Make A Difference Day: the date, the history and 15 ways to volunteer as a team
Make A Difference Day 2027 is Saturday, October 23, 2027. Here’s where the day came from and how to plan a volunteer day around it.
Make A Difference Day is a national day of community service in the US, held on the fourth Saturday of October. For a company it is a ready-made date for a team volunteer day. Below: the dates, the day’s history and where it stands now, the other national volunteer days, 15 ideas for in person, from home or in one hour, and six steps to organize it.
When is Make A Difference Day 2027?
Make A Difference Day 2027 is Saturday, October 23, 2027. It is always the fourth Saturday of October. For a volunteer day in work time, use the Friday before.
| Year | Make A Difference Day | Workday before |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Sat, Oct 23 | Fri, Oct 22 |
| 2028 | Sat, Oct 28 | Fri, Oct 27 |
| 2029 | Sat, Oct 27 | Fri, Oct 26 |
What Make A Difference Day is, and whether it still runs
A national day of service that outlived the magazine that started it.
- 1992. USA Weekend, the Sunday newspaper magazine, created the day with Points of Light as a partner, and it became one of the largest single days of service in the country.
- 2014. USA Weekend published its last issue in December. In 2016 TEGNA, a TV broadcasting company, still ran the day with Points of Light, which called it one of the largest annual single days of service nationwide.
- Today. We found no national organizer or sign-up for 2025 or 2026, and the old website's domain is for sale. Universities, cities and nonprofits still hold their own projects, most on the fourth Saturday of October.
So treat it as a date to rally around rather than a program to register for: pick a local project, put it on the calendar and invite the team.
Source: Points of Light, 2016.
National volunteer days in 2027
There is no single official national volunteer day in the US. These are the days people usually mean, plus the UN's.
- MLK Day of ServiceThird Monday of JanuaryMon, Jan 18
- National Volunteer WeekA week in AprilApr 18 to 24
- 9/11 Day of Service and RemembranceSeptember 11Sat, Sep 11
- Make A Difference DayFourth Saturday of OctoberSat, Oct 23
- GivingTuesdayTuesday after ThanksgivingTue, Nov 30
- International Volunteer DayDecember 5Sun, Dec 5
Points of Light announces National Volunteer Week each year. The UN created International Volunteer Day in 1985 and named 2026 the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development. For January, see our MLK Day at work guide; for the rest of the year, the employee engagement calendar.
15 Make A Difference Day ideas for a team
Offer one from each group so everyone has a way in.
In person: a half day or a full day
The classic Make A Difference Day project: a crew, a place and a job you can see finished by lunch.
- Leaf raking for older neighbors. Crews of four rake and bag leaves for older or disabled homeowners; a local senior services agency or volunteer center can match you with addresses.
- School refresh. Paint a hallway, sort a school library or set up a reading corner, with the principal's sign-off on the plan and the paint colors.
- Library book sale sort. Ask your library's Friends group whether it needs a crew to sort, box and price donated books before its next sale.
- Community meal service. Prep and serve a meal at a soup kitchen or shelter, and ask ahead how many volunteers one shift can really use.
- Host a blood drive. The American Red Cross brings its own staff, equipment and snacks to a large open room in your building, and colleagues book donation slots in work time.
- Trail day with a land trust. Clear brush, rebuild steps or mark trails with a local land trust or state park volunteer program; expect boots, gloves and a safety talk.
From home: virtual ways to take part
For remote staff, or anyone who would rather not do physical work.
- Smithsonian transcription. Type up handwritten diaries, letters and scientific field notes for the Smithsonian Transcription Center; anyone can transcribe, and accounts are for ages 14 and up.
- Freerice as a team. Answer quiz questions on the UN World Food Programme's Freerice, where sponsors fund 10 grains of rice per right answer, and start a group to compare totals.
- Skills hour for a local nonprofit. Ask a nonprofit you already know for one fixable task, like cleaning up a donor spreadsheet or rewriting a web page, and do it together on a call.
- Video bingo for a senior center. Call a bingo or trivia hour over video for a local senior center, with the activity director running the screen in the room.
- A virtual wish-list drive. With a shelter or school's approval, share their online wish list so remote staff can ship items straight to them.
Need more? Our list of 30 virtual volunteer opportunities marks the programs that welcome groups.
Small: ideas that take about an hour
For teams that can't give a whole day, or as a warm-up the week before.
- Birthday bags for a food pantry. Pack cake mix, frosting, candles and paper plates into gift bags for a pantry that runs a birthday program, after asking what it allows.
- Thank-you basket for first responders. Fill a basket with packaged snacks and handwritten cards for the local fire station, and call ahead to ask what they accept.
- Nonprofit lunch fair. Invite three local nonprofits to set up tables at lunch, so people can sign up for shifts that suit them later.
- Plant spring bulbs. Fall is bulb season: spend an hour planting daffodils or tulips at a school, library or community garden that asked for help.
How to organize a company volunteer day
Six steps, working back from Friday, October 22, 2027.
- Pick the workday. Make A Difference Day falls on a Saturday. To volunteer in paid time, use the Friday before or any day that week.
- Call the nonprofit six weeks out. Many can only host one group at a time. Give an exact headcount, ask for their group limit and agree on a start and end time.
- Offer two or three projects. One outdoors, one indoors and one from home, so people of every ability, schedule and location can join.
- Read the fine print. Minimum ages, waivers, closed-toe shoes, background checks for work with children, and whether the site has step-free access.
- Cover the costs. Transport, lunch, gloves, and any group fee or donation the nonprofit asks for.
- Close the loop. Thank the nonprofit, share photos only of people who said yes, and log the hours if your company tracks volunteer time.
Raising money too? See our virtual fundraising ideas, and our corporate social responsibility examples for a year-round program.
End the week together
Volunteers spread across sites and homes rarely see each other on the day. A hosted session the week after brings everyone back on one call: a game show, a planet-themed trivia game or one of our sustainability workshops.
Three sessions that fit the week, with today’s prices. In Comfy Cozy Game Shows, 3% of the proceeds go to a charity you choose.
Send us your date and headcount to get a free quote within 24 hours.
