Volunteer Application: What Should I Expect?

We welcome applications from adults 18+ of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and abilities. See specifics for each program:

• Big Brothers Community-based program – open to male, trans, and gender diverse volunteers
• In-School Mentoring program – open to female, male, trans, and gender diverse volunteers
• Game On! group mentoring program – open to male, trans, and gender diverse volunteers
• Mentoring with Math – open to female, male, trans, and gender diverse volunteers

We welcome volunteers aged 18 or over! There is no upper age-limit for getting involved as a mentor in our programs.

Teens (in grade 9-12) can volunteer for our Teen Mentoring program, please click here to complete the Teen Mentoring application instead.

Our mentoring programs operate across Greater Vancouver in:

• Burnaby
• Delta
• New West
• North Shore
• Richmond
• Surrey
• Tri-cities
• Vancouver
• White Rock

Don’t see your city here? There are Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies nearby that may service your area!

• Langley: Click here to volunteer in Langley
• Fraser Valley: Click here to volunteer in a city in the Fraser Valley

We ask for minimum time commitments because they have been proven to be most beneficial for the child/youth. It also provides stability and consistency, and gives the mentoring relationship time to grow. Time commitments vary by program:

• Big Brothers community-based program – once a week (2-4 hours) for 1 year.
• In-School Mentoring program – once a week (1 hour) for 1 academic year (or the remainder of the academic year). Match meetings are weekdays during school hours, typically between 10am to 3pm.
• Game On! group mentoring program – once a week (1.5 hours) for 8 weeks. Sessions are held weekdays, typically between 2:30pm to 5pm. Summer sessions are available.
• Mentoring with Math – once a week (1.5 hours in person or 1 hour virtually) for 10 weeks. Sessions are held weekdays, typically between 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Summer sessions are available.

No - Many of our volunteers rely on public transit. Through our intentional matching process we take into account the type of transportation available to you and find a match within a reasonable distance. For our programs that take place at schools or community centres, we have partner sites across Greater Vancouver and are likely to have a volunteering opportunity that is convenient for you.

If we can accommodate any accessibility requirements for this application process, please contact our Intake Coordinator at vancouver.intake@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca or 604.876.2447 x 236.

We require all volunteer applicants to live in the Greater Vancouver area (even those volunteering in our virtual programs). English as a first-language is not a requirement, but a proficient level of English is needed in order to communicate with the children and parents/guardians in our programs and staff members that support you. However, all additional languages you speak are a welcome bonus.

Yes! In order to volunteer, you will need to have lived in Greater Vancouver for a minimum of 6 months. Please wait until you meet that requirement to submit your volunteer application.

Our volunteers represent a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and identities, just like the families and youth that we serve. The most important qualities we look for in volunteers are reliability, consistency, dedication, and being respectful of others. No specific prerequisite skills or experience is required.

All children and youth in our programs come from different walks of life. Some children come from a single-parent household or live with a guardian like their grandparent or a foster parent, some children live with both parents and have a sibling who lives with a disability, and some children have different situations altogether. Overall, there's no "one size fits all" approach – but they all share one commonality, there is a need for connection and they would benefit greatly from an additional adult role model in their life.

Your references do not need to live in Canada. Our team speaks a host of other languages, and we will do our best to connect with your references in their language if they are unable to speak English. Please let us know in your application.

The requirements vary for each type of reference. Here is a summary of how long your references need to have known you:

• Employment: 2 years
• Personal Reference: 2 years
• Significant Other: 1 year (can still be requested if relationship less than 1 year)
• Vulnerable Sector Work or Volunteer Experience: 1 year (can still be requested if relationship less than 1 year)

Our volunteer application process is the same for all of our mentoring programs, so if you apply for the program you are most interested in and decide a different program is a better fit during the process, you are able to switch to that program.

Volunteer mentors in our programs are welcome to go on their vacations. The Littles in our programs also go on vacation! All that we ask is that you give ample heads up to your Little, their parent/guardian (if applicable), and our Mentoring Coordinator that you're supported by. If your vacation will be over 3 consecutive weeks, please contact our Intake Coordinator at vancouver.intake@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca or 604.876.2447 x 236.

No, you don't have to put any money into our programs.

For In-School Mentoring, Game On!, and Mentoring with Math all supplies are provided.

For our Big Brothers Community program, we encourage free and low cost activities. When you engage in activities that cost money, the parents/guardians of the child will cover their child's cost and you will cover your own cost. However, there are lots of activities you can do together that are free. In fact, we send out a monthly newsletter with suggested activities that are free, or low cost in your area. If you'd like to treat your Little Brother occasionally, you're welcome to, but that's an exception compared to a rule.

The entire application process typically takes 2-3 months to complete – but the process can vary in how long it takes, depending on how quickly the different steps are done. Here are the steps:

1. Submit your online volunteer application
2. Complete the police information checks (we’ll send you instructions) and we check your references
3. In-person or virtual interview
4. In-person or virtual group training session
5. Notification of acceptance/non-accceptance as a volunteer
6. If accepted, our caseworkers will find the best match for you and you’ll begin volunteering!

Tip: completing your police information check in a timely manner and letting your references know that we will contact them can help speed up this process. We ask your references to verify the information you’ve provided us with, and generally, these conversations only take roughly 20 minutes. Reference checks can also be completed by email.

After you submit your application you can expect to hear from our Intake Coordinator, who will confirm we’ve received your information, and guide you through the first few steps of your application process, including reference checks and police information checks.