One Brick

One Brick started as a simple solution to a surprisingly under-addressed issue: working adults want to volunteer in their community, but many non-profits often require training or a commitment of a certain number of hours per month.  But what if you are only available the second weekend in May?  How do you find organizations that don’t have such requirements or have special events that need volunteers?  And what about organizations that need volunteers but don’t have the resources to build a strong base of individuals?

Three volunteers met at a San Francisco Food Bank in June of 2001 and realized they had all noticed the need for an organization that addressed these concerns and made volunteering easy and accessible for all. A year after One Brick was established, Brian, one of the founders, moved to New York for grad school, where he noticed the same need.  Brian handed over the reins of the New York chapter to move to Chicago for work, where he started the third One Brick chapter. A Chicago leader moved to Washington, DC for grad school, and we went on from there. One Brick has now grown to 10 chapters across the country and altogether our volunteers have contributed over 512,000 hours of support nationwide since 2001.

One Brick provides volunteer opportunities with no long-term commitment.  Every project is treated as a stand-alone event.  Interested individuals go to the website, which has a calendar of upcoming events.  They can RSVP for any event they are available for and interested in. This flexibility makes volunteering convenient and provides opportunities to help when time and schedule commitments allow. This keeps volunteering from being a chore, but rather makes it an easy and enjoyable choice.  A unique aspect of One Brick is that it promotes a sense of comradery and fun by inviting volunteers to a local diner or bar after events and also by hosting social events and parties. This allows us to build our communities through bringing like-minded people together, creating relationships, and supporting nonprofits which make a difference.

One Brick currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Chicago, Washington DC., Seattle,Silicon Valley, Boston, and Philadelphia. The One Brick model has been hugely successful! Last year, One Brick volunteers contributed 50,000 hours (25 person years) to the communities we serve.

What makes us even more unique is that One Brick chapters are 100% volunteer-run! We have no employees...we don't even maintain offices! In fact, on a National level, One Brick has only one single employee. Your contributions will go far in helping One Brick continue to make an impact in our communities.

Thank you for your support!