The proliferation of projects right now during the global pandemic where people write cards or postcards for elderly people, people in residential care facilities, patients in hospitals, people who are homebound, etc., is astounding. The number of schools and corporations proudly touting this as “virtual volunteering” is equally astounding.

Cards can be nice. When my grandmother turned 100, my sister and I coordinated with our friends so that she would get more than 100 birthday cards via postal mail for her birthday, and she did, and she was delighted. It was nice. I’m glad we did it.

But that thrill lasted a day or two.

What she enjoyed far more, on a weekly basis:

• Learning to play Wii.

• Learning to use a tablet to download free books.

I wish it had dawned on me to get her signed up on Facebook so we could have played Scrabble together. I wish I had figured out if we both got the same episode of Jeopardy at the same time, so we could have live-chatted during it on WhatsApp.

What I’m getting at is this: are these “let’s write and send cards for the homebound” something that the recipients REALLY want, or is much more substantial virtual volunteering and online collaboration what we should be shooting for?

What about remote programs where volunteers:

• Ask for their stories about particular periods in history: Where were you when the first men landed on the moon? How did you know that happened? What was your life like during the civil rights movement? Tell me about September 11, 2001? What was it like to go to grade school when you were a kid – did you walk to school? What did you wear? What if those sessions were recorded and made available via the local library or the local historical society, or spliced together into a video to share on YouTube, or edited into weekly or monthly podcasts?

• Cook together with the person they are visiting remotely: each comes up with a relatively simple recipe, tells the other all the ingredients that might be needed, and one dish is cooked one week and another dish is cooked a week or two later?

• Teach a person how to use Wikipedia, or even how to edit Wikipedia. What if they worked together on improving a Wikipedia article about local history?

• Play free online word games together, like Scrabble? Or play even more advanced, free games together? Don’t be surprised to find out a lot of seniors are already engaged in online gaming.

• Engage together in transcribing historical documents at Boston Public Library’s Anti-Slavery collection, the Smithsonian Digital Volunteer program, the Library of Congress By the People (crowd.loc.gov), or so many others, and talk about what that experience is like.

• Make something together while you are online together: origami, paper hats, lightsabers from toilet paper rolls (you don’t think seniors are Star Wars fans?!?), some other simple, crafty thing made from things you both can easily get your hands on… Again, record the session, splice all the sessions into something fun and share on YouTube.

• Have an online book club, where seniors and teens all read the same book and then talk about it together online.

In short, volunteers and corporate social responsibility program managers: quit thinking you know what seniors want and what will make them happy, based on what’s most convenient for YOU. Don’t think of seniors and people in residential homes sitting there passively waiting for your uplifting message. Think about ENGAGEMENT. Think about INTERACTION. Think about what the seniors or patients might want, not primarily what you THINK they want. Have you asked them? That might be a great place to start.

Here’s a very long list of virtual volunteering roles and activities. Writing cards isn’t on it, by the way.

And here’s a seven-minute video where I say most of the things I’ve just said in this blog – and more!

August 3, 2021 update: An example of a high quality digital volunteering/friendly visitor program born out of COVID: It was oh-sorefreshing to learn about the Digital Buddies initiative in Scotland, which started during the Covid 19 pandemic to enable older people in the Scottish Borders to connect digitally with friends, family, groups & the wider world. Digital Buddies teamed the older people up with a digital buddy, often a family member, friend or neighbor, and they did not do it simply by creating a web site and giving people each other’s Skype IDs and hoping for the best. The volunteer buddy supports the person with whatever they wish to learn to do at their own pace, with the aid of SEVERAL step-by-step picture instructions and the assistance of staff. We also provide a tablet and access to the internet to those who do not have access to technology. There are just 15 older people in the Borders participating in Digital Buddies. Many were apprehensive at the beginning, as they worried they might not remember or manage. With the help from their buddies they are now regularly using their digital device to video call with friends and family, join local groups, meetings or classes that have moved online in Covid19, attend virtual religious services, do their shopping, and much more. Resources provided to participants include how to access the accessibility settings on the tablet devices used, how to charge the devices and use them to listen to podcasts, access email, etc., as well as digital inclusion tips.

My favorite part of the program is this:

When we were looking for buddies we weren’t looking for IT specialists, we were looking for people who:

• Had a little spare time.
• Were patient.
• Were comfortable explaining in non jargon terms.
• Knew how to do the basics on touch screen devices – we try to match people who have knowledge of similar devices.
• Could commit to supporting someone for at least 6 months.

Yes, six months. Not just a few weeks. And not a few-minutes-a-week commitment: volunteers were expected to engage in something meaningful and impactful.

See Setting up a Digital Buddies project – What we Learned for more.

It’s the sign of a quality virtual volunteering program that when an initiative produces such a report, talking about what’s worked and what hasn’t and what comes next.

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.

On a similar themes:

Vanity Volunteering: All About the Volunteer.

*Another* Afghanistan Handicraft program? Really?

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