FAQs
About the Virtual Volunteering Project
northeast states
Includes national organizations that are based in this region.
If you would like your agency to be included in this listing, please complete our online survey.
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American Lung Association
http://www.lungusa.org/vol/index.html
Staff from ALA, based in New York City, have worked the Project informally sharing their experiences working with volunteers virtually, and provided materials to ALA affiliates about virtual volunteering and management.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bucks County (Pennsylvania)
Internet Mentoring Program
http://www.bbbsbc.org
This local affiliate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania launched its online program in the Fall of 1999 to bring together online adults and students from a local middle school. During the 2000-01 school year, the program is targeting students who have good grades, some basic computer ability, and at least one other risk factor in their lives (terminally ill family member, lack of support at home, new student with adjustment problems, etc.). In addition to exchanges using special e-mail addresses each week between students and mentors, the program arranges for face-to-face meetings at the initial match and at the end of the school year. Mentors are screened in the same way as the BBBS mentoring program (references check, child abuse history clearance, criminal background check, application and face-to-face interview). Online volunteer mentors complete a form each month and submit it via e-mail to the program coordinator regarding their online activities. The goals of the Internet Mentoring Program are the same as the BBBS traditional mentoring activities.
Compeer West
www.compeerwest.org
This Buffalo, New York-based agency has built on their success of providing and encouraging face-to-face volunteer friendships with children and adults striving for good mental health, by creating a new online component of this program. Online volunteers must go through the same onsite screening and training as face-to-face volunteers. About 25 online volunteers have participated so far.
Cyberangels
http://www.cyberangels.org
A national program begun in 1995 by the Guardian Angels and based in New York City, it's the largest online safety and educational program in cyberspace. Its mission is to help create a user-friendly and safe online surfing experience for everyone. Cyberangels involves online volunteers in a variety of activities, including: Angels Match (mentoring young people), CyberMoms (monitoring cyber-playgrounds and parenting resources), Net Patrol (patrolling the Internet looking for child pornography, stalkers, child predators, groups advocating child abuse and pedophilia, scam artists and, working with other child advocacy groups compiling and updating lists of sites harmful to children), and Teen Angels (helping to build and maintain a fun and safe place to "hang-out," teach the younger kids , and learn important skills). Their screening and online safety systems for online volunteers are fully outlined on the Cyberangels site and are models for any organization looking to match volunteers with clients or potentially vulnerable populations online.
Digital Clubhouse Network
http://www.digiclub.org
A not-for-profit organization, spun out from NASA, that is developing a 21st century learning center where people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds can master networked multimedia technology tools. The Network maintains Digital Clubhouses in Sunnyvale, California and at the New York Information Technology Center in Wall Street. One of the Clubhouse activities is the Digitally Abled Producers Project, http://dap.digiclub.org/ which pairs youth with disabilities ages 14-24 together with youth without disabilities, and teaches them multimedia, Universally Accessible webpage production, networking, and career skills. Participants use the Internet to communicate with each other through email and through chat rooms.
Digital Heroes
http://nmp.mentoring.org/dhc_people/
This online mentoring program serves youth involved in PowerUP, a nonprofit organization working to help America's underserved young people acquire the skills, experiences and resources they need to succeed in the digital age. PowerUP has technology centers around the U.S., many of them in public schools and working in partnership with other organizations and programs. The brand new Digital Heroes online mentoring program connects youth in PowerUP with employees of America Online (the primary sponsor of PowerUP) and with celebrity "notables" recruited by People Magazine. Online exchanges take place through a special password-protected web site created by America Online, and exchanges are supervised by the PowerUP site managers. Much of the online training materials for mentors and managers in this program was written by the Virtual Volunteering Project, with additional materials supplied by the National Mentoring Partnership. The VV Project and NMP will use data from this program to help encourage online mentoring in other programs and organizations throughout the U.S., and the VV Project will share learnings and tips from the launch and management of this program via the online mentoring resources section of its web site.
Gore 2000 Volunteer Source Code Project
http://www.algore2000.com/getinvolved/
In the spirit of the Open Source movement, the Al Gore Presidential Campaign is inviting online volunteers to look at its Web site's source code and provide feedback via a special e-mail address. The Web site says that more than 100 different suggestions from source code volunteers have been implemented on the site. Of particular note is the site's legal notices for online volunteers, which are excellent examples of providing guidelines and setting clear expectations for potential online volunteers. If you know of another presidential campaign (or any campaign, for that matter) that involves virtual volunteering in a particularly innovative way, or posts information on their web site for online volunteers that are examples of good volunteer management practices, please contact the VV Project.
I*EARN (International Education and Resource Network)
http://www.iearn.org/handbook/service.html
I*EARN brings students together from around the world, online, "to undertake projects designed to make a meaningful contribution to the heath and welfare of the planet and its people." Through I*EARN, students engage in various online projects that will benefit a particular community or explore the impact of student volunteerism.
iMentor
http://www.imentor.org
Serving the New York City metropolitan area, this non-profit Internet-based mentoring program provides young people from underserved communities with adult mentors, the opportunity to explore career options, and basic technological literacy training. Although communication takes place primarily on-line, iMentor also schedules occasional events where mentors and students can interact face-to-face. "We conduct three telephone reference checks, a telephone interview with the mentor, and a police background check of every mentor," says Richard Buery, Executive Director of the agency. "We communicate extensively with prospective mentors through telephone and email." His advice for agencies interested in virtual volunteering: "You must treat on-line volunteers as you would traditional volunteers. Volunteers need to be managed, trained, recognized, and appreciated."
Information Access
(formerly the Science, Engineering, and Math (SEM) Program)
http://www.ee.udel.edu/InfoAccess/
This University of Delaware-based effort sponsors numerous ongoing telementoring projects, including Scientopia http://www.ee.udel.edu/InfoAccess/Scientopia/, an online community consisting of students, mentors, and advocates who are interested in actively discussing issues in education, research, careers, and news developments with a special emphasis on the sciences and disability; the Math Mania Contest; Science Serendipity Contest; and Student Cyberfairs.
LibertyNet
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.libertynet.org/
This organization was a VV Project Affiliate. A complete profile of how this organization involves online volunteers and the resources they use is available here on our web site.
McGraw-Hill Signature Program with NCEE
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/philanthropy/index.html
New York, New York
In November 1997, the McGraw-Hill Companies launched the Signature Program with the National Council on Economic Education, an organization addressing economic literacy, as one fulfillment of the McGraw-Hill commitment to America's Promise. The partnership focused on young people to strengthen their levels of economic literacy, and involved a virtual componant to match teachers and classrooms with online volunteers from McGraw-Hill Companies.
Probono.net
http://www.Probono.net
New York, New York
This nonprofit organization is a virtual community of public interest lawyers. It includes an index of links to online resources for volunteer lawyers who are seeking pro bono opportunities, and contains online support and resources for lawyers working on probono cases, including news, a calendar of trainings and events, online listings of new cases for volunteers, a message board that will allow participating lawyers to communicate with other members of the practice area and an online library of training manuals, briefs and practice materials.
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.
University of New Hampshire - Department of Social Work
http://www.unh.edu/social-work/SW810/Index.htm
Durham, New Hampshire
Dr. Jerry Finn 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 Computers in 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.
