Volunteer Opportunities

If you haven't already, be sure to fill out our online volunteer application!

Let us know if you would like to help with any of the following opportunities or would like more information, by emailing us at volunteer@ExploreVeg.org or calling us at our office at 612-626-5785.

Community Building and Social Events

• Book club - Do you like to read books and discuss them with others? Help coordinate our book club for with a book of your choosing, and consider checking out any of CAA's library's great titles, including, Empty Cages by Tom Regan; Living Among Meat Eaters by Carol Adams; and The Way We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason.
• Film showings - Organize a public or home film showing to bring friends, CAA activists, and community members together for an educational and fun time. Choose a fitting film or explore one of our many titles including Peaceable Kingdom, Earthlings, Chicken Run, and The Witness.
• Monthly dine-outs - Helping to plan our monthly dine-outs is good for engaging new and old CAA supporters in enjoying food and discussion various veg-friendly eateries in the Twin Cities.
• Veg potlucks and picnics - Coordinate our regular potlucks and picnics. A great way to bring animal-friendly folks together for tasty eats!
• Volunteer parties - Organize a fun gathering for CAA volunteers by hosting or helping to throw a party. This will be a great opportunity for animal activists to meet each other, hang out, and relax.

Campaigns and Educational Outreach

• Adopt a Vegetarian Starter Kit stand - If you want an easy and effective way to help the animals, please consider adopting a newspaper stand in your neighborhood to provide community members with vegetarian info 24/7. We will get you a stand and literature for free--all you need to do is keep an eye on it and occasionally refill the stand.
• Air videos on community cable TV - Getting educational videos played on your community's public access cable channel is a great way to spread awareness about animal cruelty at no cost and with very little time commitment. With your help we can expand this campaign to bring these shows to thousands more in the greater Twin Cities area and around Minnesota.
• Display cases - Help get educational displays showcased at libraries, schools, and other venues with available display cases. Additionally you can put your creative talents to use by helping us design new, attractive displays.
  
• No Battery Eggs campaign - Work with local restaurants, businesses, and schools to stop their use of cruel battery-cage eggs.
• Pass out leaflets at colleges, concerts, and festivals - This year we will be informing tens of thousands of curious teenagers and young adults about the cruelties of factory farming and the benefits of vegetarianism at a variety of venues including local colleges, concerts, and festivals. CAA can provide you with free leaflets for distribution at any event you plan on attending.
  
• Postering - Place informative posters around your neighborhood to increase visibility of animal issues and vegetarianism. We have a variety of posters to choose from and can provide you with tape and staplers. This is a great way to get some exercise, while helping animals.
  
• Restaurant outreach - Work with receptive restaurant managers and school cafeterias to expand their vegetarian and vegan options, and better label and promote their current options.
  
• Stock leaflets at restaurants and businesses - Drop off stacks of leaflets at restaurants, cafes, record shops, veterinary clinics, places of worship, and other venues that would attract potentially sympathetic individuals. This can be done by bicycle or car, and CAA can pair you up with another volunteer to help.
  

Event Organizing

• Annual Fundraiser Banquet - Help us organize our 5th annual fundraising banquet scheduled for the beginning of April. We need help with logistics, contacting attendees, and soliciting donations of food and items for our silent auction.
  
• Food giveaways - One of the best ways to introduce the public to delicious vegan cuisine and raising awareness of the animals' plight, is distributing free vegan food at a giveaway. We will have a couple this summer and a large one in the fall--help make these happen.
  
• Midwest Animal Advocacy Conference - Unite hundreds of folks from all over the Midwest for a weekend conference in Minneapolis for summer 2009, by helping CAA organize for and volunteer at our annual "Their Lives, Our Voices" animal advocacy conference.
  
• Potlucks - Help us plan regular vegan potlucks to bring community members together for good food, discussion, and socializing.
  
• Speaker Event - Bring community members together for a free public presentation from a notable speaker on vegetarian, animal, and ethical issues.
  
• Tour of a farm or stockyard - Plan a special tour for CAA volunteers to observe conditions on a Minnesota farm or stockyard.
• Vegan cooking classes - Show off your cooking skills, bring in a guest chef, and teach both newbie and veteran veg*ns basic and gourmet vegan cooking techniques.
• Veg Week 2009 - Help us put together another excellent program for Veg Week 2009 happening this fall.
  

Writing

• Author for CAA's blog - Are you a natural commentator? Want to keep website visitors up-to-date with the latest in the animal advocacy movement? Become a writer for CAA's multi-author blog.
• Contributor to the weekly e-newsletter - Help prepare and write sections for CAA's weekly e-newsletter, covering everything from upcoming events and reviews to recipes and articles.
• Grant writing -  Contribute your expert writing skills to grants and funding requests that will ensure the resources needed for our important outreach efforts.
• Letter writing for CAA's Writer's Group - Write letters once a week to local and national publications.
• Quarterly print newsletter - Write stories, reviews, and conduct interviews for CAA's print newsletter.
  

Fundraising

• Accounting - Do you like to work with numbers? Help keep CAA's finances up-to-date as an assistant accountant.
• Fundraising meetings - Once every month we meet on evenings at different locations in the Twin Cities to brainstorm, plan, and evaluate our fundraising efforts.

Other

• Adding entries to VegGuide.Org - No matter where you're at this summer you can easily add new, veg-friendly restaurants and grocery stores to our world-wide guide, as well as make reviews.
• Adding recipes to MakeItVeg.org - Expand and help us maintain our database of delicious and easy vegan recipes, all the while improving one of our resources to help people go veg.
  
• Computer programming and web design - Help us make our website a dynamic resource for compassionate folks everywhere by contributing your skills in HTML or a background with content management systems like Drupal, Plone, and Python.
• Library - Organize, build up, and help promote CAA's comprehensive book and video library. With your assistance we can make our library more accessible and a better resource.
  
• Marketing - Have ideas on how to promote CAA and highlight its activities to help farm animals? Volunteer to help with marketing our programs and organization.
• Media spokesperson - Be CAA's media liason by preparing important press releases, conducting interviews with area media outlets, and building relations with the local press.
  
• MySpace and Facebook accounts - Maintain our accounts, grow our network, and communicate with CAA's thousands of cyber friends and activists.
• Photos for ExploreVeg.org - Help sharpen your photography skills by shoot photos at our events and outreach, as well as updating our current photos for our website.
  
• Video editing and production - Help us with filming, editing, and/or producing our upcoming documentary, as well as many other video opportunities.
  
• Planning meetings - Join our planning meetings to strategize, share updates, and discuss pertinent activities and other issues. Please inquire with us for the current time and location.