Tag Archives: academic

Research needs re: virtual volunteering

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I get contacted regularly by university students doing a Master’s degree research project that relates to virtual volunteering and, unfortunately, their research subject is almost always the same: the motivations of people to be online volunteers.

I’m blunt in my response to them: please don’t. This subject is not one that nonprofits or NGOs are asking for. In fact, it has become a joke among managers of volunteers: oh, look, *another* paper about people’s motivations for volunteering… ARGH!

This article by Susan Ellis and Rob Jackson well explains why the idea of yet another survey project about volunteer motivations is not something most nonprofits or NGOs are interested in. Read in particular the part called “A Preoccupation with the Motivations to Volunteer.”

What would NGOs and nonprofits love to know about virtual volunteering? What would be great, even ground-breaking research regarding virtual volunteering? Here are some digital volunteering research topics in dire need of exploration (and that really need to be undertaken by people that are NOT me):

  • factors for success in keeping online volunteers productive and engaged long-term at an organization or within a program
  • how online volunteers and/or those that involve them define a successful virtual volunteering experience, and exploring if these are in conflict
  • if online microvolunteering really does lead to longer-term virtual volunteering/higher responsibility roles at an organization, and/or if it leads to greater numbers of donors
  • expectations of people that sign up for online volunteer assignments before they begin versus the reality of the assignments/relationships/benefits
  • are the advantages that are promoted regarding virtual volunteering – that it allows for people to be more involved in an organization they already volunteer with onsite, that it allows for the participation of people as volunteers who might not be able to otherwise, that it can be a form of accommodation for people who have disabilities, that it frees up staff to undertake other activities, etc. – realized most of the time? some of the time? what factors are necessary for those benefits to be realized – or preventing them from becoming realities?
  • what causes people to quit volunteering online, and are the reasons similar or different than what causes people to quit traditional, onsite volunteering?
  • comparative case studies of online volunteer engagement and support for such at a variety of organizations, looking at factors for successful management, budgets for such, number of people working directly with the online volunteers, etc.
  • comparative case studies of screening of people that want to volunteer online at a variety of organizations, looking for factors that may lead to greater completion of tasks and longer-term commitments by online volunteers or may lead to greater drop out rates of accepted volunteers that receive assignments.
  • comparative case studies of organizations involving online volunteers, regarding what percentage of volunteers are using a laptop or desktop computer for completing assignments, versus those using smart phones and tablets. And is there a difference in the kinds of assignments being done on laptops and desktops versus smart phones and tablets? Is there a difference in the kinds of volunteers using laptops and desktops versus smart phones and tablets?
  • comparative case studies of online mentoring programs that involve online volunteers as mentors, regarding why some last more than two years and why others end early, or immediately after the pilot phase
  • comparative case of online mentoring programs that involve online volunteers as mentors, regarding their meeting of stated education, self-esteem, career exploration or other goals
  • comparative case of online mentoring programsthat involve online volunteers as mentors, on mentors or on participants five years after participation
  • how much does involving online volunteers cost for the host organization – a comparison of at least 20 organizations in the USA (or any one country, for that matter)
  • are there management needs that are different for online volunteers representing different groups (by age, by geographic region, by profession, by education level, etc.) to complete assignments and to be inspired to continue supporting an organization over months rather than just days or weeks
  • what differences are there in the success of involving online volunteers in non-English-speaking countries in Europe or elsewhere in comparison with North America?
  • what differences are there in the success of involving online volunteers in developing or transitional countries where Internet access is available to large portions of the population (India, Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan, Poland, etc.) in comparison with North America?
  • how does satisfaction with volunteering among online volunteers compare to satisfaction with volunteering undertaking onsite administrative roles that do NOT involve interactions with clients (onsite volunteers that help with mailings, help with inventory, help prepare a room for an event later, file papers, provide IT support to staff, etc.). Do these two groups of volunteers feel similar isolation? Do any feelings of isolation or support relate to being online or is it because of lack of regular staff interaction, online or face-to-face? Or lack of access to seeing the impact of direct service with clients?

Tackle any of those research projects and I will promote your research everywhere online I possibly can. I may even dance in the streets.

