Defunct websites, or web sites of now defunct organizations, still available on the Internet Wayback Machine. Includes online communities that also have gone away.
Note that many of these URLs may still be functional, but
have long been taken over by other companies, including porn
sites. To see the original web sites. cut and paste a URL into
archive.org
and look for the earliest version of the web site. Most of
these sites started being abandoned in 2002.
The Virtual Student Federal Service was a program of the US
State Department. From 2009 to October 2023, it connected "the
talents of U.S. citizen college students with the needs of
federal agencies." More than 10,000 remote interns advanced
the work of the federal government through this program. The
time commitment was about 10 hours per week during the school
year. Opportunities included everything from data
visualization to political analysis. Internships were unpaid.
These online volunteering opportunities helped various US
government agencies, including US Forest Service agencies, US
National Parks, the USA Geological Survey (USGS), the USA
Delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council, USA
consulates in various countries and firefighter associations.
Each year, employees from across the federal government
registered as “mentors’ on the web site and submitted projects
from May 1st - June 24th for interns to do through this
program. Students applied in July. They choose three of the
hundreds of projects and introduce themselves - virtually - to
those mentors by writing a personal statement. August was
matching month, when mentors get to see all the students who
have picked their project. Through interviews and emails,
mentors made selections and work began in September.vsfs.state.gov
Community Technology Centers Network. www.CTCnet.org
This was an organization that supported nonprofits, NGOs,
libraries, communities of faith (churches, mosques, temples),
senior centers, youth centers and others in the 1990s and
2000s who were providing computers and classes on how to use
them for their surrounding communities. I did manage to save
the the August 14, 2000 version of the Community
Technology Center Start-Up Manual.
CyberVPM YahooGroup. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cybervpm/
This was the first online community devoted to the discussion
of engaging and managing volunteers. It began in the 1990s,
then went away, then came back in 2001. It was begun by Nan
Hawthorne, then taken over by AVA, then, when AVA went under
(see below), it was taken over by AL!VE. It became
more and more inactive as the new millennium progressed, then
went under with the demise of YahooGroups. I've reserved
CYBERVPM on GoogleGroups and am hoping AL!VE or another
credible organization will agree to revive it there.
UKVPMs YahooGroup. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukvpms/
Inspired by CyberVPM (see above), this was an online community
devoted to the discussion of engaging and managing volunteers
in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). It was
founded and lead by Rob Jackson.
Like CyberVPM, it became more and more inactive as the new
millennium progressed, then went under with the demise of
YahooGroups.
Association for Volunteer Administration (AVA). www.avaintl.org
Created in 1961, this nonprofit association was for those that
work with volunteers, in any setting. For more than 44 years,
it was the largest professional association in the world for
managers of volunteers. AVA hosted an annual conference in
cities around the USA, a certification program for managers of
volunteers, an online community and The Journal of Volunteer
Administration (JOVA), as well as recognizing outstanding
managers of volunteers with a special award each year. AVA was
dissolved in 2006 amid allegations of financial mismanagement
by employees, the dismissal of three employees, including the
executive director, the accumulation of more than $250,000 in
debt, and lack of adequate financial and administrative
oversight by the board of directors. AVA launched its web site
in 1998. Here is the Wikipedia page for AVA.
International Year of Volunteers. iyv2001.org
This was the official web site by the United Nations
Volunteers Program for the International Year of Volunteers.
It later pointed to the World Volunteer Web address (see
below). Here is the Wikipedia page for the International Year
of Volunteers.
World Volunteer Web. worldvolunteerweb.org
This was a web site by the United Nations Volunteers, part of
UNDP, to highlight the contributions of volunteers all over
the world, not just UN Volunteers.
NetAid. netaid.org
NetAid began with a concert event on October 9, 1999 with
simultaneous activities meant to harness the Internet to raise
money and awareness for the Jubilee 2000 campaign, and to
promote virtual volunteering. It started as a joint venture
between the United Nations Development Programme and Cisco
Systems. It became an independent nonprofit organization in
2001. Here is the Wikipedia page for NetAid.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. cpsr.org
a global organization incorporarted in 1983 promoting the
responsible use of computer technology. I attended CPSR's 1994
Annual Meeting, October 8-9, 1994, in San Diego, California.
