Google launched a brand new platform last week for the voluntary sector called All For Good. The idea is that this open source application makes it simple to find and share volunteer activities with friends and family.

• Find volunteer activities near you.
• Share volunteer activities with your friends.
• See what your friends are interested in.
• Track volunteer activities you care about.

Developed by the Good and the Great of Silicon Valley, The core team behind All for Good is made up of volunteering enthusiasts from places like Google, Craigslist Foundation, UCLA, YouTube, FanFeedr and Aha! Ink. As a contributor to the All for Good project, Google is hosting the All for Good website and products. Several Google engineers worked on All for Good as a 20-percent project (Google lets engineers spend a day a week on projects that interest them), collaborating with a broader team to build the product.

The site coincides with the launch of United We Serve, a campaign kicked off by Michelle Obama who invited all Americans to join a volunteer effort this summer and be part of building a new foundation for the USA, one community at a time. The initiative is led by the Corporation for National and Community Service (Serve.gov), the federal agency dedicated to fostering service in communities across the country.

All for Good lets you browse activities and find events based on your location or interests. Currently it is very U.S. centric but still has some listings for schemes being run in the UK.

If you represent a UK organisation and are interested in reaching a wider audience by distributing your volunteer activities through All for Good, visit this page with instructions on how to get started. All for Good relies on individuals and organisations who can volunteer their time and talent to make the site even better. Let them know you’d like to help.

I’ve always been a sucker for not-for-profit collaborative websites, and the sentiment behind All for Good is undoubtedly sound. I particularly like the open ethos behind the platform which allows you to link your volunteering activity to your social graph (via Facebook Connect, Google, Yahoo, AIM, Netlog and OpenID).

There’s even a callout to developers to create apps using the All for Good API, so the success of the site is truly in the hands of volunteers.

Whilst the UK listings start to take seed and grow, you can check out the following destinations for info and inspiration on volunteer projects:

do-it.org.uk

do-it.org.uk was launched in 2001 with the claim to have the first national database of volunteering opportunities in the UK. The site is owned by the registered charity YouthNet, a non-profit-making organisation. It is free for visitors to use the database as the charity believes that volunteering should be free to the user, so instead a small charge is made to organisations registering their opportunities.

The majority of opportunities on do-it.org.uk come from local Volunteer Centres in England. These organisations have been provided with hardware, software and training so that they can upload their vacancies onto the do-it database.  In addition, some national organisations post their opportunities directly on to do-it.org.uk.

CSV

CSV is the UK’s largest volunteering and training charity and has been around for over forty years. The aim of CSV’s founders is to involve young people aged 16-35 in voluntary service in the UK, to enrich the lives of volunteers and those they help and to generate social change.

Last year the charity involved nearly quarter of a million people in volunteering in the UK, trained 12,000 disadvantaged young people and helped 29,000 people to find learning opportunities through its links with BBC local radio.

VSO

Since 1958 VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) has been sending volunteers to fight global poverty by sharing their skills and experience with people in developing countries. As a direct result of VSO’s work, there are now women and men able to make a living, children getting a quality education, AIDS orphans being looked after in their own community and disabled people living full lives.

However VSO isn’t just about volunteering overseas. You can help us build a fairer world much closer to home. Visit the website to find out how you can make a really valuable contribution to VSO’s work to fight global poverty and disadvantage, right here in the UK.

DirectGov

Becoming a volunteer can be personally rewarding and help you to ‘give something back’ to your community. The UK Government has created a central resource and guide for volunteers where individuals can choose from thousands of different opportunities from helping out at your local city farm to becoming a seminar leader at a business education charity. There are plenty of great links to be found here.

Refugee Week

This site believes that if everyone does at least one of the listed simple actions, we could make a big change to the way refugees are perceived in the UK. Really smart website – you can’t help but get drawn in.

Volunteering England

Volunteering England is an independent voluntary agency committed to supporting, enabling and celebrating volunteering in all its diversity. Their work links research, policy innovation, good practice and grant making in the involvement of volunteers. This website is a great resource for anyone looking for a diverse range of opportunities.

TimeBank

TimeBank is a national charity inspiring and connecting a new generation of people to volunteer in their communities, and enabling charitable organisations and businesses to develop innovative and effective volunteer recruitment programmes: locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

TimeBank has attracted over 220,000 people into the world of volunteering and has done so by creating new ways for people to get involved; connecting people and organisations to each other and transforming the image of volunteering to reflect its vital role in a healthy society and the dynamic affect it can have on the lives of volunteers.

Orange RockCorps

Finally for those who want some sort of payback for their altruism, Orange and RockCorps come together to help you to give something back to your community. Take part in Orange RockCorps this year and help transform your local area and receive tickets to money-can’t-buy gig tickets.

Over 40,000 people have already given their four hours and celebrated together at more than 20 live gigs.

All you need to do is join up and give four hours of your time to an Orange RockCorps community project in your area. In return, you’ll get a ticket to one of two exclusive gigs with performances from big name artists.

As the website points out: You can’t buy a ticket. You can’t win a ticket. You have to earn a ticket.

And it doesn’t stop there. When you join up, you also become part of the Orange RockCorps Collective – giving you access to thousands of selected volunteering opportunities from around the UK.

The point is… there are plenty of opps out there to get involved in something worthwhile. Go on… get involved!