Pittsburgh Cares

The mission of Pittsburgh Cares is to maximize the impact of our regional nonprofit partners by mobilizing volunteers and engaging the community.

Founded in 1992, Pittsburgh Cares is a nonprofit affiliate of the HandsOn Network and Points of Light Institute. As the region's only organization dedicated exclusively to promoting volunteerism, Pittsburgh Cares seeks first and foremost to strengthen and expand capacity within the local nonprofit sector, while cultivating a culture of community engagement and service. We provide charitable organizations with the resources needed to establish robust volunteer programs to help advance their missions. When the effective allocation of resources occurs, the capacity of our nonprofit partners is enhanced, allowing short and long-term solutions to be established to address the region's most pressing social issues.
During our most recent fiscal year, Pittsburgh Cares facilitated nearly 12,000 volunteer matches, resulting in 62,000 service hours performed at more than 300 nonprofit agencies. This represents an estimated $1.34 million in in-kind labor that our volunteers contributed to the region's nonprofit sector.

Testimonials

In our most recent survey of partner agencies, 91% of the respondents indicated that they "agreed" or "strongly agreed" with the following statement:

"Volunteers received from Pittsburgh Cares have helped our organization better meet program objectives and our overall mission."

"We really see a great benefit in partnering with Pittsburgh Cares. About 75% of our volunteers come from the site! Thank you!" - Sheila Talarico, Executive Director of Glade Run Foundation

" The staff of Young Men and Women's African Heritage Association would like to thank you for coordinating such a wonderful community service project. The two teams of youth who were assigned to YMWAHA were brilliant, funny, hard working and took pride in work others may consider busy work. Needless to say, without their assistance we would never have accomplished the tasks in two days. Your program is responsible for providing community service & leadership qualities that more young people should experience. " - Pamela Pennywell, YMWAHA

"Pittsburgh Cares continues to provide the Pittsburgh Public School District with phenomenal support for the Civics: Be The Change! Course. As part of the Civics course, 9thgrade students participate in in-school service learning projects. To support that work all Civics students attend a one-day Civics summit that is hosted at the Senator John Heinz History Center. Pittsburgh Cares helps to organize and facilitate all of the summits. After the Civics summit students then design and implement a service learning project that addresses the problems and issues they themselves have identified in their communities and neighborhoods. Pittsburgh Cares provides support to the district's Civics teachers in the area of service learning. Working with Pittsburgh Cares has been a positive experience. In my experience with working with the staff of Pittsburgh Cares they have been professional, caring, organized and passionate about the work they do. They have been, and will continue to be an integral part to the Civics: Be The Change! Course." - Michael Dregger, Pittsburgh Public Schools