FAQs

We are nonprofit organization that works to build community through community service. Our volunteers come from all kinds of neighborhoods, and work in all sorts of neighborhoods, too. The idea is that everyone has some way that they can help somebody else.

Big Sunday partners with hundreds of nonprofit groups, schools and other social service agencies that need help. Then we match those groups with thousands of good-hearted volunteers who want to pitch in, help out and give back.

Big Sunday volunteers paint, build, repair, plant, play, cook, sew, organize and entertain. They read to kids, deliver food; help seniors, the environment, veterans, animals, and anyone and anything else you can think of that may a helping hand. They provide legal aid and dental clinics, eye exams and health screenings. They give away truckloads of things – new and gently used – that other people want and need. Big Sunday volunteers find ways to do this through our year-round calendar; during the holidays; with our Monthly on Melrose events; and in a really big way with our signature event, Big Sunday Weekend!

Big Sunday has a year-round Community Calendar, with more than 50 ways to help out and give back each month. There are tons of volunteer opportunities – from planting to pet adoptions to feeding the homeless to helping out veterans.

Every fall we distribute The Annual Big Sunday Holiday Volunteering and Giving Opportunity List to our volunteers. This list details what our participating nonprofits, schools and other groups need in terms of donations, supplies and people power from early November through Jan. 1. To read more about our Holiday Projects, click here.

Big Sunday Weekend is our signature event! Last year on Big Sunday Weekend, 50,000 volunteers turned out—some as individuals, others with their families, still others as part of a class, church, synagogue, mosque, business or club—to lend a hand at more than 500 different projects in more than 100 different towns and cities, from San Diego to Santa Barbara, making Big Sunday Weekend one of the largest regional community service events in America.

Big Sunday Weekend will be held Friday, May 3, Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, 2013 — we know we’ve already told you this, but we just can’t remind you enough!

Big Sunday expanded from a one-day annual event to a weekend-long extravaganza a few years ago. Now, fully half the events are on Saturday and half on Sunday. (But yes, we still call it Big Sunday. We know, it’s complicated, but it works.)

Big Sunday Weekend is based in Los Angeles County, but activities take place at hundreds of different sites throughout Southern California, from San Diego to Santa Barbara. This year we hope to expand even more with events in Sacramento and the Bay Area. If you’d like to get your community involved in Big Sunday Weekend, please contact info@bigsunday.org.

The Big Sunday Weekend project application is now available. Hundreds of Big Sunday projects will be listed on our website beginning April 1, 2013. Please visit us then to sign up to volunteer. Meantime, if you’d like to see a sample of the kinds of projects we’ve done in the past, click here.

Absolutely. Big Sunday Weekend has become such a big event that volunteers now work on it all year long. We have all kinds of volunteer opportunities – big and small. If you’d like to help, contact info@bigsunday.org ASAP!

Yes, absolutely. Please let us know as soon as possible if you want to do an activity as a group so we can be sure that there is enough space and enough for everyone to do. Also, know that there may be other people, from outside your group, who will be working alongside you. To start planning your group's involvement in Big Sunday Weekend, please email info@bigsunday.org.

Yep. On Big Sunday Weekend we have projects for all ages and all talents. The idea is that whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you live, there is some way for you to help someone else.

Applications for 2013 are online now. All applications are due by March 1, 2013, at 6:00 pm PST. We will accept and receive applications after that date, but the ones we receive on time will receive priority for funding and support. You will be notified about the status of your application by March 15. The approved projects and schedule for Big Sunday Weekend 2013 will be posted on April 1 to allow volunteers to sign up to participate. Requests received after that date will be ineligible for funding, but we will gladly post them on our "Last-Minute Requests" list. Please contact info@bigsunday.org for more info.

Maybe. Many of our projects limit the number of participants for reasons of space or effectiveness, so your first choice may already be filled. But there are lots of other great projects that could really use your help (and are really fun, too).

We close registration on specific projects when we’ve reached the maximum number of volunteers needed for it. (Trust us: The worst problem a project can have is too many volunteers.) However, no matter how late you are, you’ll see projects on our website that still need volunteers — even on Big Sunday Weekend itself. And, at Hub sites across the Southland, where there are many different projects going on all day, all you have to do is show up and they’ll put you to work!

No. When a project description lists an age limit it’s because the nonprofit requires us to do so for liability reasons. But don’t worry. There are plenty of age-appropriate projects for everyone.

Yes. And yes.

Nothing. One of the great things about Big Sunday is that it has always been free for all participants. It is completely underwritten by corporate and private donations, in-kind contributions and foundations grants. Volunteers are asked only for their time and talent — no money. But to keep it free for everyone, we’re always happy to accept donations, so click here if you’d like to make a tax-deductible gift to Big Sunday.

Nope. We work for and with groups of all faiths and all political persuasions – and everyone is always welcome -- but there is absolutely no religious or political agenda to any Big Sunday activity.

Feel free to visit Who We Help, on our website. You’ll find a list of the many nonprofits we’ve worked with on Big Sunday Weekend and throughout the year. Most of these great groups offer volunteer opportunities all year long.

We are proud to note that Big Sunday Weekend serves as a catalyst for many of our volunteers to continue to help our nonprofit partners throughout the year. (Some of them have even joined the board of groups they first helped on Big Sunday Weekend!) But for some people, helping out just one day a year, whether it’s on Big Sunday Weekend, or some other time, is what they can do. And, for the record, we think that’s great, too.