Four cautions for researchers of virtual volunteering:

  • During your literature review, you will need to look at research articles and case studies that never use the word volunteers. or the term virtual volunteering. For instance, people that contribute their time and talent, online, to nonprofit open source projects may never be called volunteers. Those that contribute their time and knowledge to Wikipedia online are usually called Wikipedians rather than volunteers. Yet, research literature on these subjects is vital for informing any researcher wanting to do an academic study regarding virtual volunteering.
  • If you interview people, you will also not be able to use the phrase virtual volunteering without fully explaining it and ensuring people understand your definition; otherwise, you will find people saying they don’t volunteer online or do not involve volunteers online when, in fact, they do – they just didn’t understand the meaning so they said no.
  • Read this list of myths regarding virtual volunteering before you begin. If you start your research from an assumption that online volunteers are more isolated and less supported than onsite volunteers, for instance, or that virtual volunteering is great for people that don’t have time for onsite volunteering, or that people that volunteer online don’t do so onsite, face-to-face, then you are starting from a false premise that is not supported by any research to date. And if you want your research to test one of these myths, by all means, go for it!
  • You will be hard pressed to find anyone volunteering exclusively online; the vast majority of people that volunteer online ALSO volunteer onsite (and if you have research that says otherwise, let’s hear about it!). That’s why it’s impossible to measure things like if the health benefits associated with volunteering are exclusive for onsite volunteering.

All of the research I know related to virtual volunteering, by the way, is listed here on the virtual volunteering wiki. I try to update this list at least once a year. Note that, as of a few years ago, most of it is NOT by me! Hurrah!

Other blogs I’ve written on the subject of research and volunteering, including virtual volunteering, that should be helpful to anyone researching any aspect of virtual volunteering:

vvbooklittleWhy don’t I do at least some of the aforementioned research? Three reasons: One: I’m burnt out regarding virtual volunteering research. I poured so many years and effort into researching and writing The LAST Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, as well as managing various virtual volunteering initiatives since the 1990s, and I need a break. Two: I would really like to read research by OTHER PEOPLE. I think fresh eyes and fresh minds could bring to light things all of my many years researching this subject has made me blind to. I’m so ready to be enlightened on this subject by other people! Three: I don’t have the resources. I would need funding and I would want my research associated with a university, preferably in association with my obtaining a PhD.

So, those are the research needs regarding virtual volunteering, at least as far as I can see. What are YOUR ideas?

Technology, the Internet & Social Work Practice: call for papers

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This special issue of Advances in Social Work will explore the themes of changing technology and media and their impact on social work practice. Taking a broad stance on defining practice, articles may focus on any element of the practice landscape including: clinical work, social work administration, policy advocacy, community organizing, and others.

The use of technology in social work practice has risen dramatically over the past 10 years. Clinical interventions such as psychotherapy using telephones, interactive video, and the Internet are gaining in popularity (Parker-Oliver & Demiris, 2005). Additionally, new technology is revolutionizing policy practice in the United States, giving rise to new interventions collectively called electronic advocacy or online advocacy (FitzGerald & McNutt, 1997; McNutt & Boland, 1999). Both in the practice and policy arenas technological innovation is changing the way that social workers do business.

We are looking for manuscripts of up to 4,000 words (no more than 5,000 words including references) relating to any of the following themes:

  • The impact of mobile technologies on social work practice
  • Confidentiality in an age of open communication tools
  • Challenges and opportunities for using technology and communication tools to help clients
  • Accountability practices, data use, and management in human services agencies
  • Social networking’s impact on social work practice
  • Electronic advocacy
  • Digital community organizing
  • Ethical dilemmas that arise from use of technology in practice

The submission deadline is September 30, 2014. The issue is scheduled to appear in May or June, 2015. Authors should follow the guidelines for writing articles for Advances in Social Work which may be found here: Author Guidelines. Submitted manuscripts will be anonymously peer reviewed.

For more information, please contact:

William H. Barton, Editor, Advances in Social Work: wbarton@iupui.edu 

or

Guest Editors:

Lauri Goldkind, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University, New York, NY Goldkind@fordham.edu

JohnMcNutt,Professor, SchoolofPublicPolicy&Administration,Universityof Delaware, Newark, DE mcnuttjg@udel.edu

Penn Social Impact Doctoral Fellows Program

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The University of Pennsylvania’s Nonprofit Leadership (NPL) Program invites doctoral student researchers to apply for the 2014 Penn Social Impact Doctoral Fellows Program.

