Making it happen

Volunteers are crucial to the work of ShelterBox – without them we would not be able to function.


Making best use of your money
The high level of support we receive from volunteers enables us to keep our operating costs low and means a very high percentage of income goes directly on the aid itself.


Current voluntary positions
Following the Haiti disaster, hundreds of people asked to volunteer with us. Thanks to this fantastic response we do not need to recruit any more volunteers at the present time.

We will be revising volunteer recruitment in the near future. This will enable us to best match new volunteers' skills with specific tasks and projects - from packing boxes, to providing admin, IT or PR assistance, to supporting our work with young people. New application forms will be available at that time.

In the meantime, we are still recruiting SRTs (see below), and welcome support from volunteer fundraisers.

Please sign up to our newsletter so you can see the vital contribution our volunteers make to ShelterBox each month.


Working in the field - ShelterBox Response Teams
The ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) that play a crucial role in delivering aid in the field are almost entirely made up of volunteers. Please click here to learn more about the selection and training process for SRTs.

During crises we receive hundreds of requests from people wanting to travel with us to disaster areas and help deliver ShelterBoxes. Delivering emergency aid can be complex and requries significant skill and knowledge. For these reasons, we cannot send untrained volunteers into disaster areas. Only our SRTs can be deployed - they have completed our extensive training and selection programme, and are familiar with our operational procedures.

Working in the field - local assistance
Anyone offering assistance who is actually present in the disaster area is welcome to report to our SRT field team and offer to render any assistance needed. People that are fully self-sufficient with own vehicle and local knowledge and language skills can be particularly useful.