General Questions and Answers

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General Questions and Answers

  • What is virtual volunteering?
    Virtual volunteering means volunteer tasks completed, in whole or in part, via the Internet and a home or work computer. It's also known as online volunteering, cyber service, telementoring, teletutoring, and various other names. Virtual volunteering allows agencies to expand the benefits of their volunteer programs, by allowing for more volunteers to participate, and by utilizing volunteers in new areas.

    Many people actively search for volunteer opportunities they can complete via home or work computers, because of time constraints, personal preference, a disability or a home-based obligation that prevents them from volunteering on-site. Virtual volunteering allows anyone with Internet access to contribute time and expertise to not-for-profit organizations, schools, government offices and other agencies that utilize volunteer services.

    Virtual volunteering is similar to telecommuting, except that, instead of online employees, these are online volunteers.

    Virtual volunteering does not mean that volunteers work ONLY via the Internet. Many organizations find a combination of onsite and online tasks for volunteers works best for everyone involved (volunteers, staff, clients). Assignments can have different levels of virtuality. For instance, one volunteer may interact with clients online but meet onsite with a staff member regularly; another may talk with a client via email in addition to their regular face-to-face visits.

    Virtual volunteering sometimes also refers to the ways volunteer managers use the Internet to interact with all volunteers, regardless of where service is performed. For instance, some organizations allow volunteers to use e-mail to submit time sheets and progress reports, and other organizations use e-mail to communicate with all volunteers, rather than sending them materials via postal mail.

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  • What are some examples of virtual volunteering?
    The Virtual Volunteering Project defines two forms of online volunteering:
    Technical assistance provided by online volunteers to staff or other volunteers at an agency. Such assistance usually involves task or objective-based assignments, or the volunteer providing a particular expertise to the agency. This would include volunteers who work off-site, using a computer and the Internet:
    • Conducting online research: finding information to use in an agency's upcoming grant proposal or newsletter, gathering information on a particular government program or legislation that could affect an agency's clients, gathering web site addresses of similarly-focused organizations, using online phone books and web sites to update contact information for a database, etc.;
    • Providing professional consulting expertise: answering an agency's questions regarding human resources, accounting, management or legal issues, writing a speech, developing a strategic plan for a particular department, setting up a video conferencing event, providing industrial designs, etc.;
    • Helping with advocacy: posting information to appropriate online communities (newsgroups, lists, etc.), preparing legislative alerts to be sent via e-mail, keeping track of legislation that could affect an agency's clients, etc.;
    • Translating a document into another language;
    • Providing multimedia expertise, such as preparing a PowerPoint, Hypercard, QuickTime or other computer-based presentation;
    • Designing an agency's newsletter or brochure, or copy editing an agency's publication or proposal;
    • Proofreading drafts of paper and online publications;
    • Researching and writing articles for brochures, newsletters, web sites, etc.;
    • Designing a logo for an agency or program, or filling other illustration needs;
    • Preparing information for an agency's World Wide Web site;
    • Writing a technology plan, designing a marketing strategy, or directing other types of organizational planning and outreach;
    • Making sure a Web site is accessible for people with disabilities;
    • Registering an agency's World Wide Web home page and other appropriate pages with online search engines, directories and "What's New" sites;
    • Inputting an agency's volunteer opportunities into the many online databases available for such designing a database system using an agency's in-house database software (FileMaker Pro, Access, Lotus Approach, etc.) providing advanced Web site programming (creating automated forms, interactive areas, e-commerce functions, etc.);
    • Doing regular searches for news articles relating to an organization or a particular topic;
    • Volunteer management assistance: managing other volunteers in the aforementioned activities, providing an online orientation to all volunteers with Internet access (whether or not they are onsite or online volunteers), surveying volunteers via e-mail about their experiences with an agency or program, keeping track of volunteer hours, inputting volunteer opportunities into online databanks, etc.;
    Direct contact between a volunteer and a client / recipient of service. For example, a volunteer, via e-mail or a chat room, could:
    • Electronically visit with someone who is homebound, in a hospital or a rest home; this can be done in addition to onsite, in-person visits;
    • Provide online mentoring and instruction via e-mail or private intranet (helping students with homework questions, helping an adult learn a skill or find a job, helping someone to prepare a resume or explore career options, or help prison inmates with studies or programs);
    • Help with language instruction (for instance, help people learning English);
    • Staff an e-mail or chat room answer/support line, like a phone answer/support line, where people write in questions and trained volunteers answer them; or, be part of an online support group, where members provide advice to each other via a chat room, list or newsgroup;
    • Supervise or moderate an agency-sponsored chat room, e-mail discussion group or newsgroup;
    • Provide advance "welcoming" of people about to enter the hospital, go to summer camp, etc. from volunteers, via email or a special Web page or Intranet, and post-service follow up to the same group via email or the Web;
    • Work with other volunteers and/or clients to create a project, such as writing about the news of their neighborhood, school, special interest group, etc., or gathering history information relating to a particular time or region, to post on a web site or use in printed material;
    • Distance learning: training volunteers in a subject via the Internet;
    • Volunteers who supervise any of the above activities via the Internet and provide guidance, or ask for staff guidance, as appropriate

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  • What are the benefits of virtual volunteering?
    Online technologies provide an excellent way to augment an organization's volunteer recruitment methods, such as registering with a local volunteer center or sending announcements to civic groups. The Internet can also provide new ways to involve volunteers, and to involve volunteers who may not be able to participate in your traditional opportunities. However, online methods will not replace traditional volunteer recruitment methods, nor traditional ways of involving volunteers. There are many great reasons to recruit and involve volunteers via online technologies:
    • Potential volunteers who are not reached by traditional offline means may be reached online;
    • There are people who don't read the newspaper's weekly column on volunteer opportunities, or who don't read bulletins from the local volunteer center, but who would, indeed, love to volunteer, and are easily reached via the World Wide Web and Internet discussion groups;
    • Potential volunteers who wouldn't call for information or sign on to volunteer via phone may do so online;
    • Some people prefer to communicate via online means. Dashing off an e-mail or filling out an online sign-up sheet is quicker and, for some people, preferable to calling an organization;
    • E-mail provides a quick and easy way to communicate with current volunteers;
    • Even if volunteers work onsite in face-to-face settings, e-mail gives volunteer managers an easy way to solicit feedback, provide program updates, and send meeting or reminders;
    • Volunteers can network with each other via the Internet;
    • Volunteer managers can use online discussion groups (either via e-mail or via a live chat to allow volunteers who provide onsite, face-to-face service to interact with each other online -- asking each other questions, offering advice, etc. And you have a written record of all interactions, which can be helpful in program reports, grant proposals, etc. (with permission from participants, ofcourse);
    • People who prefer not to volunteer onsite may be willing to do so via their home or work computers [Such volunteers are environmentally friendly -- no car exhausts, less paper waste, etc. They also don't take up precious space in your agency's office (desk, phone, parking space, etc.)];
    • Virtual Volunteering programs allow for the participation of people who might find onsite volunteering difficult or impossible because of a disability, home obligation or work schedule, which in turn allows agencies to benefit from the additional talent and resources of more volunteers;
    • Involving offsite volunteers via the Internet extends the resources of your organization, which can augment staff resources and/or allow your organization to reach more clients;
    • New groups of volunteers are emerging--Some age groups and professionals are more prone to use the Internet than other means to connect with information and resources of value to them. These new volunteers can turn into long-time supporters, even donors;
    • Online volunteers may have better computer equipment and software than the organization they are assisting Online volunteers may have sophisticated software or programming skills your organization cannot afford to purchase, and may be willing to use these resources on your behalf;

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  • Who is volunteering virtually?
    The Project has gotten feedback from more than 150 online volunteers (people who have actually performed online service), ranging in age from 14 to 75. Most were between the ages of 18 and 50, with no large cluster of people anywhere within this range. Other agencies report that most of their online volunteers are in their 20s and 30s.

    Several volunteers ages 14 to 17 have e-mailed the Project looking for online opportunities because agencies they wanted to help on-site had prohibitions against involving anyone under 18, or because they had no transportation to an on-site volunteer assignment.

    The overwhelming majority, more than 60%, of online volunteers in contact with the Project identified themselves as Anglo or of European descent. The next largest group -- probably 10 percent -- identified as people of Asian or East Indian descent. Less than 25 people said they were black or Hispanic, and none identified as American Indian. The lack of ethnic diversity among online volunteers reflects the much cited technology gap in Internet access for ethnic minorities in the United States.

    There seems to be an even split among the sexes when it comes to online volunteering.

    Most online volunteers, as well as the agencies they serve, are in California, in or near the San Francisco or Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Other areas with seemingly large numbers of online volunteers are the greater Washington, D.C./Philadelphia metropolitan areas, New York City, the Boulder/Denver Colorado metropolitan areas, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. All of these areas have a higher number of Internet users per capita than the rest of the country. The large numbers in California could also be because Impact Online has a well-established notoriety in the state.

    The vast majority of online volunteers have performed or are also performing volunteer service in on-site, face-to-face settings (a whopping 80% have experience as on-site volunteers). Most reported very positive experiences as on-site volunteers, and looked at online volunteering as another way to "help others" or "give back." Few reported wanting to volunteer online as a permanent alternative to traditional, face-to-face volunteering.

