Become a volunteer
Join us
Every individual matters.
Every individual has a role to play.
Every individual makes a difference.
- Jane Goodall
Why become a volunteer?
Volunteers are essential to our work and we cherish each and every one of them. If you are interested in volunteering with us, you can find an overview of our teams hereunder and apply to be part of a team. If you don’t know which team you want to join, just sign up and we will send you more information. Take a look at our manifest to get a feel for who we are and if we are the right fit for you. We work together in small groups or teams to have better communication and get to know each other. We have monthly online meetings and meet up every quarter for a team building activity.
Once you have registered to become a volunteer, you will be invited to a welcome call where you will receive more information and you can ask questions. Normally we host a welcome call every 2 months. After the call, you can decide if you want to join.
Please note that we are a diverse organisation with different nationalities and backgrounds. Therefore we use English as our main language of communication with the volunteers.
Tree planting team
This team will be called upon for tree planting events. Expect to get your hands dirty and to get up close and personal with the forest. You have to love being outdoors and have a hands-on approach. You need a basic understanding about trees and planting or be eager to learn about this. An active lifestyle is part of who you are. You will help people plant trees at these events, so you need to be social and approachable .
- Availability: 4-6/year
- People needed: 5
Roots & Shoots team
For our youth empowering program - Roots & Shoots - we are looking for people who love to teach kids and youngsters about the importance of nature and how to care for it. We have 2 groups: the Roots team and the Shoots team. The Roots team is all about creating content for the workshops and reaching out to schools and youth organisations. The shoots team are the people who go give workshops and activities.
For this team you need to be excited about our Roots & Shoots programme, so check it out here.
We have a French speaking group and a Dutch speaking group in this team.
- Availability: 1h or workshop/week
- People currently needed: 6 (NL) and 4 (FR)
Support team
We are always in need of support. Whether it is online or at events. The online support team will be working behind the scenes on a range of activities like organisazing events, day-to-day tasks and research. The events part of this team will represent JGI Belgium at small and big events. You have an extensive knowledge on everything that the Jane Goodall Institute Belgium does or you are eager to learn this. You need to be good with people and get them excited about our cause.
- Availability: 1h/week or 1 event/month
- People needed: 5 for the events
Comms team
Write, write, write. You will help to create newsletters, press releases, articles for the website and small texts for socials.
And translate. We live in Belgium, so we always need to communicate in three languages (EN/FR/NL). You are available to translate texts on a regular basis, because news topics pop up unannounced and we need to be able to act accordingly.
Also people with expertise on social media, video editing and graphic designers who love to create cool visuals are more than welcome to apply as a volunteer!
- Availability: 1h/week
- People needed: 3 (NL/ENG and video skills)
Fundraising team
Fundraising is an essential part of a non-profit organisation. This team supports the Jane Goodall Institute in its current and new fundraising activities to help us meet our fundraising targets in support of JGI’s activities in Belgium and in Africa.
You will have a close look at our donation options online and develop ideas on how to market these better. As a fundraising champion you can also help to work out project ideas and programs including a bequest program, and identify (project) funding opportunities from foundations, public and private institutes. Reaching out to potential donors/sponsors will primarily be done by JGI’s staff and/or board members.
- Availability: 1h/week
- People needed: 3
Advocacy team
This team helps us to translate (online) campaigns from our global network to our local audiences. They also support our advocacy work in Belgium by advising on topics including biodiversity, deforestation, wildlife, etc but this will vary. You will support us in our advocacy work addressing a broader audience as well as specific, so you need good knowledge of all the stakeholders, have a network in the environmental space in Brussels, Belgium and abroad. We also work on campaigns that have been created by Jane Goodall Institute Global and are able to translate those towards a local level.
- Availability: 1h/week
- People needed: 2
Not sure which team to pick?
If you are unsure of which team to choose, just sign up below. You will be invited to the welcome call where we will give more details about the teams and how we work. Once you have a better insight, you can decide if you still want to join and what you would like to contribute.