Online Volunteer Responses January 1999

The goal was to find out how many of the organizations had followed up with volunteers expressing interest in online volunteering, what those follow up steps were, if any assignments had actually been made or completed, etc. A SUMMARY of findings is available here on our web site.

32 volunteers responded (13%)

The name and contact information for those who responded is not shown in this archive, and is not available to the public.

Links to their complete answers to our questions are below; a summary of these findings is also available here on our Web site.

A "-" means that the person did not answer that question.

Questions:

• In what city and state are you located?

• What is your age?

• What is your ethnicity?

• Why did/do you want to volunteer?
  (in general; what is your compelling reason to volunteer, on or offline)

• Have you volunteered/do you volunteer offline and, if so, what have you done?
  (face-to-face, on-site help, such as serving food at a shelter or mentoring a young person)

• Why did you want to provide volunteer support via the Internet, as opposed to or in addition to providing support face-to-face?

• How did you hear about VolunteerMatch?
  (how and why did you find the Web site? if you were using a search engine, which one and what keywords were you using?)

• How many VIRTUAL opportunities have you signed up for on VolunteerMatch?

• What were the primary factors that made you want to sign up for a virtual assignment in particular?
  (the nature of the assignment, the mission of the organization, etc.)

• What types of virtual volunteering opportunities do you wish were available that you haven't yet encountered?

• How many of organizations you emailed interest to regarding an ONLINE opportunity have gotten back to you with a next step, and what was that next step?
  (asking you for more information, asking you to complete an online application, setting up an interview time, etc.)

• How many of these organizations actually gave you an online assignment to complete?

• If an organization did give you an online assignment as a result of your interest via VolunteerMatch, did you complete the assignment(s), and what was the nature of the assignments?
  (building web sites, online research, etc.)

• What did you like about volunteering via the Internet, as opposed to volunteering in-person/face-to-face?

• Did volunteering virtually allow you to volunteer for an organization in ways you couldn't otherwise? If so, please share any insights from your experience that could help other organizations work with volunteers via the Internet. For example, some people who use wheelchairs find it easier to communicate over a modem than to travel to a central site. Other people may work a second or third shift, so they can't volunteer during regular business hours. We'd like to know about your experience as a volunteer and how virtual volunteering may have helped to overcome these sorts of difficulties.

• What did you dislike about volunteering via the Internet?

• How did the organization(s) you help(ed) recognize/reward you, if at all?
  (did they give you a certificate, provide a link from their Web site to your own Web site, give you a letter of appreciation, etc.)

• What would make your virtual volunteering experiences more satisfying to you?

• Please add any other comments