Facilitated by Peter Frumkin, Director of the NPL Program, the program will explore emerging issues in the world of nonprofit organizations, voluntary action, philanthropy and international civil society. The program is June 7 – July 1, 2014 at The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Students are expected to submit a draft research paper that they would like to refine and prepare for publication during the program. Housing near the Penn campus and $3,000 stipends are provided to all 2014 Summer Fellows.

Eligibility: Graduate students currently enrolled in PhD programs at degree-granting institutions

Submission deadline: Friday, March 14, 2014

Submission requirements: A resume, draft research paper (unpublished) on a topic related to the nonprofit sector, and an abstract. Send to Leeamy1@sp2.upenn.edu by March 14, 2014.

Finding out how many orgs are involving online volunteers

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A followup to my last blog, where I whined that so many organizations charged with measuring volunteering in a region or country refuse to ask any questions related to virtual volunteering.

As I’ve said many times: when I do workshops on virtual volunteering, and describe all the different aspects of what online volunteering looks like, including microvolunteering, someone always raises a hand or comes up to me afterwards to say, “My organization has online volunteers and I didn’t even know it!” or “I’m an online volunteer and I didn’t know it!”

If you ask organizations, “Do you have virtual volunteering / microvolunteering at your organization?” most will say “No.” But if you ask the question differently, the answer is often “Yes!”

How would YOU ask the question of organizations to find out if they were engaging volunteers online?

Here’s one idea:

In the last 12 months, did any volunteers helping your organization work in whole or in-part offsite on behalf of your organization, and use their own computers, smart phones, notebooks (Internet-enabled devices) from their home, work or elsewhere offsite, to provide updates on their volunteering, or the results of their volunteering?

What is your idea for ONE question? Please post it in the comments.

Challenges to getting answers:

  • There’s rarely just one person at an organization involving volunteers; often, several employees or key volunteers are involving volunteers, but there may not be one person tracking all of this involvement. So if you ask this question of just one person at the organization, you might not get an accurate answer.
  • The word volunteer is contested. People will say, “Oh, we don’t have volunteers. We have pro bono consultants, we have unpaid interns, we have executives online, we have board members, but we do not have volunteers.” That means someone who is advising your HR manager regarding the latest legislation that might affect hiring or your overworked marketing person regarding social media, and offering this advice unpaid, from the comfort of his or her  home or office or a coffee shop, won’t be counted as an online volunteer – even though they are. In fact, I talked to the manager of an online tutoring program who brought together students and what she called “subject matter experts” (SMES) together online for school assignments, but because it never dawned on her that the SMES were volunteers (unpaid, donating their service to a cause they believed in), she had no idea she was managing a volunteer program, let alone a virtual volunteering program.

This is not easy. I’ve been researching virtual volunteering since 1996 and, geesh, it’s still not easy! When does it get easier?!

Voluntary Sector & Volunteering Research Conference, Sept. 2013 in the UK

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Reposted from a message by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in the United Kingdom:

Call for Papers: Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference
10-11th September 2013, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

This is the primary UK conference for the voluntary sector and volunteering research community. It brings together academics, practitioners and policymakers with a shared interest in the voluntary sector and volunteering. It also attracts some delegates from overseas and this provides an opportunity for networking with researchers from different countries and contexts. In 2013 the partners who have been responsible for organising the event in the past – NCVO and VSSN – have been joined for the first time by IVR a development which reflects the increasing interest in volunteering among participants.

Our aim is simple: to provide the opportunity to share new, emerging research, and then to make the most of the evidence base by connecting researchers with the policymakers and practitioners who use research.

The conference is your ‘open space’ to share new and existing research, so this call for papers is an open invitation to all researchers working on or with the sector and on volunteering.

CONFERENCE THEMES
We are inviting proposals – either for individual papers or entire sessions (3-4 papers or a panel) – which address the three main aims of the conference:

1.       TO INFORM AND ASSIST THE WORK OF PRACTITIONERS

We would welcome proposals for papers that:

  • focus on issues of internal organisation – such as leadership; accountability; governance; financial management; strategic planning; and performance improvement;
  • explore and discuss the ways in which voluntary sector organisations interact with their environment – such as their relationships with government, their interaction with businesses and the ways in which they co-operate, collaborate and compete with other voluntary organisations; or
  • address issues of volunteering and volunteer involvement including motivation and rewards, volunteer management and other ways in which the work of volunteers can best be organised to provide successful opportunities for volunteering.

