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reach4it.com
http://www.reach4it.com/
For young women aged 12-18 to exchange ideas, hear the voices of their peers and connect online with women mentors. It also has a program to match adult women in mentor/mentee relationships online around a variety of issues -- career, self-esteem, body image, etc. The organization is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (but is open to participants globally), and was formerly Women Helping Women International and its "Take Aim" program.

 
RVers Online
http://www.rversonline.org/VolList.html
"RVers helping RVers". Their site includes a list of online volunteer advisors who will answer e-mailed questions about things of interest to those who vacation or live in recreational vehicles -- everything from installing and maintaining small dish satellites to trailer towing issues to "working while RVing."

 
Safeguarding Our Children - United Mothers (SOC-UM)
http://www.www.soc-um.org
This national, all-vollunteer nonprofit in Tracy, California is dedicated to public awareness and prevention of child abuse. Volunteers act as moderators for SOC-UM's survivor forum, providing support for familes whose child has been the victim of abuse. Volunteers must pass a police check in their local communities before they can participate online. The organization also holds its board meetings online (it's legal to do so in California, but not in most other states).

 
Samaritans
http://www.samaritans.org/
A charitable organization, founded in 1953, serving the United Kingdom and Ireland. Samaritans trained "listening" volunteers provide support via phone and e-mail to people who are suicidal or despairing, and work to increase public awareness of issues around suicide and depression. The organization's onsite training of its volunteers is focused on fine-tuning listening skills and providing the knowledge and confidence necessary to support callers in crisis. The Samaritans e-mail service is not an immediate service; mail is answered within 24 hours. Befrienders International is affiliated with the Samaritans and has branches in the U.S.

 
San Jose Children's Musical Theater
http://www.sjcmt.com
This nonprofit organization based in California was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.

 
Sanchez Elementary School Online Mentoring Program
In cooperation with the Virtual Volunteering Project, this pilot program brings together online mentors from all over the U.S. with fourth graders at this elementary school in Austin, Texas. Online activities focus primarily on reading and writing, and on establishing a positive, trusting relationship between online adult volunteers and the students. The program also hopes to increase positive feelings about technology from the point of view of all participants -- students, teachers, mentors and parents. "Mentoring is connection -- it brings people together. Mentors give, but also receiving something in return. This can also be said about the Internet: Cyberspace is connection -- it brings people together. Internet users both give and take online. We hope that this program will provide all participants, mentors and youth alike, with meaningful human connections." Mentors have been screened via reference checks and online applications; all e-mails from adults are read by a program director before being forwarded to the students, and no "real" e-mail addresses are used (to insure there's no way to communicate outside the program's password-protected interactive web site). Teachers communicate with mentors regularly to suggest topics of discussion with the students, and incorporate the writing of e-mails to mentors into the student's class work and computer lab time. The project was designed adhering to the VV Projects suggestions for initial first steps for those considering setting up a direct contact service component involving online volunteers, and our suggested online safety standards. With additional funding, the online materials used by this program to screen and train mentors, which were based on a variety of resources and other online mentoring programs, will be shared via the Virtual Volunteering Project web site in early 2001.

 
SeniorNet
http://www.seniornet.org/
A national nonprofit organization in San Francisco, California for computer-using adults, age 50 and older. SeniorNet involves dozens of volunteer CyberHosts and volunteer Discussion/Community leaders. In 1998, SeniorNet hosted the Olympic Cyber Volunteer program, where students in grades four through eight competed for "medals" by responding to academic challenges online.

 
Service Corps Of Retired Executives (SCORE)
http://www.score.org/
A resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration, dedicated to aiding in the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE offers an email counseling at no cost (for U.S. citizens and resident aliens only); its huge searchable databank helps users find the SCORE member whose expertise best addresses their business needs. The expertise of members if highly varied and specialized -- users can get email counseling in everything from tropical agriculture to unemployment compensation to wholesale lighting equipment. The Web site also has a database for finding local SCORE affiliates.

 
Sidelines National Support Network
http://www.sidelines.org
This national nonprofit organization based in California was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.

 
SoberVoices.Com
http://www.sobervoices.com
This online resource for recovering alcholics also features live, online AA meetings using a special freeware program that allows for interactions by voice, rather than text, via the Internet.

 
Stamford Health System
http://www.wellconnected.org
This network serves all who live and/or work in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut and southeastern Westchester County, New York. WellConnected has a similar target market, but seeks to reach out globally for virtual volunteering support. Currently, the volunteer newsletter editor for their cancer center lives in California and is a person with a disability.

 
STARBRIGHT World
http://www.starbright.org/projects/sbw/index.html
A private, interactive computer network where hospitalized kids from across the nation can interact with a community of their peers, helping each other cope with the day-to-day realities of living with illness. Kids learn about illnesses, procedures and coping and learn the definitions of difficult terms. STARBRIGHT World is available in hospitals nationwide, and there is a list of these hospitals on the STARBRIGHT World Web site.

