Volunteer Opportunities
Main Shelter Volunteer Opportunities
To learn more about ACCT Philly and our volunteer program, please join us for our monthly volunteer orientation, which will be held the first Saturday of every month. You can sign up here!
After orientation you will receive a volunteer application and once you are approved, will schedule training for your volunteer area of interest. Thank you for your interest in joining our volunteer team!
Main shelter volunteer opportunities include:
- Assisting in our clinic
- Becoming a pen pal to become that animal’s shelter advocate
- Cat socialization
- Distributing pet supplies from our low-income food pantry
- Dog walking and socialization
- Laundry and dishes
- Preparing enrichment items
- Joining the Running Team by providing exercise for our high energy dogs
- Joining the Kitten Klub to bottle feed kittens
- Providing our animals with transportation to rescues and fosters
- Assisting with our Lost & Found
- TNR
- Providing care and socialization for our small animals
- Assisting with fundraising efforts and admin support
- Representing ACCT Philly at events
Group Volunteer Opportunity
ACCT Philly is always looking for groups to come in and help with many aspects of the shelter! We may have a specific project for you to work on or just need your help doing laundry, helping with our food pantry and washing dishes. As our individual volunteers go through specialized training before handling any animals, we no longer have group volunteers participating in activities that require dog or cat animal handling. But we do have groups help with our critters! We are also happy to finish every group volunteer opportunity with some doggy playtime and a photo opportunity.
We typically have groups of 5-10 but can potentially accommodate more with enough notice. Every person participating must be at least 18 years old to volunteer unless an exception is made in advance by ACCT Philly.
If you have a group of friends, coworkers or classmates who would be interested in getting involved, please email volunteer@acctphilly.org
Corporate Volunteer Opportunities
When your corporate team makes ACCT Philly their volunteer-day destination of choice, your company will be making a huge impact on and difference to Philly’s homeless animals. ACCT Philly is the City’s only open-admission animal shelter and control facility, and the largest animal welfare facility in the region. More than 14,000 animals – dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, pigs, wildlife – came through our doors in 2021. They entered in all states of health and behavior; sizes large and small; from newborns to seniors. Thanks to staff, rescue partners, adopters, fosters, and volunteers, including those from companies like yours, our shelter had a live release rate of roughly 86 percent last year.
Whether your team would like to engage in a specific project or participate in a structured experience that can include laundry, helping with food pantry, washing dishes and providing animals with enrichment and care, ACCT Philly provides an experience your organization will not soon forget. It’s always our hope some of your employees will get hooked by the beautiful 100 percent purebred Philly dogs and cats we shelter here, and come back as regular volunteers!
We can accommodate groups of as few as five volunteers and as many as 20. We’ll provide a tour of the shelter, and an informative short presentation on the history and progress of animal welfare in Philadelphia and at the shelter. Usually, our corporate volunteer opportunities run between 2 and 4 hours.
(All volunteers must sign a waiver of liability. All volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.)