Volunteer

Lower Mainland

Current Priorities

If you are interested in helping with any of our current priorities listed below, let us know how much time you are interested in committing including the times/days you are available, and in which capacity/ies you would like to contribute to our work. For education programs, species report writing and events, please reach out to our Mainland Program Director at dirdev@northwestwildlife.com or 604-568-4907 to coordinate.

ADMINISTRATIVE
Timing: Flexible hours between 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday
Location: Vancouver office
Duties: Donation processing, tax receipt issuance, filing

FUNDRAISING
Timing: Flexible hours between 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday if in office
Location: Vancouver office or remote
Duties: Assisting with grant proposal writing and fundraising campaigns

WEEKEND COMMUNITY EVENTS
Timing: Weekends only
Location: Various
Duties: Assist Program Director at table/booth educating about wildlife about promoting NWPS

SCIENTIFIC REPORT WRITING
Timing: Flexible hours between 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday if in office
Location: Vancouver office or remote
Duties: Researching wildlife species and writing reports about them for distribution

COMMUNICATIONS/OUTREACH
Timing: Flexible hours between 9am – 5pm Monday – Friday if in office
Location: Vancouver office or remote
Duties: Creating newsletters, advertisements, social media posts, educational materials, website content.

Vancouver Island

Current Priorities

If you are interested in helping with any of our current priorities listed below, please contact our Island Program Director Connel at educationmanager@northwestwildlife.com or call (778) 967-3379.

WEEKEND COMMUNITY EVENTS
Timing: Weekends only
Location: Various – mainly near Victoria
Duties: Assist Wildlife Education Manager at table/booth educating about wildlife about promoting NWPS

PROGRAM SUPPORT
Timing: Weekdays only
Location: Various – mainly near Victoria
Duties: Assist Wildlife Education Manager delivering programs to schools

FUNDRAISING
Timing: Flexible hours
Location: remote
Duties: Assisting with grant proposal writing and fundraising campaigns

Have another skill you’d like to contribute? Let us know!

Unpaid Internships & Co-op Placements

NWPS is fortunate to have hosted many international interns as well as local co-op students over the years. As a small organization we are always in need of dedicated volunteer support. While we typically have interns and co-op students doing a general placement, helping out with all aspects of our business, positions and specific skills development are wide-ranging and flexible. We are able to accommodate most requests for volunteer/unpaid positions so please get in touch if you would like to work with us.

The general placement position provides you the opportunity to get a good sense of what it is like to work for a small non-profit charity. Dipping your toes into every aspect of the business gives you wide-ranging experience so you can learn what you like and dislike, where your strengths and weaknesses lay, and it gives you the necessary experience for working in a small non-profit where everyone is required to pitch in with anything that needs to get done. During a general internship/co-op placement at NWPS, no two days are the same. While you will be given specific responsibilities to carry out and/or projects to manage, one day you may be asked to help out with administrative tasks, such as preparing tax receipts and processing donations, and the next you’ll be out in the field planting trees. The next day, writing a grant application. The next, creating social media posts and writing content for a newsletter. The next planning an event, and the next helping an Educator lead a nature walk. The possibilities are endless. It is a great opportunity for people trying to figure out what it is they wish to pursue in their careers, and getting an in-depth look at what it is like and what it takes to successfully work at a small charity.

Thanks to the Canada Summer Jobs grant, we sometimes get funding to hire a summer student for a paid position. Funding decisions aren’t typically confirmed until late April so we are unable to hire before that. The position we typically hire for is a Community Outreach Coordinator. View the job description here. If you would like to be considered for the position, please email your cover letter and resume as a single document to execdirector@northwestwildlife.com before May 1.

All of our interns and students have thoroughly enjoyed their time with us, and gone on to great new roles with the experience gained working with our organization. Some of the wonderful people we have recently hosted include:

• A Wildlife Conservation student from Nottingham Trent University in England who went on to become our Wildlife Education Manager in Victoria.
• A BSc Natural Resources Conservation student from the University of British Columbia who went on to work in bear conservation.
• An Environmental Health Master’s student from Sweden who went on to work as an environmental technician back in Sweden.
• An Ecological Restoration student from BCIT who later managed our wetland rehabilitation project before moving on to work in environmental sciences.