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  • How many people are volunteering virtually? How many agencies involve online volunteers?
    This question is impossible questions to answer: there is no central registration of organizations or individuals engaged in any type of volunteering, let alone cyber service. Plus, many organizations that involve online volunteers don't know the terms "virtual volunteering" or "cyber service," and do not distinguish virtual involvement as different from on-site service.

    The Project has profiled more than 100 agencies involving online volunteers, but this is by no means a list of all organizations engaged in virtual volunteering -- these are just some that the Project staff knows about. We also don't know for certain how many online volunteers each of these agencies involve.

    We've also compiled more than 400 e-mail addresses of volunteers interested or engaged in virtually volunteering but, again, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

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  • What about online support groups and other informal online volunteering? Isn't this "virtual volunteering" as well?
    Absolutely! There are countless online discussion groups that aren't formally affiliated with or supervised by any agency. On these groups, anyone can ask questions and anyone can provide support to others for just about any subject imaginable. These online support groups deal with everything from using a particular type of software to parents home-schooling their kids to people with a particular disease to fans of a particular hobby.

    To participate, a potential user merely signs up via the web, subscribes via e-mail, or points a newsreader to a newsgroup. There are many advantages to such groups from the volunteer point of view: no application or screening process, no set time commitment -- people volunteer whenever and however they like. Scores of people benefit from these informal online groups -- many are of tremendous value to participants.

    There are materials on our Web site participants in these informal groups might find helpful, such as our index of Resources for Volunteer Moderators and Facilitators of Online Discussion Groups.

    Some of these online groups are profiled on our list of organizations involving online volunteers, because they've initiated or demonstrated an effective or outstanding practice or activity in engaging online volunteers that other groups could learn from and adapt for their own use in effectively involving online volunteers.

    However, the Virtual Volunteering Project is focused on organized volunteering efforts designed to show measurable results and impact, and those designed to demonstrate a certain degree of quality in the type of volunteer service provided. Most agencies need to evaluate volunteer abilities before matching volunteers to assignments and supervise activities to ensure quality. They also must make sure all volunteer activities fit within the agencies' mission. They must also be able to say how many volunteers participated, track and document all volunteering activities, report how many people were served by these volunteer activities, etc. Our materials are geared primarily to this audience of agency staff and volunteers.

    Other helpful resources: The Psychology of Virtual Communities, with research resources and articles on online therapy and online self-help groups; and The International Society for Mental Health Online.

    Also see Dr. John Grohol's guide to Starting a New Online Support Group (although this is focused primarily on how to do the start up technical aspects, not how to moderate or facilitate such a group).

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  • Is the Virtual Volunteering Project trying to get rid of face-to-face volunteering?
    No--Virtual volunteering is usually an augmentation of an agency's existing, on-site volunteering program. In fact, many online volunteers mix their cyberservice with face-to-face service at the same agency.

    There are many great reasons to recruit and involve volunteers via online technologies. Replacing face-to-face volunteers, however, is not one of them.

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  • Is the Virtual Volunteering Project focused only on the United States?
    The Virtual Volunteering Project was funded to only assist agencies and volunteers in the United States. Because the Internet doesn't usually recognize those boundaries, organizations and people outside the U.S. use our Web-based resources as well to engage in virtual volunteering. The Project also refers to many agencies outside the U.S. involving online volunteers to highlight their best practices.

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  • How can I get a copy of the Virtual Volunteering Guidebook?
    The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook is a color .PDF document that offers detailed information on the basics of setting up and managing a successful virtual volunteering program. This book captures the contributions of many, many collaborating organizations and online volunteers who worked with the Virtual Volunteering Project from 1996 - 1998.

    The guidebook is co-authored by Susan Ellis, an internationally-recognized volunteer management expert who has served as an advisor to the VV Project since its inception in 1996; and former VV Project Manager Jayne Cravens. The guidebook was designed by Energize, Inc.

    Please note: The web site materials on which this book was based have been updated numerous times since the publication of this printable guidebook in February 2000; therefore, the guidebook should be considered an archive, and is not as up-to-date as the website.

    You must have the freely-available Adobe Acrobat Reader to access the Guidebook. [Download Acrobat Reader at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html.] Sight-impaired users can download the free "Make Accessible" plug-in for acrobat (the plug-in converts the file to text that is able to read with any screenreader) at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1161.

    The book is 138 pages long, and takes up approximately 1.2 megabytes of space. Make sure you have enough room on your hard drive before downloading this document, and please be patient, as downloading can take several minutes, depending on the speed of your Internet connection. If you don't think you have enough room on your computer to download the guidebook, consider asking one of your volunteers to do it for you using their own machine, and then printing it out for you.

    Download the Guidebook
    Last modified February 09, 2004.
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