help others WITHOUT LEAVING HOME By Molly Culbertson Photo by Jennifer Silverberg

USE YOUR TIME AND TALENTS TO SUPPORT CAUSES YOU CARE ABOUT, EVEN WHEN YOU CAN’T BE THERE IN PERSON. When you picture volunteering, you may think of preparing food at a soup kitchen, cleaning up a city park or tutoring a child in need. But did you know that you can make a difference without leaving your home? It’s called virtual volunteering, and it’s ideal for anyone who works nontraditional hours, is a stay-at-home caregiver, has limited transportation or simply prefers to volunteer from home. “Virtual volunteering is any kind of volunteer activity that you do remotely and that somehow involves the Internet,” says Jayne Cravens, who has been researching virtual volunteering since the 1990s. Projects include varied tasks such as bookkeeping, writing fundraising letters, building a website, entering data, translating a document, designing a logo and countless others you can do from home, Cravens says. Flexibility is one of the biggest benefits, says Sarah Jane Rehnborg, a Thrivent member and leader at the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas at Austin. “You can do many of these volunteer tasks whenever you want to—early in the morning, late at night,” she says. “You’re not tied to specific hours.” Thrivent member Claudia Trautmann of St. Louis agrees. Now retired after a career as a Claudia chiropractor, she volunteers remotely as many Trautmann as 10 to 20 hours a week. Trautmann began

Thrivent.com volunteering virtually right after college. “I was working full time, and I wanted to give Bethania Kids is a Christian mission that exists to bring wholeness and back, but I didn’t have the time or ability to hope to orphaned, abandoned volunteer in person,” she says. “My first virtual and disabled children in India. volunteer experience was answering a women’s PHOTO COURTESY OF BETHANIA KIDS (BETHANIAKIDS.ORG) crisis line from my home at night.” Today, Trautmann devotes most of her volunteer time to Bethania Kids, a nonprofit help others in India. The Christian organization serves poor, abandoned and disabled children through residential homes and before- and after-school care programs while also providing empowerment programs for women. Trautmann is a board member of Bethania Kids, serving as vice president of marketing and communications. She works virtually with a team of other volunteers to create newsletters and other updates for supporters and donors. BE A “I was born in South India to missionary VIRTUAL parents, and I knew the founders of Bethania VOLUNTEER Kids,” Trautmann says. “The organization and Contact your church, its mission have always been very special to me.” local schools or nonprofits to learn Tap Into Your Talent what kinds of Virtual volunteering taps into very specific volunteer needs skills, says Basil Sadiq, marketing manager they might have. In with VolunteerMatch, an online volunteer addition, the following organizations have engagement network. websites that link “Many in-person volunteer opportunities— nonprofit organizations like helping with an annual fundraising gala with virtual volunteers: or stocking a food pantry—require time and Some tasks may take a few hours each week. commitment. These opportunities are also Some—like giving feedback on a new video or VOLUNTEERMATCH: great avenues to explore an organization’s tagging photographs for a website—may take a Find ways to support a work and mission and learn how to give back few minutes. “But whether the task takes hours broad range of causes, including education, to good causes in different capacities,” Sadiq or minutes, they are real hours and real minutes the environment, says. “With virtual volunteering, nonprofit and can have a real impact,” Cravens says. homelessness and organizations are seeking unique skills, and many more. they can use volunteers with those skills from How to Get Started volunteermatch.org across the street or across the globe.” Ready to volunteer? Start by considering your A recent search on VolunteerMatch found talents and your passions. “Think about the UNITED NATIONS more than 6,000 openings for skilled volunteers, kinds of things you might do to support a cause VOLUNTEERS (UNV): Virtual volunteers work including tutoring, technical writing, budgeting, you’re passionate about,” Cravens says. If you to address sustainable fundraising and staff coaching. know about a relevant nonprofit, reach out to development see if you can help. You also can search for both challenges around the Making the Commitment local and international opportunities online. world. Cravens says that one of the biggest myths (See “Be a Virtual Volunteer” on this page.) unv.org about virtual volunteering is that it’s for “Virtual volunteering will take off from people who don’t have time for traditional your first offer of help, and it will enrich ALL FOR GOOD: The site includes volunteering. “Virtual volunteer tasks take real your life in ways you can’t even imagine,” detailed descriptions n time—and require a real commitment,” she Trautmann says. of volunteer positions says. “Once you’ve signed up as a volunteer, as well as estimated the nonprofit counts on you, just as it does its Molly Culbertson writes for a variety of time commitments. on-site volunteers.” publications and blogs at myviewfromhome.com. allforgood.org

Thrivent.com March 2018 Thrivent 21