The theme was Organizing for Access: A National Forum on
Computer Networking, Community Action, and Democracy. The
panel that changed my life: "The Meanings of Access." Info
about their annual meetings and themes is available at
archive.org (year 2000 version of their web site has a list of
the panelists and workshops for all of their annual meetings
in the 90s).
Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network. main.org
MAIN was a nonprofit working to get nonprofits in Austin,
Texas online with their own web sites. It also provided a
directory of community, nonprofit and government agencies in
Austin that had websites. It would host "web raisings", where
volunteers would come together in a computer lab and build
websites for nonprofits that didn't have such - MAIN hosted
these websites for those that couldn't afford web hosting
services. They also co-founded the Accessibility Internet
Rally.
LibertyNet. libertynet.org
LibertyNet was formed as a non-profit in 1993 by a group of
business and civic leaders with the support of the University
City Science Center, the Ben Franklin Technology Center, Bell
Atlantic-Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania, and
WHYY TV-12 and 91 FM. LibertyNet was Philadelphia's largest
online provider of regional information, with over 600
non-profit and commercial web sites and almost 1,000
non-profit members with e-mail and web-browsing access.
CompuMentor, compumentor.org
CompuMentor evolved into TechSoup, but the original
CompuMentor was a very different organization: it recruited
tech experts as volunteers, called mentors, to help nonprofits
regarding using computer technology, primarily databases and
intranets. The CompuMentor web site was focused on recruiting
and training the volunteers. Here is the 1996 version of
the CompuMentor Volunteer Handbook for mentors. You can
see how this earlier manual evolved into a
handbook for any IT volunteer (via the TechSoup web
site).
San Francisco Women of the Web, sfwow.org
Top25 Women of the Web, Top25.org
SF WoW was a nonprofit network of women with a mission to
serve, educate and empower women on the Internet and in new
media industries, through professional development and
support, expansive and diverse networking opportunities, and
intensive community involvement. The hosted an annual Top25
Event each year, through 2001, honoring women who have made
significant contributions to the Internet and New Media
industries through their dedicated efforts to advance
technology, contribute to online communities, advance and
advocate women's right and issues and set an example for
successful business women in the high tech industries.
San Francisco Nonprofit Development Center, supportcenter.org
This organization became Compasspoint.
nonprofit.gov
USA government site that was a portal to nonprofit-related
resources across US government agencies.
NonProfit Gateway Network, www.nal.usda.gov/ric/faqs/volfaq.htm
USA government gateway to all nonprofit-related info across
USA government web sites - US Interior Department, IRS,
military, etc. Links to charity-related Web pages maintained
by various USA federal agencies and departments. Users could
search more than 3,000 federal Web pages, as well as federal
grant announcements and information about federal volunteer
programs and how to comply with laws pertaining to nonprofit
organizations. Included information on Federal Tax Information
for Charities and Non-Profits, Volunteer Recruiting, Retention
and Promotion, Nonprofit Standard Mail Eligibility, Cost
Principles for Nonprofits Working with Government, tips for
Writing a Grant Proposal, tips for Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives and so, so much more.
Yahoo Contributor Academy, https://contributor.yahoo.com/academy/
If Yahoo had been smart, they would have never gotten rid of
YahooGroups, Yahoo Answers nor the Yahoo Contributor Academy.
YahooGroups, in its heyday, remains the BEST online
collaboration tool and online community platform of anything
ever out on the Internet, YahooAnswers could have been much
bigger than Quora or Reddit and should have featured experts
and had paid subject matter experts as facilitators, and the
Yahoo Contributor Academy is so needed now to train people on
being humane online contributors committed to quality. If it
ever goes away from archive.org let me know - I have screen
captures.
Web sites I have preserved entirely or in part on my own web site: