Volunteering

Adoption Support

Assist our customers in the Adoption Center, cat/small animal rooms, kennels, courtyard and "Get Acquainted" areas. This role involves extensive contact with the public. Volunteers may greet visitors, explain the adoption process, help with retail sales, and showcase the animals. Must be patient, thoroughly enjoy working with both people and animals, and be willing to work in a busy atmosphere. Must be able to lift 25 lbs. Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on availability.

MaxMobile Adoption Assistant 

Help get our pets adopted by traveling to local businesses on the MaxMobile! Volunteers promote our pets to potential adopters and work to match the right pet to the right person. Volunteers also provide care for the pets throughout the adoption event. This role involves extensive contact with the public and volunteers should have great customer service skills and be friendly and outgoing. Adoption events are usually three to four hours on Tuesdays-Sundays and volunteers can sign up for whichever events they are able to help with.

First Impressions Volunteers

Our First Impressions Volunteers provide a warm, friendly and welcoming first impression for visitors to our campus. If you have an outgoing and compassionate personality, enjoy talking to people and love animals, this role greeting, directing and offering assistance to our customers at the reception desk may be a good fit for you. Must enjoy working with members of the public.  Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on availability.

General Office Support

Help keep Seattle Humane operating smoothly by providing valuable office support as we work toward creating a responsible and humane community. Volunteers assist with data entry, phones, bulk mail preparation, photocopying and more.

Volunteers play a pivotal role in the fundraising activities that make the work of Seattle Humane possible. You can get involved by assisting on one or more of the special events that take place each year. Opportunities are available in planning, preparing for the event(s) and assignments on the day of the event(s). Events include Tuxes & Tails Gala, Catapalooza, and Walk for the Animals.

Campus Tour Guides

The Tour Volunteer helps with our community outreach efforts by leading educational and informative tours of the SH campus. By teaching the importance of animal companionship, the Tour Volunteer assists staff in raising awareness and building lifelong relationships between people and their pets. In this role, you are a liaison between SH, the public, local businesses, and organizations.

MaxMobile School Visitation Volunteers

Accompany our adoption bus on wheels, the MaxMobile, in visits to local schools and for educational presentations. Volunteers help supervise interaction between kids and animals. Most presentations take place on weekdays.

Passionate about Seattle Humane’s life-saving services, care for homeless and abandoned pets, and ensuring that all pets have a loving home? You can help by:

• Featuring our pets on your website- choose our Shelter ID (WA06).
• Print out the profiles of our dogs and cats and post them at work, at school, at your place of worship, and your favorite local businesses.

Work with clients

Help low-income pet owners with cancer and disabled by HIV/AIDS keep their pets. Pet Project volunteers work one-on-one with clients, delivering pet food and cat litter and may occasionally transport clients and/or their animals to our campus for services. Must be able to lift 25 pounds.

Volunteer veterinarians and vet techs

Assist with special veterinary clinics every other month for clients in the Pet Project program or provide discounted services for veterinary needs beyond what the program clinic can provide.

Help low-income senior citizens keep their animal companions by packing or delivering pet food. Volunteers distribute over five tons of donated pet food to more than 1,200 animals each month! Must be able to lift 25 pounds.

If your pet has the personality and disposition to visit residents of nursing homes, retirement homes and adult day care centers, spend a few hours a month making someone's day brighter. Share your pet's love and bring some joy to those who cannot have pets live with them. Dogs will need to be certified as Delta Society Pet Partners or pass a Canine Good Citizen assessment. We ask for at least a monthly commitment.

Volunteers play a vital role in our community outreach efforts. Meet the people in your community and tell them about our programs and services. Volunteers staff information booths and speak with the public at community events, street fairs and festivals. Volunteers are contacted as needed.

Workplace Giving Volunteers work with the Development Department and attend workplace giving kick-off events. Volunteers talk with community members in their workplaces about making donations to Seattle Humane. Occasionally we are also asked to participate in events in which the volunteer gives a short presentation. Most events are held on weekdays. Volunteers are contacted as needed.

Throughout the year, we rely on groups and individuals to help us meet the needs of the animals served through our Pet Food Bank. If you are interested in organizing a pet food drive in your community, school, church, or business, please contact our Community Outreach Coordinator at (425) 649-7566. Seattle Humane also organizes Holiday Pet Food Drives with local grocery stores. Shoppers may purchase pet food to donate to the Pet Food Bank and deposit it into barrels available in designated stores.

Seattle Humane’s Walk for the Animals is one of our most popular community events, with more than 1,000 people leashing up their pups to raise funds for the animals in our care. Scores of volunteers give their time and talent all to make this event a fun, festive, family affair.

Monitor a pet food barrel year-round at a retail outlet or business, deliver the food to the shelter when it gets full, and help provide pet food for clients of the Pet Project and Pet Food Bank programs. We can provide you with a sturdy pet food collection barrel for your favorite store, coffee shop, business, school or office to collect toys or pet food animals in need.

Help keep our cats happy and healthy by keeping cubbies clean, socializing and feeding. Volunteers also help increase their adoptability by providing exercise, mental stimulation, basic grooming, cubby socialization, enrichment, and love! Our cats need to be weighed weekly to ensure they are eating well and staying healthy! Our volunteers are very hands-on with our cats. This position requires a lot of animal handling so some experience with cats is strongly encouraged. Must be able to lift 25 pounds. Weekly shifts are three hours and start times vary based on availability. There is also the opportunity to do this on a drop-in basis in the mornings – volunteers commit to a 3-hour shift two to four times a month, but available days and times vary.

Help keep our dogs happy, healthy and clean! Duties include cleaning kennels and basic housekeeping, feeding, walking, kennel enrichment including toys and treat distribution and other program functions. This is a very physical job keeping our dog rooms clean! Must be able to lift 25 pounds. Volunteers should be comfortable around a noisy environment and active dogs of all sizes and breeds. Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on availability.

Help keep our rabbits, guinea pigs and other small mammals clean and comfortable by providing daily care and socialization. Duties include feeding, cleaning and medicating as well as providing daily enrichment activities and handling. Some experience with small animals is suggested. Must be able to lift 25 pounds. Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on availability.

Volunteers provide exercise, mental stimulation, training and socialization to dogs available for adoption. This is a very physical, sometimes dirty, all-season job and many of the dogs are large and untrained. Must be able to lift 50 pounds. Volunteers should be comfortable around active dogs of all sizes and breeds. Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on availability.

Volunteers provide exercise to our most active dogs by taking them on a four-mile run. This is a very physical, sometimes dirty, all-season job and many of the dogs are large and untrained. Must be able to lift 50 pounds. Volunteers should be comfortable around active dogs of all sizes and breeds. Volunteers must be able to run 6.4k/4 miles and have dog handling experience. Shifts are 1.5 hours on morning and weekday afternoons.

Help our Dog and Cat Transfer Coordinators collect pets from our partner shelters or other rescue organizations throughout King County and all over Washington state as part of our Life-Saver Rescue Program. Help them process the pets once they arrive at Seattle Humane, including unloading them from the rescue vehicle, creating medical records and more. Transfers occur throughout the week, and volunteers can choose a day they’re available to help.

Help the Veterinary Services department provide high-quality medical care to our pets by assisting with medical exams, processing lab work, performing rechecks on pets, cleaning, feeding, stocking and more. This position requires strong animal handling skills, and some degree of medical experience is helpful. Weekly shifts are three hours long and start times vary based on availability.

Help our Veterinary Services department get ready for surgery by moving dogs and cats to and from surgery areas in the mornings. This position requires strong animal handling skills. Weekly shifts are two hours long and start times vary based on availability.

Do you have a knack for photographing pets at their best? Can you write a short profile of each pet that captures their cuteness and personality? We’d love your help as a Pet Publicist for Seattle Humane. Use your own digital camera to take photos of our adoptable cats, dogs, and small animals and write a brief pet profile for listing the pet on Seattle Humane’s website. In many instances, a great picture and profile are all that's needed to help find a loving family for a deserving animal. Photographers should be comfortable handling animals. Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on individual availability. Previous writing experience preferred. Shifts are 3 hours and start times vary based on individual availability.

Are you a Snapchat master? Do you take endless home videos of your animals at home being goofballs? Then this is the perfect position for you! Help us build our YouTube page by taking videos of our cats and dogs showing off their personalities. Your videos will be featured on our social channels including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube! All you need is a cell phone with decent video recording abilities and basic editing knowledge using programs ranging from Movie Maker to Adobe Premiere/Final Cut. Training is provided on site to help users learn more about basic editing software. Volunteers may shoot and edit content on campus or work on editing their footage at home. Shifts are 3 hours and times vary based on individual availability.