Gandhi once said that we must be the change we wish to see in the world. The collaborative and social nature of open source technology provides an excellent opportunity to affect this change through volunteering. Individuals who share a passion for causes they care about can affect positive social change by volunteering on collaborative open source projects all over the world. Projects can advance a variety of causes like ending poverty and homelessness, providing humanitarian relief, funding technology education curricula for public schools, advancing the rights of women and/or minorities, improving the quality of health care, providing assistance for the disabled and elderly, protecting the environment, defending civil liberties, or preserving the freedom and openness of the Internet.
In addition to affecting social impact, volunteers can learn new skills, refine current skills, gain experience using those skills to improve open source technologies, forge new contacts and opportunities for friendships, networking, employment, and collaboration, and gain personal satisfaction knowing they helped to affect social change. Anyone who wishes to volunteer with an open source project can find opportunities in many places. Several nonprofit foundations are always looking for help on projects. Your local community center, workforce agency, or place of worship may be another source for opportunities. Whether you are into front-end development, database design and maintenance, back-end server implementation, or network support, there is bound to be a place where you can volunteer. Don't count yourself out if you are not a coder. These same organizations also have a need for translators, reseachers, designers, writers, and testers. If you can use a computer, you can volunteer.
Here is a brief list of sites where you can inquire about volunteering on open source projects: