Volunteering

Show Your Support By Donating Your Time

We are a growing organization with many volunteer opportunities available! We do not require a minimum time commitment, and we’re happy to have your help, even if it is only for a few hours.

Available Volunteer Positions

Click positions you are interested in for more details.

Dog Handlers

Dog Handlers get paired with an adoptable dog at our weekly adoption event at Petco in Schaumburg, which is held every Saturday from 10:30 am until 2:00 pm. You’ll be responsible for showing your dog to potential adopters during the event and answering or redirecting their questions. Split shifts are available and there is no minimum participation requirement. Come every week or for just one event – all help is welcome!

Foster

As a foster parent, you’ll nurture our dogs until they’re adopted, which can take from a few weeks to several months. Most dogs are adopted within a month. All food and supplies are provided at no cost to you and medical expenses are covered by Chicagoland Dog Rescue. You’ll work with a seasoned volunteer to find the foster dog that is right for you, and you’ll never be pressured to take in a dog that isn’t a good fit for your household.

Click here to read more about fostering a dog with Chicagoland Dog Rescue

Fundraisers

Donations are essential to funding our rescue efforts. As a fundraiser, your passion and creativity will boost our funds and allow us to rescue more dogs. Responsibilities vary from manning the booth at our Carsons Days events, soliciting donations from drivers during our Peanut Days events and arranging for corporate donations to our raffles. Every little bit counts, so we’ll take whatever help you can offer.

Special Event Crew

We host 10-12 events each year, and we need your help to make them successful! From event leads to set-up and tear-down crews, there’s room for everyone. Some of our most popular events are our annual Golf Tournament, Garage Sale and Bowl-a-Thon. They’re a lot of fun and extremely rewarding.

Transporters

Do you have a car and an hour or two available to help? Sometimes our foster parents need help transporting their dogs to and from adoption events or vet appointments in Schaumburg. Volunteers in the Peoria, Springfield, Bloomington, Galesburg, Peru/LaSalle or Chicago area are also needed to help transport trucks full of dogs from kill shelters to no-kill rescues all over the Chicagoland area. Rescue missions are run weekly and are broken into several legs. This is a unique opportunity to help rescue DOZENS of dogs in just a few short hours.

Trainers

We offer free lifetime training to all adopted dogs, which is something no other organization does! If you’re interested in helping train dogs, you’ll receive instruction from our staff or a professional dog trainer. Training sessions are held weekly in Medinah and Hoffman Estates.

Administrators

We rely on volunteers to manage all administrative duties so that our funds can go directly to rescuing and rehoming dogs. As an admin volunteer, you’ll answer emails and return phone calls from adopters, post flyers, digitize applicant information, assemble mailers and more. You’ll have the ability to work on your own schedule, whenever you can.

Specialty Volunteers

Do you have a unique talent or skill and a few hours to spare? We’re always open to new specialty volunteers such as web developers, designers, photographers, writers, marketers, PR experts, accountants, groomers, lawyers, artisans, veterinarians and more. Please contact us to share your ideas on how your talents can contribute to the mission.

Start here. We would love to have your help.

VOLUNTEER APPLICATION