How long should text be to communicate effectively?

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  • How long should a web page be?
  • How long should text on a brochure page be?
  • How long should a press release be?
  • How long should a blog be?

I get these questions fairly often from nonprofits, NGOs, charities and small government offices.

Tweets have a text limit. Facebook posts have a limit on the amount of text you can post that will be seen in your timeline at a glance, without someone having to click “more.” But other communications products, in print and online, don’t have such strict character limits. So, how long should they be when it comes to their text?

A lot of communications professionals will tell you to make web page text, blogs, brochure text, etc., no longer than what would fit into a social media post. I am NOT one of those communications professionals.

I’m hearing people say, “People don’t read. Don’t write long bodies of text EVER, especially online.” I am NOT one of those people.

People have different learning styles: some prefer learning by engaging in an activity, some prefer learning by listening, some prefer to learn by watching, and some prefer to learn by reading.

People have different reading styles as well, even just online: some prefer reading short bits of text and seeing some short videos. But some do still like prefer – and WANT – to read comprehensive text, even if it’s “long.” What is great about a website is that your organization can easily cater to both of those groups: you can have a web page with introductory, summary, “catchy” text, or a video that’s just a minute long and gives the overview you think certain groups want, but that page or video can then link to the more in-depth information for all those many other people that want more information.

It’s worth noting that some people may want a bit of information today, but may come back later for more in-depth information. People rarely stay in exactly the same categories when it comes to how they want to access or consume information.

It’s also worth noting that by having in-depth information on your website, you create the messaging that everyone on your staff can refer back to, and that better ensures everyone is saying the same thing – that everyone is “staying on message.” It means your Executive Director, your receptionist, members of your board, volunteers – EVERYONE – can find the exact wording to describe absolutely everything about your program.

Catering to just one group of people when you are trying to communicate a message is a mistake. Don’t let any communications consultant or marketing manager pressure your organization into creating communications products only for the people that supposedly don’t like to read. Don’t be convinced that you can eliminate all of your long-form communications – you absolutely still need those.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Volunteer controversy in archeology

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graphic by Jayne Cravens representing volunteers

Volunteer engagement is controversial, and I do my best to keep up with the controversies, like movements opposed to volunteerism, or politicians that think volunteers are free. The most common conflict regarding volunteerism, at least in my opinion, arises regarding volunteer engagement as a way to replace paid worker, usually the result of statements by management and funders about how “volunteers save money” and what their dollar value is (something the Points of Light Foundation and others heavily promote). But there are other controversies, like the appropriateness of volunteers undertaking certain roles, or the ethics of volunteering at all, per the criticisms of people on both the far right and the far left of the political spectrum.

An example of several controversies regarding volunteering rolled into one conversation is a debate that recently broke out on Twitter about the ethics of involving volunteers in archeology (or archaeology, as the British spell it). I found out about it because I was doing my usual search of the word volunteer on Twitter, just to see what might come up. As a result, I found this thread from Open Access Archaeology (@OpenAccessArch), which said:

Myth dispelling time: “Volunteers take away jobs from professionals”. I hear this a lot from professional archaeologists and lets be real – they are full of shit.

The thread goes on to talk about all the reasons that volunteer engagement in archeology does NOT take paid work away from professionals, and I believe it does a good job. My only addition would be that, by involving volunteers, the field of archeology greatly expands the number of people who can talk from a place of first-hand experience about the importance of historical discovery and cultural preservation, thereby, potentially, cultivating and an even greater number of supporters for its cause. Volunteer engagement lets people who are NOT professionals into seeing work firsthand, and that can translate into donations and more public support.

Too often, people think involving volunteers means allowing anyone, with no training and no supervision, to do highly-specialized work or work on sensitive issues. It does NOT, anymore than you are required to hire a professional with no training and no supervision, to do highly-specialized work or work on sensitive issues. You still get to have standards! You still get to have a bar for participation and require volunteers to be able to clear that bar.

Coincidentally to all this, just two months ago, I found out that the Oregon Archaeological Society provides Archaeology Training for potential volunteers: OAS Basic Training, also known as Archaeology for the Curious, is an annual program taught by experienced regional professionals from organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, and the University of Oregon. The sessions are typically held on six Saturdays starting in the early part of the year at a local university.

