virtual volunteering project team

The success of the Virtual Volunteering Project has been because of a highly collaborative effort on the part of a number of individuals and organizations.

From Dec. 1996 - February 2001, the team behind this project was made up of one paid staff member, three to five volunteer project advisors, and more than 300 online volunteers.

 
ADVISORS 1999-2001

For the first four years of the Project, the advisors offered program development, collaboration, administration and outreach suggestions to the Project Manager. They are now exploring ideas for continuation of the Project.

 


Better and more professional photo coming soon

Jayne Cravens directed the Virtual Volunteering Project from December 1996 through February 2001. She is now the Online Volunteering Specialist at the United Nations Volunteers program in Bonn, Germany. She has presented workshops on virtual volunteering, online mentoring, online communities and culture, online outreach and community relations, database management (for tracking customers, clients, volunteers and supporters), newsletter production, public relations, corporate relations, volunteerism, volunteer management and grant-writing for many, many organizations and conferences, including the International Conference on Volunteer Administration, American Society of Directors of Volunteer Services (ASDVS) of the American Hospital Association, Points of Light Foundation/Corporation for National Service conferences, and the Texas Governor's Conference on Volunteer Leadership, among many others. She was a member of the Governor's Mentoring Initiative Planning Committee (Texas) and is a regular contributor to various Internet discussion groups. Jayne's own nationally-recognized web site, Coyote Communications, offers extensive technology tips for community-serving agencies, and tips for camping with your dog!

 
 


Ami Dar http://www.idealist.org Ami founded Action Without Borders in 1995 in New York City. Its Idealist.org web site features resources and information provided by more than 20,000 organizations in 140 countries, from volunteer opportunities to services available, and the web site attracts thousands of users every day. Ami serves on the Nonprofits' Policy and Technology Working Group, sponsored by OMB Watch, and is a frequent speaker at various national and major regional conferences.

 
 


Susan Ellis http://www.energizeinc.com is President of ENERGIZE, Inc. and is recognized internationally as a leader in the volunteerism and volunteer management field. Susan is the author or co-author of nine books, including From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Volunteer Program Success, and By the People: A History of Americans as Volunteers. She writes the national column "On Volunteers" for The NonProfit Times . In the Project's first three years, in addition to serving as an advisor, Susan also reviewed all Project materials prior to their publication on the Web and produced materials for the site as well. Susan continues to advise collaborating organizations about virtual volunteering, and presents frequently on the subject.

 
 


Steve Glikbarg glikbarg.com is a co-founder of Impact Online, and author of its popular "Internet 101" course for nonprofits (which is now on his own Web site). He co-founded the Virtual Volunteering Project, and was a key player in its initial development, having managed Impact Online's first online volunteers in 1994 and 1995. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops relating to online community and nonprofits and the Internet. His previous work experience includes publishing Who Cares , a national magazine on community service, and helping put the magazine Communication Arts online.

 
 


Steve McCurley SHM12@aol.com is one of volunteerism's top trainers, consultants and authors. He has spent more than 25 years training around the world in volunteer management, legal liability, risk management, recruitment, etc. He is the author of 12 books and hundreds of articles, and serves as co-editor of GRAPEVINE: Volunteerism's Newsletter . Some of his volunteer management writings appear on CASANet, an extensive online resource for those involved with Court Appointed Special Advocates programs.

 
 


Sarah Jane Rehnborg, Ph.D. e-mail address in transition is part of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the former director of Volunteerism and Community Engagement Initiatives at The Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Rehnborg has devoted her career to the field of volunteer and community service management, and is published in the field. She is a past recipient of the Harriett Naylor Award for Distinguished Service in Volunteer Administration and a former president of the Association for Volunteer Administration. Working with Leadership Network, Dr. Rehnborg developed the guidebook for volunteer involvement in faith-based communities, The Starter Kit for Lay Mobilization. She has also written award-winning curriculum in service-learning for high schools and middle schools in cooperation with the Volunteer and Youth Leadership and Training Project.

The VV Project advisors during this first phase reviewed and contributed information for new Web materials, outreach materials and various program reports; offered program, funding and outreach suggestions to the Project Manager and Project Affiliates; and promoted the project.

Cheryl Cole Dodwell
ColeDodwell@worldnet.att.net
a former IOL board member and a member of the Virtual Volunteering Project's original team of advisors, Cheryl served for three years as publisher and general manager of Who Cares, Inc., an entrepreneurial nonprofit organization which publishes the national magazine: Who Cares: The Magazine for People Who Do . She founded and directed the corporate volunteer program for The Fresh Air Fund, and is a founding board member of the MBA-Nonprofit Connection. She currently works with the not-for-profit organization Share Our Strength.

Susan Ellis (see above)

Steve Glikbarg (see above)

Cindy Shove
CLShove@aol.com
is a co-founder of Impact Online, was co-executive director of IOL in 1995, then executive director through the Spring of 1997, overseeing its evolution into a leading online resource for volunteers and the agencies that need them. Cindy was a key force behind the initiation, funding and launch of the Virtual Volunteering Project. She is a frequent speaker at major conferences and regional events relating to nonprofits and the Internet.

More than 100 organizations have collaborated formally and informally on this Project, providing information, first-hand accounts and feedback about cyberservice.

Since this Project's inception, more than 300 online volunteers have helped us via their home or work computers, providing the Project with invaluable expertise and more than a thousand of hours of service.

 
PROJECT INTERNS

Koo Lee [koolee@mail.utexas.edu] assisted the Project onsite at our office at the University of Texas at Austin during the summer of 1999, while on break from his studies at the New York University. The focus of his internship was on helping the Project incorporate contributions from online volunteers into our Web pages, exploring issues around online culture, researching information to include in our resources for online mentoring and online tutoring programs, helping with various data "crunching" projects, researching information and contributing to online resources in support of other Dana Center programs, and various other program and administrative-related tasks. Two of his biggest accomplishments were organizing our list of agencies involving online volunteers by category, and updating the Dana Center's list of Courses in Volunteer Management at Institutions of Higher Education in the U.S.

 
Linda Lee assisted with various online and research tasks during the Spring of 1998. An AmericCorps member, she worked "virtually" from her home in Kentucky for the Project. Her activities included updating and expanding resources for helping agencies to involve people with disabilities in virtual volunteering programs, documenting online telementoring program information, researching major technology-related publications, compiling online information about the impact of volunteerism, and regularly searching for online articles relating to volunteerism and corporate philanthropy. As part of her university studies, she also conducted an organizational analysis of the VV Project. The results of some of her research work can be seen in our Online Involvement and Access for Volunteers With Disabilities resources, and on the Air-Austin "Gallery of Accessibility."

• Virtual Volunteering Resources
  How to find and involve volunteers working from home or work computers, online resources for volunteer managers, advice for individuals who want to volunteer virtually, etc. These pages are updated and added to each month.

• How Your Agency Can Utilize the Virtual Volunteering Project
  Tips on how to use this Web site, information about our offline services, and how we can help you introduce or expand virtual volunteering in your agency.

• Virtual Volunteering Project home page

 
If you find this or any other Virtual Volunteering Project information helpful, or would like to add information based on your own experience, please contact us.

If you do use Virtual Volunteering Project materials in your own workshop or trainings, or republish materials in your own publications, please let us know, so that we can track how this information is disseminated.

If you are interested in more up-to-date information about virtual volunteering, view the Virtual Volunteering Wiki.