The Humane Society of the United States, and its family of organizations, embraces volunteers as essential partners in our lifesaving work. We engage volunteers in supporting staff at every level to amplify our efforts to create a more humane society. We welcome and respect our volunteers' unique identities, diverse backgrounds and experiences to build an inclusive animal welfare movement. We believe everyone can help fight for all animals!
We offer a wide range of ways to get involved, each with varying requirements, responsibilities and commitment levels, and we provide all of our volunteers with guidance and training as needed.
To ensure the safety of the organization’s people and property, and the animals in our care, we conduct a background check of our volunteers’ criminal history (some roles do not require a background check). Additional background check components will be included based on the scope of the volunteer work. The organization will consider volunteer applicants with a criminal record on a case-by-case basis. Typically, crimes against people or animals, or crimes of a more recent nature, may be cause for us to decline a volunteer application.