Topics for the first two sessions include archaeology basics as well as information on artifacts, laws and ethics, Northwest archaeology and rock art, site stewardship and volunteering. The four additional training sessions cover field excavation, laboratory methods, site mapping, cataloging and compass reading. The program is a great way to network with other archaeology lovers and to learn how you can get involved in the field.

So, that’s the bar for involving in archeology in Oregon: you have to take this class, you have to fulfill that training commitment, and only then can you apply to be a volunteer and be a part of digs. That means not anyone can come in and just start digging. That means people who might be careless or disrespectful are more likely to be screened out. Plus, imagine what this program cultivates: people from various professions, various communities, who get a greater appreciation for archeology and historical preservation in this state, and that appreciation has the potential to get translated into donations and pressure on government to support historic initiatives and, yes, research. It translates into people talking to friends and neighbors about NOT disturbing sites, not marking such with graffiti, not taking artifacts, and on and on, in a way that just a flyer or lecture may not. THAT is the power of volunteer engagement – not money supposedly saved.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Taking control of your web site when you aren’t the web master

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Most web masters at mission-based organizations – at nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies and schools – want to do the best job possible in creating and managing the initiative’s web site.

Unfortunately, there are situations where staff at mission-based organizations are intimidated by the people that manage their web site, to the point of being afraid to ask questions, even to ask for a change in the site. All a web master has to say is, “That can’t be done” or “that’s too expensive” or “I won’t be able to do that” and many of these staff members will not pursue an issue further. After all, the web master is the expert, right?

It is unfortunate that there are so many web masters that take advantage of their expertise and will use it to claim certain things cannot be done on a web site when, in fact, they can be done. Perhaps they don’t see it as a priority and don’t want to do it. Perhaps they don’t know how and don’t want to admit it. Whatever the reason, it holds a lot of organizations back from doing all that they should with their web sites, like making them designed for their particular audiences, or making them accessible for people with disabilities.

Here are things staff at mission-based organizations can do to set a tone with IT staff regarding who has input into web-related decisions, including design:

1. Ask your web master what company hosts your organization’s web site, how your domain name is registered, and for all passwords. Your web site should be hosted by a reputable company in the business of hosting web sites, not the web master’s side business or through a company he or she has a “special deal” with. You can look up your domain name registration here and make sure it’s registered in such a way that your organization owns it, not your web master, and that it matches what your web master tells you. You need all of the passwords associated with the web site in case the web master leaves.

2. Ask your web master what the 10 most visited pages are on your web site are. This is a very easy question to get answers for, and there should be no reason for your web master to hesitate to provide this information. 

As you review the data he or she provides, ask yourself, the web master, and other staff member these questions:

  • Is there a page on your web site that is more popular than the home page? Why is that?
  • Are these the 10 pages you want to be the most visited on your web site? If not, what should you do to increase the number of visitors to the pages you most want users to visit?

Don’t just think about increasing visitors to certain pages. Sure, you could get more people visiting your donate to us page if you made it your home page, but would it increase the number of donations your nonprofit gets? No. Think about what you want to happen as a result of people visiting your web site, what you want users to do as a result of navigating around your web site, and remember that different people will have different wants regarding your web site. Have your web master in on these conversations, so he or she can understand your organization’s communications priorities, which program staff should set, not the web master.

3. Invite volunteers to your conference room and have them navigate your web site with their own laptops and smart phones. Have the web master there to observe. Ask the volunteers to find information on how to volunteer, and quiz them on what they found. Ask them what donations pay for at your organization, based on what they found on your web site. Ask them what difference your nonprofit makes, based on what they found on your web site.

Take notes on their answers and then have a followup meeting with communications staff, including the web master. Talk about what you learned from this feedback, and either develop a plan on how to adjust your web site so that it does what you want it to do, or ask your web master to develop such and then present it to staff.

4. Six months after the changes have been made to your web site, do steps one and two again. Are the top 10 pages visited on your web site the pages you want most visitors to see? Are volunteers able to more easily find information about how to volunteer, what donations pay for, what difference your nonprofit makes, etc.?

5. When you want a feature on your web site, find an example of it on another web site, particularly at a company or agency about the size of your organization. Have this ready to show the web master, to prevent the “that can’t be done” argument.

6. Tell your web master which staff members need to be able to make simple text changes without his or her support. Whomever is in charge of communications at your organization should have this ability. Maybe you want a small group of reliable volunteers with some web design experience who can step in to do such when the web master is not available. And then have your web master show exactly how those staff members should make those changes via whatever content management system he or she prefers. Maybe there is a WordPress interface. Maybe there is another type of interface (I use BlueGriffon). The point is that you should never have to wait for the web master to make time to merely add a paragraph or two to a page, or to correct a typo.

These six simple things will let you take back control over your organization’s web site, and help you have the documentation you need for when your web master moves on – and your web master WILL move on!

Also see:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help.

United Nations scales back online volunteering program

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The United Nations Volunteers program, an initiative under the UN Development Program (UNDP), has stopped accepting new nonprofits, NGOs and others who apply to use the Online Volunteering Service, onlinevolunteering.org.

Organizations that have already been accepted into the Online Volunteering service can continue to use it to recruit online volunteers, but no new volunteering hosts are being accepted, and there is no word on whether this is a temporary or permanent change – and what this changes means for the future of the UN’s pioneering virtual volunteering initiative.

I found this out when I tried to register the nonprofit where I am working now – the nonprofit where I work is an international program and one of our nonprofits clients, in Congo, is familiar with both the OV service and my own work in virtual volunteering (it’s a small world, truly!). It reminded me that the organization where I am working now needs to make sure people in other countries know about our many online volunteering opportunities – we strive to be an inclusive organization, and involving international online volunteers is a part of that. As our program works to address at least three of the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN’s Online Volunteering service seemed like an obvious choice for the organization.

But after I filled out the application, I received an email from UNV that pointed me to this announcement on the home page:

April 5: The UNV Online Volunteering service has suspended acceptance of new registrations from non-governmental (NGO) and other civil society organizations (CSOs).

The Find out more link after this announcement makes no mention of the suspension. The other pages on the UN site make no mention of this suspension. The how does it work page makes no mention of this suspension. The page with the heading “Organizations that find volunteers through us are”, says that organizations need to be officially registered with appropriate government authorities and provide proof of such, be a nonprofit, an NGO or other civil society organization, a government or other public institution, a United Nations agency or other intergovernmental institution, and active in the field of sustainable human development. There’s no mention at all of on this and other pages that the OV service has suspended acceptance of new registrations from organizations that want to host online volunteers.

Because the application on the OV service for new hosts of online volunteers still works, and all of the links to it still function, I’m not sure if the suspension is for all new users of the online volunteering service that want to host online volunteers, or if United Nations agencies are still allowed to apply to use the service. Is this ban just for NGOs and other non-UN agencies? Is it temporary or permanent? Is this the first step in getting rid of the OV service altogether? And why have these changes been made? I have asked UNV but have not had a response in more three weeks.

If UNV is getting rid of the Online Volunteering service, it will be devastating news. The OV service is one of the most successful programs the UN has launched outside of is emergency humanitarian response programs and its post-conflict-rebuilding programs. Yes, I feel that strongly about the OV service. I think the lessons from the OV service regarding virtual volunteering can still be helpful to any tech4good, micro-volunteering initiative starting now. Note when you read these lessons that the early adopters of the service were NOT UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES, nor were the organizations that most online volunteers supported through the service: they were nonprofits and NGOs, some of them quite small – the kinds of organizations that aren’t allowed to use the UN Online Volunteering service anymore.

This is particularly bitter news on this the 20th anniversary of NetAid, which launched the UN’s online volunteering efforts that became the Online Volunteering service.

What could cause this radical change? Lack of funding and, therefore, a lack of staffing for the OV service? Lack of support from senior management? I would love to know. Let’s hope for a quick and clear response.

And let’s hope someone takes the lessons from the OV service regarding virtual volunteering and creates a viable alternative for those organizations that want to involve online volunteers from outside their country’s borders in their initiatives, and for online volunteers that want to help programs serving the developing world specifically.

Update: UNV has sent a cryptic reply on Twitter that reads: “Thank you for your comment. Online Volunteering continues to be a integral part of the @UNVolunteers offer. The platform will be enhanced in the coming months as the organization expands digital-savvy solutions for all involved.” Answers nothing brought up in the blog. Frustrating!

January 2, 2020 update: UNV now has a new message on its OV web site that says: “Effective 1 January 2020, the Online Volunteering service is free of charge to all eligible partners. Eligible partners are: UN entities, Governmental or other public institutions, and Civil Society Organizations.” But if you click on the link for more information, you discover that UNV has a VERY narrow version of civil society organizations (CSOs): it has to be a CSO already registered with the OV service, or the organization has to provide evidence of accreditation with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), or the organization has to be working with a UN Country Team as an implementing partner or through an agreement and submit a form signed by the UN Entity they are partnering with.

So, in short, the OV service no longer can be used by most nonprofits, NGOs and CSOs. There’s no explanation as to why this decision has been made. So, if your nonprofit, NGO or CSO doesn’t meet the criteria, you can’t use the UNV Online Volunteering service to recruit online volunteers. If you want to recruit online volunteers, I recommend these resources:

Your own country’s volunteering center. Your own country may have a web site that recruits volunteers, online or onsite, for nonprofits, NGOs or CSOs in your country. I have list of many of these here. And use this advice when posting your opportunities to such a site.

Finding a Computer/Network Consultant (you can adapt these for online volunteers, not just tech folks)

Required Volunteer Information on Your Web Site – how to use your own web site to recruit volunteers (not just online volunteers)

Adam ruins everything & educates a LOT

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There is a television show in the USA called Adam Ruins Everything. It is both a comedy show and an educational show that uses humor to debunk myths and misconceptions. I think it’s a great example of how to use an entertaining approach, even a provocative approach, to educate about science, including accurate health information. I think humanitarian aid and development agencies, particularly those concerned with public health education, should take note of it.

An example is the show’s comedic and medically-accurate presentation about the misunderstandings many – maybe most people – have regarding female physiology, particularly regarding the hymen and virginity. This is a good model of how much more interesting public health and women’s health videos could be:

It’s not a video that would be appropriate in every culture and country, but its frankness, fast-pace, humor and accuracy can’t be denied.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten good advice for outreach by nonprofits, including humanitarian organizations, from TV:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Ethical question for nonprofits: should you delete your Facebook account?

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Green cartoon hand palm up facing the viewer, to denote caution

By using Facebook, you are exposing yourself to data mining at a level never before seen, with companies buying up all the information you freely share on Facebook through your posts and likes, as well as what you have put into your profile (your birthday, family connections, etc.) and using it to target you for products, services and, of course, misinformation. Through your continued use of Facebook, you may also be seen as endorsing Facebook’s business practices which are under investigation by Congress.

On the other hand, Facebook is, by far, the most widely-used social media platform and makes it oh-so-easy to share information with current and potential clients, constituents, volunteers, other supporter and the general public. A nonprofit or government agency that stops using Facebook may be cutting itself off from people who need its information, as well as from current and potential supporters.

So, should your nonprofit, as a matter of safety and ethics, delete its Facebook page and any Facebook group it manages and stop using the platform altogether?

For now, I’m going to say no, don’t, because so many, many current and potential clients, constituents and supporters of nonprofits are best reached by Facebook. I’m not sure deleting, say, a family homeless shelter’s Facebook page does anything to hurt the company’s bottom line or to make an ethical statement, but it certainly does cut off a critical avenue for that nonprofit to communicate with homeless families and people who want to support such. Even if Facebook is not your nonprofit’s primary way of communicating, your organization should have a page that notes your organization’s name, address, web site address and phone number, as well as your organization’s logo, so that someone looking for your organization on Facebook can at least find it.

That said, any nonprofit – or individual, for that matter – that stays on Facebook needs to make some commitments in order to stay ethical:

  • Encourage employees and volunteers to remove their birthdays from Facebook – not just to make their birthdays private, but to put in a false birthday. Tell them also not to use the “connections” feature on their profiles to show who their children, parents or siblings are. When Facebook sells data – which is entirely legal for them to do and they do regularly – they sell whatever you have freely inputted into Facebook yourself, including your birthday and the names of family members. This information can also be obtained via frequent data breaches on Facebook. Your birthday, plus your mother’s maiden name or your children’s names, are perfect for identity theft.
  • Do not force anyone to have to create a Facebook account to access information about your program or to interact with your organization. Your organization still needs a comprehensive, frequently-updated web site with all of the information anyone would want about your programs, so that people who do not wish to use Facebook or any other social media can still access complete information about you online. Your organization should not force volunteers to join a Facebook group. There are many people who do not want to use Facebook, because of the frequent security breaches, because of how it sells user information or because they just simply don’t want to, and you shouldn’t force them to do so. If you do have a Facebook group for volunteers, I strongly encourage you to look into an alternative and delete that group from Facebook. These days, I’m recommending groups.io – the free version is quite robust and it is NOT tied to anyone’s social media use.
  • No matter your organization’s mission, whether you are an arts organization, school, environmental organization, youth group, senior center, whatever, you should regularly remind your staff, volunteers and clients, both via your Facebook pages and groups as well as in your other communications (meetings, email newsletter, etc.) about online scams and misinformation, particularly those perpetrated via Facebook and particularly those promoted via Facebook messenger. As part of your education efforts, remind them to NEVER engage with any government agency or bank through Facebook, that if a family member or good friend sends them a Facebook message about needing money or a way to get money they need to call that family member or friend and make sure they really are sending that message, to NEVER pay for anything with gift cards, to ignore any message, even from a family member or friend, directing you to a page to claim a prize. Share with them AARP’s excellent Baby Boomers’ Guide to Facebook and encourage employees and volunteers to review this video about detecting and reporting scams.
  • You should have a training for employees and volunteers about misinformation and fake news sites: how to recognize such and how not to perpetuate that information online. A discussion over lunch is a good way to communicate about this. Good resources to use:

Fake News: How to Spot It, a resource from the Enoch Pratt Free Library at Maryland’s State Library Resource Center

How to spot fake news: Identifying propaganda, satire, and false information, a range of infographics and resources curated by Simon Fraser University

Fake News, Propaganda, and Misinformation: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources, a range of resources from Cornell University.

Finally, do not rely entirely on Facebook as your nonprofit, school or community program’s way of communicating. As noted earlier, your organization still needs a comprehensive, frequently-updated web site. Your organization should still have an email newsletter people can subscribe to. Your organization should be using other social media platforms. Your organization may still want to have a mailed paper newsletter, or open houses, or public meetings, or any of the many other ways organizations communicate offline. You invest entirely in one social media platform as your way of communicating at your own peril!

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

Subreddits For Good

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As of July 2019, Reddit ranks as the No. 5 most visited website in the USA and No. 13 in the world. Statistics suggest that 74% of Reddit users are male. Users tend to be significantly younger than other online communities like Facebook with less than 1% of users being 65 or over. Reddit is known in part for its passionate user base, which has been described as “offbeat, quirky, and anti-establishment”. I participate in Reddit because I have struggled at times to connect with young, male audiences, and to have a handle on what young people say regarding nonprofits, volunteering, civic engagement and other subjects of interest to me professionally. If you want to reach out to young people, especially men, in the USA, or even know what they might be thinking, Reddit is a terrific resource.

If you are interested in volunteerism or philanthropy, here are subreddits – online discussion groups on Reddit – you might be interested in visiting regularly, which I’ve dubbed, collectively, as “Reddit4Good”, though some are questionable in terms of ethics and quality of info (updated March 17, 2021):

If you are in Utah and are looking for volunteering opportunities, you should follow UServeUtah.

If you want to get ideas for voluntourism – where you pay to “volunteer” abroad, where you get to have a “feel good” experience for just a few weeks or months (as opposed to having to have an area of expertise and local people designing the volunteer role, not a company that brings in foreign volunteers), where you don’t need to have any skills and no one checks your background – that’s not really doing anything “for good.” But I’ll share the places on Reddit where people post voluntourism opportunities (updated March 17, 2021):

Full disclosure: I’m the volunteer moderator of the Volunteer subreddit. Is it tough being a 50+ female moderator on an online community that skews oh-so-young and male? Yes. Yes, it is.

September 21, 2020 update: check out The Nonprofit & NGO Guide to Using Reddit, to see how your nonprofit, NGO, charity or other community program can leverage these and other subreddits to build awareness, promote events, recruit volunteers and more.

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

YahooGroups is Going Away – SAVE YOUR FILES

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Yahoo will no longer allow users to upload content to the Yahoo Groups site. Yahoo is saying that YahooGroups will continue to exist, but only has a message site – messages aren’t going away, but all attachments and everything in the collaboration areas are. Here is the Official Yahoo Announcement.

Beginning October 21, 2019 YahooGroups users won’t be able to upload any content to a YahooGroup except for messages, and as of December 14 all previously posted content on the site will be permanently removed. You’ll have until that date to save anything you’ve uploaded.

EVERYTHING but messages on YahooGroups is going away: 

  • Files
  • Polls
  • Links
  • Photos
  • Folders
  • Calendar
  • Database
  • Attachments
  • Conversations
  • Message Digest
  • Message History

All Yahoo Groups site will be made private or restricted. Any new group members will need to request an invite or be invited by an admin.

You will still be able to communicate with YahooGroup members via email and search for private groups on the site and ask to join groups.

My advice, other than backing up the files on a YahooGroup you don’t want to lose: ABANDON SHIP. Find a new platform to communicate with your group! I do NOT recommend Facebook, since Facebook’s privacy is non-existent and not everyone is on Facebook (nor wishes to be forced on it just to be a member of your group).

I’m testing out groups.io. I’ve set up a group myself, to discuss nonprofit management. The free version is quite robust.

Just know that there is no magic third party messaging platform, file sharing platform, collaboration platform or blog platform that won’t, at some point, go away. Just as car brands come and go, just as technology comes and goes (remember cassette tapes?), online platforms come and go. All that talk you heard of the permanence of digital data, that nothing disappears from the Internet? Yeah, about that…

Legal issues & virtual volunteering

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Recently, someone wrote to Energize, the largest publisher of books regarding volunteer engagement, asking:

I am specifically looking for information on laws regarding virtual volunteers. If a volunteer living in one state is a virtual volunteer for a nonprofit in another state, which state’s laws protect the volunteer should a legal issue arise/

Energize asked me to respond. One note: I don’t use the phrase virtual volunteers. I did when I first launched the Virtual Volunteering Project in December 1996, but got tired of people saying, “Oh, if they are virtual, they aren’t real?” or “I know how to work with real volunteers but I need to work virtual volunteers.” So I make a point of using virtual volunteering only for the concept/practice of working with volunteers remotely.

In my response, I noted that, since 1997, I have regularly asked questions of various lawyers about possible legal issues regarding risk management and liability about volunteers working remotely. In more than 20 years of asking, I haven’t gotten much advice specific to online volunteers. And in more than 20 years of searching, I haven’t found any legal issues at all regarding volunteers providing service remotely, in terms of anyone suing the online volunteers, being sued by the online volunteers, online volunteers being arrested, etc.

Board members are volunteers, and in some states, there are laws regarding online board meetings (if online votes are allowed, for instance, and what constitutes an online vote). I know California and Oregon have such laws. If you are wondering about specifics for your state, your state attorney general can guide you (a Google search might yield specifics as well). 

In talking with legal folks about worst-case scenarios that might happen someday regarding online volunteers, Susan Ellis, my co-author of The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, and I looked to how computer crimes are handled: if a person solicits a minor for sex, for instance, he or she is charged in the state where he or she used a computer to do that, not where the minor is. But, as far as I know, that worst-case scenario with online volunteers has not happened.

The only cases I have come across regarding legal issues and virtual volunteering have been re unscrupulous people running nonprofits that offer a letter to anyone needing to complete court-ordered community service hours and willing to pay a fee for that letter, which says, fraudulently, that the person undertook volunteering for that organization. I have tracked these stories for years.  

So, are there legal risks for an organization to involve online volunteers? I’ve found none beyond possible, theoretical scenarios, nothing that has actually happened. There are risks, just as there are by allowing volunteers to work face-to-face with clients, allowing volunteers to come right onsite at your organization. Indeed, volunteers, onsite, in schools and religious organizations and any number of nonprofits, have done some very bad things, exploiting the access volunteering has given them to data, money, children, and others. The reality is that when humans are brought together, face-to-face or online, bad things can happen, whether they are volunteers, clients, paid consultants or employees. 

Susan Ellis and I talk more about legal issues and risk management in virtual volunteering in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, available in print or as a digital version from the Energize bookstore (but note that there are less than 100 copies of the print version left!). The book is the result of more than 20 years of research and experience regarding virtual volunteering, including online micro volunteering, crowdsourcing, digital volunteering, online mentoring and all the various manifestations of online service. It’s packed with examples from a variety of organizations and details on how virtual volunteering works, how challenges are overcome, and how success is measured. It includes

  • Detailed advice on virtual volunteering assignment, including one-time “Byte-Sized” tasks (micro-volunteering / microtasks), longer-term, higher-responsibility roles and virtual team assignments.
  • A thorough look at various practices for screening and matching volunteers to assignments, with an eye to getting the most capable volunteers into your volunteering ranks and preventing incomplete assignments or burdensome management tasks
  • How to make online volunteer roles accessible and welcoming for a variety, diversity of people

Susan and I wrote The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook in such a way that it would be timeless – as timeless as a book about using computers, laptops, smart phones and other networked devices could be. It is USA-centric but it offers a lot of international perspectives as well.