2.       TO INFORM AND INFLUENCE POLICY

We would welcome proposals for papers that analyse and explore the implications for volunteering and voluntary organisations of:

  • developments in ‘horizontal’ policies which impact on volunteering or the voluntary sector as a whole – such as the ‘Big Society’ and government expectations about the role of voluntary action; the promotion of giving time and money; and commissioning; or
  • changes in ‘vertical’ policies which affect the work of organisations working in specific fields of activity (such as the welfare of older people, children or those with disabilities and people in need of advice and information) and users of their services.

3.       TO SHARE THE FRUITS OF RECENT RESEARCH AND THEORY-BUILDING

We also welcome proposals for papers that:

  • report on the findings from recent research on the voluntary sector and volunteering; or
  • make a contribution to the theoretical understanding of any aspect of voluntary action

SUBMISSIONS
You can submit a proposal for either a single paper presentation or for a whole session. In all submissions, please be sure to include your name,organisation and email address. The deadline for all submissions is 15thMay 2013. Please email your proposals to conference@vssn.org.uk. Proposals will only be accepted in the template provided (click here to download the template)

1. SINGLE PAPERS: Parallel sessions will offer a balance of presentations and discussion time. Typically, sessions include three 15 minute presentations, followed by substantial discussion. All papers presented in the parallel sessions will also be available in the conference proceedings, so that, where appropriate, more detail can be provided.

Submission: You should send us a 400 to 600-word summary of your research. We welcome submissions discussing preliminary findings as well as those on completed projects. There is no need to include references at this stage.

2. THEMED PANEL SESSIONS: In panel sessions, researchers and practitioners will discuss a theme, with audience participation. Submissions for panel sessions should list panel members and give a clear overview of the topic to be discussed. Please also make it clear whether the proposed session consists of linked papers on a shared theme or involves the discussion of a topic by a panel of commentators.

Submission: Please submit a 400 to 600-word proposal that provides an overview of the theme to be discussed and the form the discussion will take. This might be a workshop, debate, panel or structured discussion or a suite of papers on related topics. If the format consists of papers on a shared theme, please submit brief abstracts for each of them as well as the overarching proposal.

If your submission is successful, we will ask you to send us a longer 2500 to 4500-word paper or papers for inclusion in the conference proceedings. We will give details on the preferred format of the paper when we confirm acceptance of your submission.

THE CAMPBELL ADAMSON PRIZE
Each year NCVO offers a prize for the best paper submitted to the conference. Papers will only be considered for the award if they are received by the deadline of 31st July 2013. The prize will be awarded for the paper that best meets the criteria of research quality; practice or policy relevance; and accessibility of style and approach.

AFTER SUBMISSION
If your proposal is accepted you will still need to book and pay for a place at the conference. Louise Rogers (researchconference@ncvo-vol.org.uk) will be in touch to arrange your payment.

IMPORTANT DATES

Abstract of 400-500 words to be submitted 5pm on 15th May 2013
Notification of accepted submissions 3rd June 2013
Full paper of 2500-4,500 words and 150 word abstract for the conference proceedings to be submitted 5pm on 31st July 2013
Deadline for Early Bird rates 5pm on 24th July 2013
The conference 10th–11th September 2013

NEW RESEARCHERS SESSIONS
As part of the annual Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference, a special session will be run for ‘new’ researchers, by VSSN and IVR. The session runs parallel to the main conference programme and is free to attend. It is aimed at early career voluntary sector researchers, whether postgraduate students or researchers in the sector. It is a fantastic opportunity to meet, discuss research and share ideas with other new researchers as well as present your own research in a supportive setting. Their call for papers has also been issued and further information can be found on the IVR website http://www.ivr.org.uk/ivr-events

Nonprofits & NGOs: Get to Know a University

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Nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs):

Do you know what community colleges, public universities and private universities are nearest your agency, geographically? And do any of the degrees or classes they offer relate to the mission of your organization in any way?

