With a strong tradition of hands service of those who are suffering followers of Vincent and Louise may be missing out on some valuable assistance in our ministries. “Virtual volunteers” may may it possible for us to do more for those we serve.
What is virtual volunteering? It’s work done by volunteers online, via computers, smartphones or other hand-held devices, and often from afar. More and more organizations around the world are engaging people who want to contribute their skills via the Internet. The service may be done virtually, but the volunteers are real!
Examples of Virtual Volunteering Activities
People engaged in virtual volunteering undertake a variety of activities, long and short (micro volunteering) and everything in between, from locations remote to the organization or people they are assisting, via a computer or other Internet-connected device, such as:
- translating documents (and proofreading the translations by others)
- researching subjects
- designing web pages (designing the pages)
- editing or writing proposals, press releases, newsletter articles, video scripts, web pages, etc.
- designing any publication
- developing material for a curriculum
- transcribing scanned documents
- designing a database
- designing graphics
- providing legal, business, medical, agricultural, financial or any other expertise (answering questions, creating a strategy, commenting on a strategy, reviewing or evaluating data, etc.)
- serving on a committee or advisory board
- counseling people
- tutoring or mentoring students regarding homework, writing assignments, online safety, professional development
- moderating or facilitating online discussion groups or live online events
- writing songs
- finding or creating recipes to share (for instance, sharing healthy recipes that utilize specific ingredients for a food pantry that serves low-income individuals affected by HIV and AIDS; the recipes are distributed at the pantry with those items. Online volunteers’ efforts provide ideas for healthy and diverse ways to use the groceries clients receive)
- interviewing new candidates for a program, class, volunteering, employment…
- creating a podcast (writing the script, editing the audio, adding in intro and exit music, reading text, etc.)
- editing a video (or creating one video out of many video clips)
- captioning a video
- transcribing a podcast
- monitoring the news to look for specific subjects
- answering questions
- tagging photos and files with keywords (so that they can be more easily found by internal staff, search engines, the press, etc.)
- managing other online volunteers
Note that online assignments come in a variety of forms: some require a particular expertise, some don’t; some require screening and a long-term commitment, while others could be done just once, in a few minutes or hours, by a volunteer who may or may not ever help again (micro volunteering ). The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook (available for purchase as a paperback and an ebook from Energize, Inc). offers detailed information on how to identify and create various virtual volunteering opportunities, including micro volunteering. http://www.energizeinc.com/store/1-222-E-1
(The above material is taken from The LAST Virtual Volunteering Guidebook: Fully Integrating Online Service into Volunteer Involvement by Jayne Cravens and Susan J. Ellis)Price: US$18.00
Price: US$28.95
Description
In The LAST Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, international volunteerism consultants Jayne Cravens and Susan J. Ellis emphasize that online service should be integrated into an organization’s overall strategy for involving volunteers. They maintain that the basic principles of volunteer management should apply equally to volunteers working online or onsite. Whether you’re tech-savvy or still a newbie in cyberspace, this book will show you how to lead online volunteers successfully by:
- Overcoming resistance to online volunteer service and the myths surrounding it
- Designing virtual volunteering assignments, from micro-volunteering to long-term projects, from Web research to working directly with clients via the Internet
- Adding a virtual component to any volunteer’s service
- Interviewing and screening online volunteers
- Managing risk and protecting confidentiality in online interactions
- Creating online communities for volunteers
- Offering orientation and training via Internet tools
- Recruiting new volunteers successfully through the Web and social media
- Assuring accessibility and diversity among online volunteers
Cravens and Ellis first explored the realm of virtual volunteering in 1996 through Impact Online’s Virtual Volunteering Project. As a culmination of the project in 2000, they wrote the first Virtual Volunteering Guidebook to help leaders of volunteer projects apply the skills of real-world volunteer management to emerging cyberspace. After 14 years, this fully revised edition of the Guidebook includes today’s technology, language, and modern society’s online activities. Cravens and Ellis fervently believe that future volunteer management practitioners will automatically incorporate online service into community engagement, making this book the LAST virtual volunteering guidebook that anyone has to write!
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