New York Cares was founded by a group of friends who wanted to take action against serious social issues that faced our city in the late 1980s. Finding few options to help, they created their own organization to address the problems from the ground up. New York Cares is now the city’s largest volunteer management organization, running volunteer programs for 1,300 nonprofits, city agencies, and public schools. Today’s volunteers share our founders’ vision that we all have a role to play in making our city a better place