Also see:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 


NetAid: 20 years later

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October 9th is the 20th anniversary of the NetAid concerts, which launched a web site allowing people to volunteer online to help NGOs & United Nations initiatives all over the world – a web site that still exists and has mobilized many thousands of online volunteers to contribute to what we now call the Sustainable Development Goals.

NetAid started as a joint venture between the United Nations Development Programme and Cisco Systems, and launched with a concert event on October 9, 1999 with simultaneous activities meant to mobilize online volunteers and raise money and awareness for the Jubilee 2000 campaign – in the spirit of BandAid and LiveAid. The NetAid concerts took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Giants Stadium in New Jersey, USA, and the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Performers at the concerts included some of the biggest names of the day: Eurythmics, Bryan Adams, George Michael, David Bowie, Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Page, Busta Rhymes, Counting Crows, Bono, The Black Crowes, Sean John Combs (then Puff Daddy), Jewel, Mary J. Blige, Sting, Lil’ Kim, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and many more. Cisco sponsored the concerts and the web site, originally www.netaid.org. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was an enthusiastic supporter of the initiative.

In an October 7, 1999 New York Times article, Djibril Diallo, then UNDP public affairs director, said ”We want to use the computer to help change how the world looks at poverty and motivate people to help.” He said UNDP began examining ways of combining music, high technology and altruism more than a year before the NetAid concerts. The article notes that the NetAid web site was meant to be “a clearing house of information on the state of world poverty and the agency’s programs as well as a means of raising money.” The article quotes Mark Malloch Brown, then head of UNDP, who said ”The difference between this and earlier concerts is that we created a vehicle for people to come back, not just on the night of the concert with the one check they write. But instead, here’s a site they’re going to come back to time after time.” The article also noted that the web site “will permit groups and people with particular needs to register them in a Netaid database. It will also allow people who are willing to donate particular skills or materials to register them in the database.” After the concerts, in a Washington Post story, “NetAid Catches Few On the Web,” Robert Piper, described as manager of the NetAid site for UNDP, said the main purpose of NetAid was to mobilize volunteers, not money. “We’ve been [complaining] for years about the need for people in the developed world to participate [in aid programs], but they never had the tools to participate,” said Piper. “With the Internet, people can now get emotionally and intellectually involved.“

I am asked frequently how I started working for the United Nations. The answer: NetAid. Specifically, to fix the NetAid website and process regarding virtual volunteering. A lot of effort was put into promoting NetAid and recruiting online volunteers – but very little effort was made to teach UN agencies and NGOs how to create assignments for online volunteers and how to support those online volunteers in assignments. Therefore, NetAid floundered. UN Volunteers, an initiative of UNDP, was in charge of the virtual volunteering part of NetAid, and someone at UNV found some of my messages on an online discussion group for managers of volunteers. At the time, I was directing the Virtual Volunteering Project at the University of Texas, and I just happened to be the only expert on the subject of virtual volunteering (thankfully, I’m not all alone anymore!). That UN employee shared my information with others at UNV HQ, and I was recruited, specifically, to work at UNV/UNDP on both NetAid and the UNITeS initiative. And the rest, as they say, is history…

By 2002, the online volunteering part of NetAid had been moved entirely to www.onlinevolunteering.org (like that URL? I’m the one that chose it!) and was entirely owned and managed by UNDP/UNV. And it still is!

Meanwhile, NetAid, which had become a nonprofit based in New York City, tried to find a path forward. It explored the use of videogames for social change, co-founding the Games for Change movement in 2004. In 2004, NetAid co-produced a game with Cisco Systems called “Peter Packet,” which addressed how the Internet can help fight poverty, focusing on issues of basic education, clean drinking water, and HIV-AIDS. By 2006, NetAid had a new focus: to raise awareness among high school students in the USA regarding poverty in developing countries. The different campaigns of NetAid are chronicled through archived versions of its web site, www.netaid.org, available at Wayback Machine. In 2007, NetAid became a part of Mercy Corps and was quickly disbanded.

The onlinevolunteering.org site continues to bring together online volunteers and NGOs, UN agencies to do good things. And the lessons from NetAid regarding virtual volunteering can still be helpful to any tech4good, micro-volunteering initiative starting now. In fact, lessons from NetAid, and many other organizations engaged in virtual volunteering, informed the recommendations offered in The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, available for purchase in paperback directly from me or as an ebook (PDF) by the publisher, Energize, Inc.