Community service is a donated services or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions.

Volunteers may provide community service, however, not everyone who provides community service is seen as a volunteer, because some people who provide community service are not doing it of their own free will; they are compelled to do so by:

• their government as a part of citizenship requirements, in lieu of military service (such as the practice of Zivildienst in Germany);
• the courts, in lieu of, or in addition to, other criminal justice sanctions;
• their school, to meet the requirements of a class, such as in the case of service learning or to meet the requirements of graduation, or, in the case of parents, required to provide a certain number of hours of service in order for their child to be enrolled in a school or sports team.
• The library
• Public transportation

There are also people providing community service who receive some form of compensation in return for their year of commitment to public service, such as AmeriCorps in the USA (who are called members rather than volunteers).

If one wants to volunteer and tutor kids at any elementary school, they must be a high school student or older to apply.