The most popular blog I’ve ever written was Microvolunteering is Virtual Volunteering. It was my effort to make sure those who really care about quality volunteer engagement continue to advocate for volunteering, no matter what form it takes, to be results-oriented and beneficial to both the organization and the volunteer – whether it’s volunteering that takes just a few minutes, or just once with an organization, or over months, or over years.

Orange in the U.K. has jumped on the microvolunteering bandwagon, creating a smart phone application that is supposed to allow people to microvolunteer. But many of its claims regarding what microvolunteering is and what it can do are outlandish. Luckily, I don’t have to write a blog debunking their claims – this blog which does an excellent job of doing so, in much kinder terms than I usually use.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: microvolunteering can benefit – and has benefitted – many organizations. But it’s also not worth the enormous amount of prep and supervision time required for many organizations, just as one-day group volunteering events aren’t always worth the prep time and supervision for many organizations.

The first step in deciding if microvolunteering / episodic volunteering, group volunteering, teen volunteering, family volunteering or any other specialized volunteering is right for your organization is for your organization or program to think carefully about what is in it for you, the organization or program. What benefit are you looking for? Volunteering is never just to get work done. Instead – or in addition – volunteer engagement is about:

• measurable results regarding participant or community awareness of a particular issue, program or your organization
• candidates for longer-term volunteering in more substantive activities regarding service delivery
• cultivation of donors
• activities that fulfill your organization’s mission (the group volunteering experience results in activities that reach part of your organization’s mission)
• reaching diverse audiences you aren’t reaching, or aren’t reaching well, otherwise

And the second step is thinking about how you will know if you are achieving these results! Those two steps are critical before ever embarking on volunteer engagement, no matter what kind of engagement you are thinking about!