 
Sword and Staff
http://www.sword-and-staff.com/
Made up of fans of "Xena:Warrior Princess" who "work to better the lives of people in their own communities through donations and volunteerism." They use the Internet to coordinate a variety of onsite volunteer activities and fundraisers, and in 1998, various chapters raised almost $40,000 for various charitable organizations. Organizers provided the VV Project with valuable information on how they coordinate volunteer efforts using the Internet.

 
Twangfest
http://www.twangfest.org
The volunteer board of directors of this nonprofit, born out of an annual music festival in St. Louis, Missouri and an online community known as Postcard2, uses the Internet to research grants, to outreach to potential donors and current supporters, to market their festival to audience members and potential performers, to communicate with other volunteers and coordinate activities, and to discuss various issues and activities before its face-to-face board meetings and votes. The board members, volunteers and other supporters are scattered throughout the United States. Read more about this online community and learn about the intricacies of working together via the Internet here on our web site.

 
TxServe
http://www.txserve.org
This Texas-serving organization based in Austin was one of the VV Projects Affiliates, and our web site features a very detailed profile of this organization and how it has involved online volunteers.

 
United Nations Volunteers (UNV)
http://www.unv.org
As part of the UNV program, there are about 4,000 women and men of over 140 nationalities serving annually in developing countries as volunteer specialists and volunteer field workers. Since 1971, more than 20,000 UN Volunteers from some 150 developing and industrialized nations have worked in about 140 countries. The UNV is launching a large international virtual volunteering effort later in 2000, as part of its NetAid program.

 
United Way - Austin Capitol Area
http://www.uway-austin.org
This Austin, Texas branch involved their first online volunteer, a veteran volunteer from the VV Project, in February 1999 to develop online forms for their Web site. Based on this very positive experience, the agency hopes to expand its involvement of online volunteers to help various agencies they serve.

 
University of New Hampshire - Department of Social Work
http://www.unh.edu/social-work/SW810/Index.htm
Dr. Jerry Finn in Durham, New Hampshire has shared various and valuable information with the Project, and helped us with our evaluation and research efforts. He has also used information in his classes regarding Social Work and the Internet. Jerry is also a contributor to the publication Journal of Technology and Human Services.

 
Vermont Volunteer Legal Assistants Association
http://www.vvlaa.org
This nonprofit organization provides volunteer legal assistants to work with attorneys who volunteer their services to Vermonters in need of pro bono assistance. VVLAA is also using the Internet to help lawyers providing pro bono services and those assisting them to collaborate with each other, and to help Vermonters find online self-help information regarding the courts and legal system.

 
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
http:www.vita.org
VITA's Inquiry Service enlists volunteers serving as technical experts to answer requests about a variety of development issues that come from around the world. Originally, experts provided their assistance via phone, fax and postal mail. VITA has now launched a version to involve online volunteers in its Inquiry Service program.

 
The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link)
The WELL began in 1985, as a dialog between the writers and readers of the Whole Earth Review. The WELL is now a "cluster of electronic villages on the Internet." There are more than 260 Conferences open to WELL members, all managed by volunteers, covering subject categories such as "Parenting," "The Future," or "Pop Culture." The WELL's Community Guidelines are an excellent example of rules for online communities and moderators. WELL member experiences have been used to explore online culture and community, such as in Howard Rheingold's The Virtual Community.

 
YouthOrg UK
http://www.youth.org.uk
In Aldershot, Hants, United Kingdom, YouthOrg UK's virtual community and web site are entirely managed, developed and published by volunteers. Online volunteers also maintain a Web-based bulletin board, answer technical inquiries and design graphics. "Peer to peer education is probably the best way to describe this relationship between the volunteers," says Mark Harding, founder of the organization. Mark says the factors that contribute to the success of his online programs are "praising volunteers," "ensuring their volunteering work is seen by other potential volunteers," and "ensuring the content of the web site is written in a level the youth workers and young people can relate to." He says two of the biggest obstacles are that potential volunteers "fear they need to be an Internet genius to contribute" and potential volunteers giving inacurate email addresses when they sign up to help.

 
Youth Trust e-Mentoring
http://www.youthtrust.org
This nonprofit brings together schools, employers and community resources in Minneapolis, Minnesota to help youth develop marketable skills. Youth Trust's activities include setting up e-mentoring programs between businesses and Minneapolis public schools, such as the Cargill, Inc. and Olson Middle School E-mail Mentoring Program. Youth Trust first piloted its e-Mentoring model in 1995 with Norstan Communications and Franklin Middle School in North Minneapolis. More than 1700 students participated in Youth Trust e-Mentoring programs in 2000. Youth Trust helps recruit business and school partners for e-mentoring programs, then the key contact at each business and school takes over in screening (including background checks) and matching online mentors to students, setting and communicating activities for the program, and so forth. Mentors and students send weekly e-mail messages, which are guided by curriculum and the teacher. Each school year there are several face-to-face meetings between e-mentors and students. Volunteers go through a one-hour onsite orientation and training that outlines the policies of the e-mentoring. Kate Hopper at Youth Trusts advises online mentors: "Be patient and know that you are making a difference. It's sometimes hard for people who aren't able to see the student. They don't understand the impact they are actually having."