Volunteering in Laguna Beach

Rules, shifts and openings change, and every organization decides who it takes. Use the links in the sources for the current form. All details here are as each organization posted them in October 2026.

City boards and committees

Residents can serve on the city’s boards, commissions and committees. The city says Laguna Beach residents submit an application to the City Clerk’s office, applicants may be interviewed, and the City Council appoints members at a Council meeting. The list of bodies, from the Planning Commission to the Heritage Committee, is in city government and voting.

CERT, the city’s emergency volunteers

The city’s CERT Academy is free and takes about 25 hours of classroom and hands-on training, ending in a drill. You must attend every session. The city says applicants must be at least 13 and live, work or attend school in Laguna Beach. The city calls the academy annual. As read in October 2026, its page (which gives no year) listed an academy from September 29 through October 17, with classes Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. and a final exercise on Saturday, October 17. Check the page for the next dates.

Graduates may join the city’s Community Emergency Response Team after a background check and extra training. The city says team volunteers also share preparedness information, provide traffic control at events and conduct fire watch. For the program contact, see emergency alerts and wildfire.

Laguna Ocean Foundation

The Laguna Ocean Foundation’s main volunteer role is the Tidewater Docent, educating visitors at tide pools. Its page also lists outreach at community events, data collection for research projects, beach clean-ups and general organizational help. Details it gives:

• Age: official volunteers must be 18 or older; beach clean-ups have no age restriction.
• Time: it asks volunteers to commit to at least twice a month, with shifts usually 3 hours.
• Training: an orientation every three months, then two field trainings and a short online course on marine protected areas. No prior tide pool experience is required.
• Sign-up: an online interest form.

Rules for visiting the pools are in tide pools.

Laguna Canyon Foundation

The foundation says it is dedicated to the 22,000-acre South Coast Wilderness system of parks and preserves and that it maintains about 26 miles of trail. Its volunteer page describes two tracks. Short-term volunteers join mornings of trail maintenance, habitat restoration or work in the native plant nursery, and the page says no formal training is required. The foundation leads trail work days from October to June, and most events pause in summer.

Long-term certified volunteers complete an OC Parks volunteer orientation, CPR and first aid certification, a background check, site training and an LCF orientation. The page gives no minimum age or event times, so ask the foundation at (949) 497-8324.

Pacific Marine Mammal Center

The center lists eight volunteer positions: gift shop, community outreach, visitor yard greeter, education docent, marine science educator, animal care, and two junior roles for ages 15 to 17. Most positions have a minimum age of 18. You apply through the link for the position you want, then the center contacts you about next steps. The center is at 20612 Laguna Canyon Road. See also Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

Laguna Art Museum

The museum trains volunteer docents, who lead tours of its exhibitions. Training is a course taught by curators, guest speakers, experienced docents and education staff, followed by shadowing before leading tours. The museum asks docents to commit to leading tours for at least two years. Apply through the “Become a Docent” form on its docent page. The museum is at 307 Cliff Drive; more is in Laguna Art Museum.

Friends of the Laguna Beach Library

The Friends say their bookshop always needs volunteers, and that you can volunteer one day a week, month or quarter. The shop’s page says it takes donations Monday to Saturday during regular hours of operation. It asks you not to leave donations in the library or at the shop door. The group says its proceeds pay for items such as craft days, reading programs and scholarships. The branch itself is covered in the library guide.

Laguna Food Pantry

The pantry lists roles in distribution set-up, greeting shoppers, packing and loading grocery boxes, grocery pick-up, sorting and receiving deliveries. Shifts run Monday to Friday, 7:30 to 10:45 a.m., and it asks volunteers to commit to set days. Volunteers aged 14 to 17 need a parent or guardian signature and adult supervision at first. It says bilingual Spanish-English speakers are helpful. Apply through the form on its volunteer page. For what the pantry offers, see community resources.

More places to ask

Laguna Beach Seniors lists volunteer opportunities on its own site, and local service clubs are in community groups.