For instance,

  • If your organization provides counseling, have you investigated to see if the nearest college or university has a graduate degree program in psychology?
  • If your organization assists victims of domestic violence, have you investigated to see if the nearest college or university has a degree program in social work?
  • If you are focused on the environment in any way, have you investigated if the college or university offers any environment resource management-related courses?
  • If you work with people trying to start micro-enterprises, have you investigated to see if the college or university nearest you offers business management classes, or even an MBA?

Here’s why your organization needs to be able to answer these questions:

  • Your nonprofit or NGO has the real-world environment that college and university faculty and graduate students need for academic research and practical experience.
  • Higher ed institutions have the skills and knowledge your organization may need as well as probono consultants or researchers or on-loan staff.
  • Faculty at colleges and universities get contacted by the media, and if the story is going to be something related to your organization’s mission, they will refer those reporters to you as well.
  • Faculty may hear of funding opportunities that might be appropriate for your organization. 
  • Faculty may find themselves in a conversation with public officials or business leaders where they could recommend your organization’s work.

How can nonprofits and NGOs network with university faculty and get on their radar for potential partnerships?

  • Look at course offerings of college and universities, and identify the faculty teaching courses that relate to your organization’s work. Build a database of people you want to contact; phone numbers and email addresses for most of these folks will be easy to find online, either on the college or university’s web site or through a Google or Bing search.
  • Look to see if faculty with which you want to connect has a Twitter feed and, if so, and it’s regarding their work, follow such. Same for a Facebook profile or a GooglePlus profile. Get to know more about their work through their updates. If the person posts something that relates to your work, reply to a post.
  • Read something by that faculty member in an academic journal (you can get access to this through your local library) or other publication.
  • Add appropriate faculty to your press release distribution list.
  • Invite the faculty you have identified to your open houses and public events. Send a personalized invitation, noting exactly why you are inviting this person to such. 
  • Invite the faculty you have identified to a meeting at your organization set up just for that person, or even to lunch. Let them know about your organization’s in-house expertise. If you already have partnership ideas, propose them. If you don’t, talk about what the faculty member’s courses and research have in common with your organization, and say that you would love to collaborate in some way but you aren’t entirely sure how.

It’s an ongoing cultivation process. You are building relationships, and that won’t come from just an email, a phone call or meeting face-to-face once. Colleges and universities are a HUGE resource right in your backyard – not just as one-day student volunteers, but as potential program and funding partners. Don’t wait for them to find you – seek THEM out!

Look what partnerships with universities can lead to:

Western Kentucky University Entrepreneurship students working to revitalize downtown businesses

Volunteerism-related research wish list for 2012

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I’ve blogged about what I learned or relearned in 2011 that I want to take into 2012.

Now, here’s a wish list for volunteerism-related research that I hope organizations like the Independent Sector, any ARNOVA members, The Institute for Volunteering Research (IVR), and others will delve into in 2012:

  • what are the top three factors are that keep nonprofits, NGOs, schools and other mission-based organizations from involving more volunteers
  • what are the top three factors are that these organizations feel affect their retaining of volunteers
  • if these organizations honestly believe their volunteer force needs to represent a diversity of ages, cultures and backgrounds; and if so, why, and if not, why not
  • what training all staff at an organization need in order to involve more volunteers and better support volunteers (not just the person in charge of recruiting and managing volunteers)
  • how these organizations know if their volunteer engagement is successful or not, how they define that “success”, how they know if there is a problem, etc.
  • how often these organizations revisit and revise their employee, volunteer and client policies with an eye, specifically, to safety of each of those groups
  • if such organizations have an online discussion group or intranet for their volunteers (would love to know how many have such versus how many don’t), and if they do, how they view the group’s effectiveness as a way to communicate with volunteers

I would love to know, through a survey of volunteers:

  • how many read and send email most every day
  • how many use Twitter
  • how many use Facebook
  • how many would feel comfortable using Facebook, Twitter or any social media as a part of their volunteering, versus those that would NOT want to do so (I’m hearing from many volunteers who are saying they do NOT want to mix the two)

I’ve already offered what I would love for someone to research re: microvolunteering, that I think would actually be of value to the charity sector.

