A free resource for nonprofit
organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations,
charities, schools, public sector agencies & other mission-based
agencies
by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)
Virtual Volunteering in Europe
From April through October 2013, I researched and wrote about
Internet-mediated volunteering (virtual volunteering, online volunteering,
microvolunteering, online mentoring, etc.) in European Union (EU)
countries for the ICT4EMPL Future Work project, undertaken by the Information
Society Unit of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies at
the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.
The final paper
is here, as well as all of the resources I used.
The overall ICT4EMPL project was focused on employability (developing job
skills, exploring careers, etc.) and social inclusion, so all of my
analysis in the narrative regarding virtual volunteering for the EU ties
back to those goals. Here's some analysis about what I found in my
research that either aren't in the paper I've submitted, but I think they
should be out in public for discussion, or, that are in the
paper, but I wanted to highlight them in particular on my web site,
outside of the official materials, for deeper and ongoing discussion:
- Virtual volunteering is happening all over Europe.
It's not a new practice in Europe, just as it isn't in North America.
There are thousands of people in Europe that are engaged in virtual
volunteering, in some way, either through a formal virtual volunteering
or microvolunteering program, or just as a part of their volunteer
engagement, without calling it virtual volunteering or any other
associated name. I found more than 60 organizations involving online
volunteers in Europe in a very short time, I image there are far, far
more that I didn't find, just because of my lack of skills in languages
other than English. True, virtual volunteering still isn't as widespread
in Europe as it is in the USA, but its well-established and seems to be
growing.
- Traditional volunteer centers in Europe are ignoring virtual
volunteering. The web sites of volunteer centers in European
capitals, as well as most national web sites focused on volunteering in
Europe by Europeans, were of little help in this research - they rarely
mentioned online volunteers, virtual volunteering, microvolunteering,
etc. Also, many of their online search engines for volunteering
opportunities offer no way to list virtual opportunities. What is it
going to take for this to change?
- Spain is the European leader regarding virtual volunteering.
Organizations involving online volunteers and web sites talking about voluntarios
virtuales, voluntarios en línea, voluntarios
digitales, voluntarios en red, microvoluntarios, voluntariat
virtual, voluntaris digitals, voluntariat virtual
abound in Spain. I could have done this report JUST on Spanish virtual
volunteering and had 50 pages of narrative! Fundación
Hazloposible, an NGO established in 1999 in Spain, launched HacesFalta.org
the following year, an online portal for the promotion of volunteerism,
including virtual volunteering, and its been growing ever
since. Academic articles about this and other online efforts are
plentiful. But why did Spain embrace virtual volunteering so early, and
why did it spread so quickly, compared to other European countries? I
would love to hear your thoughts as to why.
- Lack of French virtual volunteering efforts. French
is spoken by 74 million people, including in 31 francophone countries of
Africa. It's one of the official working languages of the United
Nations. And, yet, information about virtual volunteering in French is
sparse; even when the France-based France Bénévolat, talks about it,
they just mention the phrase and then link
to Canadian materials. Why the lack of information in French - and
the apparent lack of interest in France regarding virtual volunteering,
compared to Spain and England in particular?
- Where are the online discussion groups for managers of
volunteers in European countries? The United Kingdom has the
wonderful UKVPMs,
which brings together hundreds of people that work with volunteers,
regularly discussing everything from legislation to day-to-day
challenges in working with volunteers. There's E-Voluntas, un
canal para compartir experiencias de intervención e investigación
sobre voluntariado. But where are the discussion groups in
French, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, German, Czech, Polish,
Estonian, Swedish and on and on? In fact, where are the associations of
managers of volunteers in these countries - not the volunteer centres,
that promote volunteerism, but the associations that talk about
effective management and support of volunteers? I found nothing on the International
Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) site nor on the European
Volunteer Centre (CEV) about such groups. Without such
associations/communities of practice, there's little chance of
volunteering be elevated to the level of importance many of us believe
it deserves, far beyond "feel good" activities. What will it take to
change this?
- Where are materials in languages other than English to help
organizations involve online volunteers? I don't mean just
the Guía
de voluntariado virtual, the translation of the Virtual
Volunteering Guidebook I co-authored with Susan Ellis back in the
1990s, or translations of web materials I've written. I don't mean just
the UN's
Online Volunteering service English materials translated into French.
