VIRTUAL FACT SHEET

The term virtual volunteering describes a volunteer who The kinds of things you can put out for help from the completes tasks, in whole or in part, off site from the world are limited only by how interesting you can make organisation being assisted using the . Virtual the work. For example, you could call for comments on volunteering can be also known as online volunteering; your strategy documents, or as one organisation did, micro volunteering and sometimes . you could call on people to go birdwatching to assess the health of bird populations. In practice, people engaged in virtual volunteering undertake a variety of activities from locations remote So how do I get involved in virtual volunteering? to the organisation or people they are assisting, via a computer, smart phone or other internet connected Jayne Cravens comments that virtual volunteering is real device. volunteering - and real community service. It requires real time and a real commitment and has real deadlines. Some of these activities might include: That commitment may be short – just several minutes – and you may be able to do the service at any time on • Translating documents a particular day that you choose – or any day in a given • Media monitoring period you choose, but the commitment, even if that commitment is tiny, is real, and if you don’t complete an • Counselling people assignment you have signed up for, you can potentially • Website or social media development damage the organisation you are trying to help.

• Tutoring or mentoring students It can be easy to say yes to volunteering via the Internet • Graphic design and many people sign up to do so before really considering their schedule. Registering to be a virtual Virtual volunteering has been adopted by thousands of volunteer is just as much a responsibility as a face to non profit organisations and other initiatives. Currently face volunteering role. there is no organisation tracking best practice, so there is no data on how many people are engaged in virtual volunteering or how many organisations involve virtual Some useful starting points... volunteers. Go to www.coyotecommunications.com/stuff/findvv. shtml for a list of organisations that recruit online The United Nations runs an online volunteering volunteers specifically. service that allows organisations working in or for the developing world to recruit online volunteers, and These organisations listed on this page will not track has statistics available regarding numbers of online your volunteer hours. Also, you will have to ask, before volunteers and organisations involved. you volunteer, if the organisation will provide a signed document that confirms your volunteer hours. Jayne Cravens, a virtual volunteering expert has conducted considerable research in this area including a Below is a list of some organisations where you can look useful factsheet on the ‘Myths about Online Volunteering at virtual volunteering: (Virtual Volunteering)’. One of Jayne’s myths is that “online volunteering is a very new concept”; Jayne states United Nations Online Volunteering that virtual volunteering has been around since the Sparked – The Micro Volunteering Network internet was created, over 30 years ago. Myths around Online Volunteering Studies and Research on Online Volunteering Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing is a method of volunteering used by : Virtual Volunteering savvy online companies and organisations to harness increasingly choice rich volunteers. Organisations Crowdsourcing – a mash-up of ‘crowd’ and ‘outsourcing’ – is all about collaboration. Organisations crowdsource Volunteering Tasmania encourages organisations to when they outsource a set of small tasks, traditionally develop meaningful roles within the virtual volunteering assigned to an employee or contractor, to a large, space. Volunteering roles come in all varieties, sizes undefined group of people or community through an and locations – the common factor being that they are open call. willingly undertaken by people for no financial reward.

For assistance with developing virtual volunteering roles in your organisation or to find out more, please contact a Community Development Officer at VT in your region.