Virtual volunteering
Tuesday 27 May 2008
June 1st sees the start of Volunteers Week. If you want to help but can only fit it around your other activities, then maybe virtual volunteering is for you.
What is it?
Virtual volunteering is a new way to help out as a volunteer that allows you to offer your time on your terms – where and when you want to, and for as long as you want to.
Also known as online volunteering, this way of offering time often means that tasks can be done partly or completely online from home. It is a great way to get involved, take action, and generally 'give back' online.
Virtual volunteering also lets you reach beyond your local area and even support people and projects overseas.
What can you do?
Tasks are varied but most involve sitting in front of a computer. Some tasks you could do include:
- Admin such as data entry, emails and collecting information
- Online research and surveys for campaigns that charities may run
- Design work such as logos, websites or images
- Interviewing people and editing them into a podcast (audio) or vodcast (video)
- Helping to update websites
- Managing social pages like MySpace or Bebo for a charity
- Managing online community pages such as forums or emails
- Taking photographs
- Blogging about a campaign or website
- Producing music to help promote a campaign
- Writing articles
What can you gain?
As well as the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped out, volunteering can also be a good way to gain confidence.
Although the work is done from home on your own, there will be lots of other volunteers and you will often meet online so it is also a good way to make friends.
It is also very good for your CV and will definitely be a plus when applying for work later on.
Find out more
YouthNet runs two websites, TheSite.org and do-it.org.uk which is one of the biggest websites for those that want to volunteer in the UK.
YouthNet itself is run by over 180 virtual volunteers who help on both of the websites. The virtual team includes 27 photographers, 11 bloggers, 10 online market researchers and, 55 online peer advisors.
TheSite.org also runs a database of volunteering opportunities.
Changemakers is independent charity and social enterprise which lets young people aged 14-25 to make a positive and continuing contribution to society – virtual volunteering being one of the ways. Changemakers also have a YouTube channel where young volunteers have produced their own videos about all sorts of issues affecting them.
Virtual volunteering is still a fairly new idea. If there’s a charity you want to help in some way why not send them an email and offer your services?
Opportunities
To give you more idea of what work is available here is a list of current opportunities that we found through TheSite.org’s database:-
- Online Diary Writer
- Web artists
- Ranter!
- Residents Network Member
- Web and community researcher