I mean advice written in Spanish about Spanish experiences for a Spanish
audience, or advice written in French about Francophone African
experiences for a Francophone African audience, regarding how to
identify tasks that might be undertaken by online volunteers, how to
screen online candidates for volunteering, how to keep online volunteers
motivated, how to supervise and support online volunteers, how to create
an online mentoring program, how to create microvolunteering
opportunities how to work with virtual teams of online volunteers, and
on and on? I am so hungry to read a non-USA perspective about how to
create online volunteering tasks, how to support online volunteers, the
benefits of such engagement for organizations (not just the volunteers),
etc. Are these out there and I've missed them? And I am ready to write
an impassioned endorsement for anyone who wants to undertake such an
endeavor for his or her respective country/region.
- There are far, far, far more efforts in Europe to promote
virtual volunteering, including microvolunteering, to potential
volunteers than to volunteer hosting organizations. I found
lots of material geared towards potential online volunteers, or talking
about online volunteers and how they benefit, but scant information
about why organizations in Europe involve volunteers, and why they
should. Without focusing much, much more on hosting organizations,
Europe is in danger of creating many thousands of disappointed people -
people that wanted to volunteer online but couldn't find tasks to do.
Doing this project was a lot like when I began researching virtual
volunteering back in the 1990s for the Virtual
Volunteering Project:
- Back then, a lot of traditional volunteer centers and national
organizations focused on traditional volunteering had nothing on their
web sites, in their publications or in their trainings regarding virtual
volunteering - and many were openly reluctant, if not hostile, to the
idea of talking about online volunteering as anything normal or
soon-to-be mainstream. I encountered the same unwillingness - and even
hostility - by many of the primary institutions in charge of promoting
volunteerism in various European countries (except for Spain) - or for
all of Europe.
- In the 1990s, because traditional volunteer centers and national
associations focused on volunteerism in the USA didn't take the lead in
researching and promoting virtual volunteering, I had to go to the
grassroots level, talking to individual volunteer-involving
organizations, rather than umbrella or research institutions, to gather
the research I needed for the Virtual Volunteering Project. The same was
true this time for Europe: volunteer centres and the primary
institutions in charge of promoting volunteerism in Europe don't or
won't talk about virtual volunteering, so I had to go directly to
volunteer-involving organizations themselves. It was easier this time,
however, because there was Google - something that wasn't fully formed
back in 1996 when I started research for the Virtual Volunteering
Project.
One of the most important tools in my research for this initiative was archive.org;
it allowed me to go through earlier iterations of web sites to determine
when an organization first started talking, at least online, about virtual
volunteering. I could not have done the research without it.
As part of this project, I created a
wiki of all of the various resources I used for my research and many
of the appendices. It includes:
- References used in early drafts of the paper (not all made the final
version of the paper)
- Online Volunteering-related recruitment or matching web sites
- Organisations that involve online volunteers in the EU
- Resources related to volunteering as a contributor to employability
- Resources and research related to Internet-mediated volunteering
(focused on, but not limited to, Europe)
- Resources related to volunteer engagement and volunteerism in EU
countries statistics, studies, volunteer centres, volunteer matching
sites, sites for volunteers, sites for those that want to involve
volunteers, etc.
In addition, several portions of the paper were cut before it was
finalized. I've used that cut information to create these two resources:
Please note that I am no longer
researching virtual volunteering in Europe. You can feel free to
use all of this data
in any report or resource you are putting together, so long as I am
credited in some way with providing the data.
Now, it's time for traditional volunteer centers and volunteerism
institutions in Europe to embrace their role in tracking and promoting
virtual volunteering - as well as group volunteering, family volunteering,
episodic volunteering, and all of the various other forms of
non-traditional volunteering. I look forward to seeing this information
added to their web sites, publications and trainings.
Also:
The
Last Virtual Volunteering
Guidebook
available for purchase as a paperback
& an ebook
from Energize, Inc.
It includes the basics for getting started with involving and supporting
volunteers online, but also offers detailed information to help
organizations that are already engaged in virtual volunteering with
improving and expanding their programs. It is a practical guide, though it
does include some case studies and research.
Also see
- Studies
and Research Regarding Online Volunteering / Virtual Volunteering
While there is a plethora of articles and information about online
volunteering, there has been very little research published regarding
the subject. This is a compilation of publicly-available research
regarding online volunteering, and a list of suggested possible angles
for researching online volunteering. New contributions to this page are
welcomed, including regarding online mentoring programs.
- Microvolunteering and
Crowd-Sourcing: Not-So-New Trends in Virtual Volunteering/Online
Volunteering
Provides a long list of what online volunteering as microvolunteering
looks like, examples of organisations engaging such short-term online
volunteers, and tips for making these specific types of volunteer
engagement work.
