup days on the museum's grounds and trails along Shitike Creek, and support exhibit openings, cultural demonstrations, and education days like the annual fourth-grade science visit.
Ignite Empowerment Foundation
also known as IEF
IEF partners with people and organizations doing meaningful work and help build the structure around their vision. Through fiscal sponsorship, organizational support, strategic guidance, practical systems, and collaborative partnerships, they create the conditions for good ideas to become strong, sustainable work.
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