Volunteers have always been the drivers of virtual volunteering, much more than programs that host volunteers. And it’s still true now, in 2020.

Back in the 1990s, when Impact Online (now VolunteerMatch) launched one of the first volunteer-matching services online, there were FAR more people visiting the web site that wanted to volunteer than there were organizations posting assignments, and those assignments were supposed to be all ONSITE, but volunteers kept asking Impact Online staff for things they could do ONLINE. That’s why Impact Online launched the Virtual Volunteering Project in 1996: to promote the idea of involving online volunteers to host organizations and train them on how to do it. When I began directing the UN’s Online Volunteering service in February 2001, I stopped all outreach to potential volunteers and turned all attention to outreach to and support for potential host organizations, because this global service had the same issue: far more volunteers wanting to serve online than there were things for them to do.

Here we are decades later, with a global pandemic and thousands and thousands of volunteers wanting to engage online, but not able to find enough opportunities. I see it all over the Internet, particularly on the Reddit community – the subreddit – dedicated to discussions about and resources regarding volunteering, r/volunteer: young people, with no experience in mentoring, tutoring or counseling, are trying to launch their own virtual volunteering initiatives, recruiting plenty of volunteers but then not being able to find schools or programs to work with.

I’m doing my best to help schools, nonprofits, NGOs, charities and government agencies quickly launch roles and activities for online volunteers, with

• free on-demand video training,

• a list of roles and activities a program could launch immediately for online volunteers,

• keeping this list of the latest news about virtual volunteering up-to-date,

• promoting The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook,

But I cannot do this alone. Those of you who want to volunteer online have to help. You are going to have to help schools, nonprofits, NGOs, charities and others that you want to help online to create online roles and activities and to learn about the benefits of virtual volunteering. Otherwise, you are going to continue to be frustrated.

First, do NOT write an organization and say “We want to partner with you!” Words like “partner” and “partnership” are too big, too daunting, for most programs to think about. It sounds like lots of work with no funding. It’s not a message schools, nonprofits, etc. want to hear.

Instead, your first outreach should be something like this:

Hello! We are a group of five students / employees from name of school / company, and…

• we saw that you have 10 videos on YouTube about your program, but they are not closed-captioned / they are not captioned correctly. We would like to volunteer to fix that for you over the next two weeks…

• we would like to help make your web site be more accessible for people with disabilities. We could spend 10 hours for one week next month adding alt text to all of the photos and graphics on your site and changing all of your “read more” and “click here” links to descriptive links that would make sense for those with a sight-impairments…

• we would like to translate all of the text from your last newsletter to Spanish…

• we would like to help create a monthly podcast for your program for the next four months. Each month, we would interview a staff member or a recipient of your program’s service and adapt that recording to a 15-minute podcast format, with intro and exit music, appropriate edits and full text transcription. We would help you post this to…

• We think the work our local historical society is so important, and we would like to work with you to improve these listings on Wikipedia regarding our local history…

And adding:

We want whatever we do for your program as online volunteers, entirely unpaid, to be something your program wants and needs, something that will be meaningful and beneficial to your organization, not just something we can do. Could we meet by video conference sometime next week to explore these ideas?

In other words, you need to be specific about the project or activity you want to do with them as online volunteers, and to make it clear that your are offering as volunteers and do not expect any payment whatsoever. You need to make it sound like a great idea that isn’t going to cost the organization anything and isn’t going to create more work for them and isn’t going to require a long-term investment. Your outreach needs to prompt a program to say, “We need and want this!” Remember: most nonprofits, NGOs, schools and other community groups are overwhelmed with work, severely under-staffed and facing massive budget cuts. They don’t have time for any more work whatsoever. They will be open to ideas for projects that will immediately have benefits to their organization, especially in terms of attracting more financial support.

Your goal with that initial project is to provide such a great experience that the nonprofit, charity, school or NGO is open to further collaborations – and perhaps much more advanced activities, like from this list of high impact virtual volunteering projects. But first, you have to give them a simple, worthwhile experience that creates a solid, trusting relationship.

Do not write a program and suggest a big, ambitious project that they do not have a great deal of experience doing OFFLINE already. That means you don’t write a senior residence facility and say, “We want to start an online friendly visitor program with your residents!” Who will screen your volunteers to ensure they are appropriate for coming in contact with this vulnerable population? Who will train volunteers regarding appropriate and inappropriate topics of conversation, how to get started with a first conversation, etc.? What will your safety standards be? How will you set boundaries – what if a resident starts calling and texting a volunteer frequently throughout the week and this is beyond what the volunteer wants to be involved with? In other words, a lot of virtual volunteering projects require way more than just a platform for interactions.

Also see:

• Setting up an online mentoring program
• 21 simple things to do while your programs are on hold during COVID-19 quarantines
• Signs that a nonprofit idea is doomed – a blog inspired by Anthony Bourdain
• Advice for starting a Nonprofit or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
• The first steps for a nonprofit dream
• Remote tools: what do I (Jayne) use?
• your nonprofit is still relevant during COVID19 – SHOW HOW
• Simple roles and activities a nonprofit can launch immediately for online volunteers.

For much more detailed advice on creating assignments for online volunteers, for working with online volunteers, for using the Internet to support and involve ALL volunteers, including volunteers that provide service onsite, and for ensuring success in virtual volunteering, check out The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. Tools come and go – but certain community engagement principles never change. You will not find a more detailed guide anywhere for working with online volunteers and using the Internet to support and involve all volunteers – even after home quarantines are over and volunteers start coming back onsite to your workspace. It’s available both as a traditional paperback and as an online book. It’s co-written by myself and Susan Ellis.

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