- Short-term Assignments for Tech
Volunteers
There are a variety of ways for mission-based organizations to involve
volunteers to help with short-term projects relating to
computers and the Internet, and short-term assignments are what are
sought after most by potential "tech" volunteers. But there is a
disconnect: most organizations have trouble identifying such short-term
projects. This is a list of short-term projects for "tech" volunteers --
assignments that might takes days, weeks or just a couple of months to
complete.
- One(-ish) Day "Tech" Activities for
Volunteers
Volunteers are getting together for intense, one-day events, or events
of just a few days, to build web pages, to write code, to edit Wikipedia
pages, and more. These are gatherings of onsite volunteers, where
everyone is in one location, together, to do an online-related project
in one day, or a few days. It's a form of episodic volunteering, because
volunteers don't have to make an ongoing commitment - they can come to
the event, contribute their services, and then leave and never volunteer
again. Because computers are involved, these events are sometimes called
hackathons, even if coding isn't involved. This page provides advice on
how to put together a one-day event, or just-a-few-days-of activity, for
a group of tech volunteers onsite, working together, for a nonprofit,
non-governmental organization (NGO), community-focused government
program, school or other mission-based organization - or association of
such.
- Finding a Computer/Network
Consultant
Staff at mission-based organizations (nonprofits, civil society
organizations, and public sector agencies) often have to rely on
consultants, either paid or volunteer, for expertise in computer
hardware, software and networks. Staff may feel unable to understand,
question nor challenge whatever that consultant recommends. What can
mission-based organizations do to recruit the "right" consultant for
"tech" related issues, one that will not make them feel out-of-the-loop
or out-of-control when it comes to tech-related discussions?
- Myths About Online Volunteering (Virtual
Volunteering)
Online volunteering means unpaid service that is given by volunteers via
the Internet. It's also known as virtual volunteering, online mentoring,
ementoring, evolunteering, cyber volunteering, cyber service,
telementoring, online engagement, and on and on. Here is a list of
common myths about online volunteering, and my attempt to counter them.
- Hosting International Volunteers: A
Where-To-Start Guide For Local Organizations In Developing Countries
For organizations in developing countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern
Europe and South America interested in hosting volunteers from other
countries.
- Recruiting Local Volunteers To
Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
Having plenty of volunteers usually isn't enough to say a volunteering
program is successful. Another indicator of success is if your
volunteers represent a variety of ages, education-levels, economic
levels and other demographics, or are a reflection of your local
community. Most organizations don't want volunteers to be a homogeneous
group; they want to reach a variety of people as volunteers (and donors
and other supporters, for that matter). This resource will help you
think about how to recruit for diversity, or to reach a specific
demographic.
- Using Third Party Web Sites Like
VolunteerMatch to Recruit Volunteers
There are lots and lots of web sites out there to help your organization
recruit volunteers. You don't have to use them all, but you do need to
make sure you use them correctly in order to get the maximum
response to your posts.
- Using Video to Support Online Volunteers/Remote
Volunteers.
Video is a great way to further support volunteers, and your computer
probably already has all of the tools you need to make a video, or to
engage in a live video conversation with others. Video isn't something
to use only with online volunteers or remote volunteers (those providing
onsite service at a different location than yours). It's also a tool you
can use with new and current volunteers. In addition to an organization
producing videos for volunteers, it can also work the other way around:
volunteers can produce videos for organizations. This resource provides
information on your options, and links to my own short video on the
subject.
- Using Real-Time Communications With
Volunteers
A growing number of organizations are using real-time communications --
including video conferencing, online phone calls, chats and instant
messaging -- to hold online meetings with volunteers, to allow
volunteers to interact with staff, clients, or each other, or to involve
volunteers in a live, online, real-time event. This resource provides
more information on real-time communications with volunteers -- what the
various tools are, how agencies are using them to interact with
volunteers, and tips to encourage and maintain participation in
synchronous communications.
- Recognizing Online Volunteers & Using
the Internet to Honor ALL Volunteers
Recognition helps volunteers stay committed to your organization, and
gets the attention of potential volunteers -- and donors -- as well.
Organizations need to fully recognize the efforts of remote, online
volunteers, as well as those onsite, and not differentiate the value of
these two forms of service. Organizations should also incorporate use of
the Internet to recognize the efforts of ALL volunteers, both online and
onsite. With cyberspace, it's never been easier to show volunteers --
and the world -- that volunteers are a key part of your organization's
successes. This new resource provides a long list of suggestions for
both honoring online volunteers and using the Internet to recognize ALL
volunteers that contribute to your organization.
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