Chess night coach
Teach beginners the pieces, pair players, and keep the room welcoming. Intermediate playing ability is plenty. Roughly two hours per session.
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Get involved
Volunteer, donate, or just show up to a chess night.
Volunteer opportunities at our Boston nonprofit are built around real schedules. Some roles take two hours a month. Some take a Saturday a quarter. All of them put you directly beside the families we serve.
Volunteer roles
Where we need people right now.
No experience required for most roles. We train, we pair you with someone experienced, and we never drop a first-time volunteer into a hard room alone.
Literacy circle facilitator
Lead a small group through a short reading and a set of discussion prompts we provide. Ideal for educators, retirees, and anyone comfortable holding a conversation.
Circle keeper in training
Learn to facilitate restorative circles through our training track, then co-keep circles alongside an experienced facilitator. A longer-term commitment with real depth.
Digital literacy tutor
Sit with caregivers as they navigate school portals, benefits applications, privacy settings, and the platforms their children use. Patience matters more than expertise.
Resource table staff
Represent PCR Inc. at community events, hand out directory cards, and help neighbors find the right organization for what they need.
Skilled volunteer
Grant writing, accounting, photography, translation, web work, or event logistics. Professional skills donated to a grassroots organization go a remarkably long way.
How it works
From first email to first shift in about a week.
We keep onboarding light on purpose. The point is to get you into a room with neighbors, not into a filing cabinet.
- Tell us about you. Send a short note with your neighborhood, availability, and what draws you to the work.
- Short conversation. A fifteen-minute call to talk through roles and find the right fit.
- Orientation. An hour covering our approach, confidentiality expectations, and the boundaries of the volunteer role.
- Shadow a session. Your first shift is spent alongside an experienced volunteer, with nothing riding on you.
- Pick your rhythm. Weekly, monthly, or seasonal. Consistency helps, but we would rather have you occasionally than not at all.
Volunteers working directly with young people complete a background check, consistent with standard practice for Boston youth programs.
Every bit builds the block.
Two hours a month is a real contribution.
Partner with us
For schools, employers, congregations, and foundations.
Partnership is how a small organization reaches a whole city. Here are the four arrangements that work best.
Host a program
Offer a room, a gym, or a community space, and we will bring the facilitators, equipment, and structure. Schools, churches, tenant associations, and community centers make ideal hosts, and hosting costs you nothing but the space.
Corporate social responsibility
Sponsor a neighborhood, fund a program line, send a team of employee volunteers, or underwrite Checkmate for Change. We will report back with specifics on what your investment produced rather than a generic thank-you.
Refer families to us
If your school, clinic, or agency encounters households in conflict that do not need clinical or legal intervention, send them our way. Mediation is free, voluntary, and confidential.
In-kind giving
Chess sets, books, tablets, printing, catering, meeting space, or auction items. In-kind gifts stretch a grassroots budget further than almost anything else, and they are tax-deductible.
Not sure where you fit?
Come to a chess night and see the work first.
No commitment, no sign-up sheet, no pitch. Sit at a table, play a game, meet the families. Most of our steadiest volunteers started exactly that way.