If anyone does actually do this kind of research – as opposed to the oh-so-tired what motivates volunteers research that I AM SO TIRED OF – I will be happy to promote your work every way I can, because this research is needed. Greatly needed. We thirst for this data… I would dance for this data…

And for individual nonprofits, NGOs, schools and other mission-based organizations involving volunteers: why not create a free survey on SurveyMonkey and find out for yourself what volunteers are thinking about your organization, what Internet tools they use, what tools they might like to use with your organization, etc.? And share what you find? Your volunteers will see it as volunteer recognition.

Needed: Online Volunteering Research

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On the Volunteers & Technology forum at TechSoup, someone asked me what I thought the top five potential research areas are regarding online volunteering.

My answer is there, but I’ll put it here as well, with some additional info.

First, I should note that no institution is doing online research regarding online volunteering, and no one person is consistently doing it, including me — I do it when I can, as I have no funding to do such (and, actually, I haven’t been seeking any). I’ve done more in the last two years, for the revision of the Virtual Volunteering Guidebook (to be released early next year), than I’ve done in the 10 years before — but I was stunned at the lack of research by other people I could reference.

Studies regarding volunteering don’t include anything about online volunteering, despite the practice being more than 30 years old. I get an email about twice a year from some graduate student wanting to do a study about online volunteering, and I’m happy to help them, but their topic is always the same, and not at all what’s needed by the field: the motivation of online volunteers. Snooze.

For practitioners — as in nonprofit and government staff that want to be successful in engaging online volunteers — I think the priority research needs regarding online volunteering are the following, but not in any order of priority — any of them would be hugely welcomed by practitioners:

    • What are the factors for success in an online volunteering completing a volunteering assignment.
  • What are the factors that keep an online volunteer supporting an organization for at least a year.

For those first two, practitioners have been talking about this, and I’ve been talking to them about it, but I haven’t been researching it in a consistent way that would meet rigorous academic standards. For those who have been involving online volunteers themselves: we know the answers, for the most part, but the only actual academic research is from back in the 1990s. There really needs to be current research, and not by me. Such research would be an affirmation that’s really needed by practitioners in mobilizing resources to involve volunteers and, as there are a few people running around claiming loudly that no screening, no orientation, no prepping of online volunteers is needed at all, that online volunteers will magically complete their assignments without organizations being so “bureaucratic”, it means a lot of volunteer managers can get push back from senior management when asking for critically-needed resources to properly screen and support online volunteers.

Other research priorities, IMO:

    • Are there management needs that are different for online volunteers representing different groups (by age, by geographic region, by profession, by education level, etc.) to complete assignments and to be inspired to continue supporting an organization over months rather than just days or weeks.
    • How much does involving online volunteers cost – a comparison of at least 20 organizations in the USA (or any one country, for that matter).
    • What differences are there in the success of involving online volunteers in non-English-speaking countries in Europe in comparison with North America?
  • What differences are there in the success of involving online volunteers in developing or transitional countries where Internet access is available to large portions of the population (India, Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan, Poland, etc.) in comparison with North America?

Okay, that was six instead of five. Those last two are needed hugely. Online volunteering is happening in other countries, whether the NGOs there admit it or not. I’ll never forget doing a training in Germany for about a dozen folks, and once I explained what online volunteering was, it turned out four organizations there were involving online volunteers — they hadn’t realized it, however.  Spain is doing a LOT regarding online volunteering — but no one is tracking it/researching it (I’d say they are ahead of even the UK in terms of online volunteer engagement — they were as of 2001, anyway).

Now, what I didn’t say on the TechSoup forum: why aren’t academics, organizations and institutions including online volunteering in their studies regarding volunteering? Why do they continue to ignore a practice that’s more than 30 years old, and has been talked about widely — in newspapers, at conferences, in online discussion groups — since the late 1990s? Here is why I think that’s the case:

    • Intellectual laziness on the part of of the organizations — and, in some cases, on the part of individual researchers.
    • These organizations and institutions, and many academics, are simply not in touch with what is happening on the front lines of volunteer engagement. They don’t participate in online discussion groups about nonprofits, with practitioners, for instance. Their silence is deafening.
    • They do not listen to others outside their immediate circle — and they let funders, even from the corporate world, define their research topics. Try writing, say, the Corporation for National Service or the Pew Research Center about online volunteering and the need for research or the need for it to be consistently included in volunteerism research, and see if they respond. Yes, I’ve tried, more than once. No, they never wrote back. I gave up.

Your thoughts?