Best places to volunteer

[madman]

I am newly retired and one of the things I promised myself was that i would use retirement to volunteer to do something good. Now I find that easier said than done - i can't find any comprehensive lists of volunteering opportunities in my town or region. Likewise it seems like if you know what you want to do you can find an outlet, but it's hard to find a list of the possibilities. My goals are to maximum my talents and experience, do some good, and have fun too. Anybody have any suggestions?

[marty50]

Funny but i was looking for the same thing for the same reason. I feel like i want to volunteer but ideally make the most of my contribution. Then i ran into this Wall Street Journal article. It does a sort of shopping comparison between 4 different volunteer sites - USA Service, VolunteerMatch, Idealist and 1-800-Volunteer . I plan on checking them all out - each had strengths and weaknesses. Good luck to you!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123439604394574921.html

[topretirementseditor]

check out this great article in NY TImes about volunteering for the Peace Corps as an older adult:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/business/retirementspecial/02PEACE.html