Volunteering all year round
The University offers all students enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Single-Cycle Master’s programme the opportunity to undertake volunteer work during the academic year, thereby expanding the partnership and the opportunities available to students.
Volunteers will commit up to 4 hours a week during both semesters, engaging in practical activities that address the diverse needs of the organisation where they will be working. The aim will be to teach our students how to address the needs and challenges of others by identifying solutions that are inspired by and grounded in a real, non-simulated context, ensuring the broadest possible involvement and contribution.
How to sign up
To take part in the activities, you’ll need to select the activity you want to do using the dedicated registration form. This will be available on the MyLuiss platform, along with all the information about the partners and the individual activities.
General Rules
- Before the activities begin, there is a mandatory pre-departure meeting for all participants. During this meeting, they will receive all the organisational and logistical information about the summer volunteering activities.
- For each of the proposed activities, University Credits (CFU) will be awarded under the “Other Activities” section of the study plan. When completing the study plan, you will therefore need to select Code SJ1 to obtain credits for this type of activity. However, you can still sign up even if you don't request credit recognition.
For the University Credits (CFU) to be recognised, you must have participated in all the activities of the chosen initiative for the entire period, adhering to the stipulated number of hours. Additionally, a representative from the non-profit organisation must certify your actual participation in the activity, and each student must submit a report and complete a questionnaire regarding the activities undertaken.
- There is a maximum number of students for each activity, and participants will be selected based on the order in which they register. However, for certain activities, the associations and Luiss may reserve the right to meet with registered students to verify their genuine motivation.
- For some of the activities, an introductory interview with the partner will be required. Should the interview reveal any incompatibilities, volunteers will be directed to other activities that are still available.
Partner List
The Binario 95 centre, managed by the social cooperative Europe Consulting ONLUS, was established at Rome's Termini Station. It primarily serves homeless people in the area, offering inclusion projects for guests who are pushed to the margins of society due to various forms of hardship. The centre provides them with a pathway of welcome, integration, and conviviality.
Casa della Mamma is an association that has been welcoming young mothers facing social and economic difficulties, along with their children, since 1969. The educators, social workers, psychologists, and qualified volunteers who work at Casa della Mamma recreate the emotional warmth of a family, enhanced by their specialist knowledge. They aim to nurture in the young women that deep, yet responsible, love which we increasingly notice is strikingly absent when they first arrive.
The social cooperative CivicoZero Onlus partners with Save the Children in a project aimed at unaccompanied foreign minors and young adults in Italy. The work is carried out by a multidisciplinary team at a day centre, where minors and young adults aged between 15 and 21 receive support through basic services, protection, and guidance on their rights, skills, and opportunities. This enables them to fully enjoy their rights and build their own path to personal growth and integration.
The Community of Sant'Egidio is a Christian community founded in 1968, in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, on the initiative of Andrea Riccardi, in a secondary school in central Rome. Over the years, it has grown into a network of communities with a particular focus on disadvantaged areas and their residents. In over 70 countries worldwide, it welcomes men and women of all ages and backgrounds, united by a bond of fraternity in their voluntary and unpaid commitment to the poor and to peace.
The Italian Red Cross, founded on 15 June 1864, is a non-profit association that operates in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. Due to its nationwide territorial structure, the Italian Red Cross qualifies as a “national associative network”. The Municipalities 2-3 Committee of Rome is one of the local branches of the Italian Red Cross, operating within the aforementioned municipalities of Rome. The Italian Red Cross’s main objective is to prevent and alleviate suffering impartially, without distinction of nationality, race, sex, religious belief, language, social class, or political opinion, thereby contributing to the preservation and promotion of human dignity and a culture of non-violence and peace.
The Lene Thun ETS Foundation, active since 2006, provides free ceramic therapy workshops in the paediatric wards of over 30 Italian hospitals, bringing creativity and relief to children with serious and chronic illnesses. By shaping clay, young patients can express their emotions, spark their imagination, and find moments of calm during their treatment. The workshops, led by skilled ceramists and volunteers, provide a space for sharing and offer tangible support to families. Volunteers who take part will also have the opportunity to contribute to a large-scale national project that will bring together all the children’s creations in a single collective installation, open to the public and serving as a symbol of inclusion, hope, and shared creativity.
Progetto Itaca Roma is a voluntary organisation that has been promoting a new perspective in the field of mental health since 2010. Since its inception, it has been promoting free information, prevention, support, and rehabilitation programmes for people with mental health disorders and their families. Progetto Itaca Roma is part of a network of 17 branches across Italy. It began in Milan in 1999 and has since expanded from the north to the south of the country, with locations including Turin, Padua, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Bari, and Palermo. Together, the branches operating across the country make up Italy's leading organisation dedicated to mental health, coordinated by Fondazione Progetto Itaca – ETS.
The Piccola Casa San Giuda Taddeo facility is managed by the Institute of the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa of Florence. Since 1924, they have been fostering an environment where girls in need can grow up in harmony, providing them with education, care, and opportunities for socialisation.
The educational model is characterised by a family atmosphere, where each staff member contributes to creating a peaceful environment that fosters and spreads kindness and harmony, making it the connective tissue of the entire community.
The Protettorato San Giuseppe, established over a century ago as a refuge for the poorest, especially children, is currently one of the oldest non-profit organisations in Rome working with children and adolescents. The Foundation is a complex organisation whose main activities include providing support through services, as well as studying, researching, and testing innovative models of intervention to benefit children and families.
Quartieri Solidali is a project sponsored by Caritas to address one of the most overlooked emerging issues, particularly in large cities: the loneliness of older people. The aim is to form small groups of volunteers, linked to local parishes, who can rebuild the connections between older people and the community that have often been lost, giving way to isolation that has become even more difficult to cope with after the lockdown.
RECUP is an association established to provide a tangible response to food waste, the climate crisis, and social exclusion. Our goal is to restore value to food and the resources used to produce it. In short, we want a world that's greener, more inclusive, and free from waste.
Save the Children is the world's largest organisation, which for over 100 years has been fighting to save children at risk and ensure they have a future. The organisation’s mission is to drive significant improvements in the way the world treats children and to bring about immediate and lasting change in their lives.
Solaris Onlus is a voluntary organisation founded by family members of psychiatric patients to support their loved ones on their journey towards social reintegration. This perspective requires everyone involved – family members, volunteers, professionals, and patients – to think in a completely different way from what is commonly understood by “volunteering” and “mental illness”. Our approach involves everyone participating on an equal footing, offering a chance to learn about and respect the many differences that exist. It's a journey that supports others while also helping each of us.
Susan G. Komen Italia is a volunteer-led organisation at the forefront of the fight against breast cancer across the country. It was founded in Rome in 2000 as the first European affiliate of Susan G. Komen in Dallas. The Association’s mission is to promote prevention, support women facing the disease, improve the quality of care, and strengthen clinical facilities.
Un secondo per tutti is a youth association in Rome’s Municipality II that engages in local volunteer activities addressing food poverty and social exclusion. The Association also aims to foster cooperation among third-sector organisations within the Municipality, supporting their initiatives and encouraging youth participation.
Wecare is an Italian non-profit organisation that carries out humanitarian projects to meet the basic needs of people facing hardship, poverty, and marginalisation, both in Italy and around the world.
Our goal is to build a future where basic needs are met, and we believe in values that benefit the world and enrich the lives of both those who give and those who receive.
