Technology offers opportunities to revolutionize volunteer work. Knowledge is becoming available anytime, anywhere. A search of the Internet leads to the National Aging Information Center and it's extensive listing of resources on Volunteers and Older Adults. Resources on mentoring are plentiful on the Internet. The United Nations International Year of Volunteers website features the faces and stories of volunteers around the world. Technology offers the unique opportunity to share information and form horizontal connections between volunteer managers around the world, bringing a global perspective to local volunteer work (The International Association for Volunteer Management - www.avaintl.org, International Association for Volunteer Efforts - www.iave.org).
Marine Corps units, high school students, international organizations and special interest groups are harnessing the Internet to promote and organize volunteer activities. The Sword and Staff web site, started by fans of Xena: Warrior Princess, is a "catalyst for volunteer groups from around the world to work on projects concerned with bettering the life of people in their own communities." The Artemis web site serves the San Francisco Bay Area lesbian community by organizing and promoting community service projects ranging from environmental restoration to helping the homeless. The SETI@home Project, headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley, has signed up more than 250,000 home computers to an innovative screen saver program that "harnesses spare computing power to crunch data from a radioastronomy search for extraterrestrial intelligence."
Technology offers exciting options for maximizing volunteer resources. Internet access to volunteering, and virtual volunteering options are among the fastest growing volunteer trends. Distance is no longer a factor when people choose an organization as a site for their volunteering. Organizations are challenged to create opportunities for new techno-volunteers that include online volunteer activities where volunteer tasks are completed online from home or work.
"Many would-be volunteers cannot commit to an organization's regular operating hours. Perhaps they don't have time to travel to and from the work site, looking for a parking place and finding a baby sitter. Volunteering online negates those problems. An online volunteer can work on his/her assignment when best for them. Whether it is late at night, between classes, during a lunch hour, after dinner, on the weekend, or during a child's nap, the online volunteer makes his/her own schedule. And travel time to a volunteer assignment is nonexistent, as most online volunteers work from their home or office computers." (Moy, 2002, p.50)
Virtual volunteers cross gender, age, disability, and racial barriers as they work anonymously through cyberspace. They are judged only by their ability and skills. Organizations are enriched by the increased diversity and the wealth of resources these virtual workers bring to their projects. Some research suggests that virtual volunteers often bring new, expanded resources. For example, a graphic designer may pull in co-workers or utilize office equipment and technology to complete a project, or a college student has access to professors or research libraries.
Age restrictions for volunteer work will shift as young techno-teens seek opportunities to fulfill service requirements and build online experience. The new generation of volunteers will not view technology as impersonal and organizations will be challenged to offer opportunities that promote "human touch" in new ways across the generational spectrum.
Virtual volunteer projects might include web page development and maintanence, newsletters, marketing and promotional materials, research projects, and translation services
Laurie Moy manages 150 online volunteers for People With Disabilities Uganda (PWDU), a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan peace and disability rights organization based in Kampala, Uganda. Laurie lives in Pennsylvania, where she volunteers from home while raising her family. She found her position online and manages a corps of skilled volunteers from around the world.
"The beauty of online volunteering is that an agency is able to involve people from all walks of life, in their own element. At PWDU our volunteers represent a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience. We have marketing experts, professors, high school students, music producers, stay at home mothers, college students, web designers, development professionals, graduate students, journalists, researchers and many more. All of these volunteers bring with them a wealth of knowledge, skill and creativity." (Moy, 2002, p. 49)
The United Nations NetAid Online Volunteer Web site [http://www.netaid.org/OV] provides information on screening online volunteers, creating online volunteering assignments and strategies for connecting online volunteers with resources that can help them learn more about developing countries. The Virtual Volunteering Project [http://www.serviceleader.org/vv/] provides the detailed information about online volunteering, including information about online safety issues.
If you are still not certain about virtual volunteers, then consider harnessing technology in other ways. Distance learning is revolutionizing volunteer training by offering content-for-one materials for specialized orientation and training when and where it is needed. The Columbus Red Cross Chapter gives it's volunteer manual on a CD to all new volunteers. The CD is easy to update, inexpensive to reproduce, and has built in links to online resources. Listserves and chat rooms encourage volunteer management professionals and volunteers to share innovative programs and cutting edge approaches to societal problems. CyberVPM (cyber volunteer program managers) is hosted by AVA and has over 700 worldwide subscribers. To become a part of this free listserv, go to www.avaintl.org and click on CyberVPM for registration information.
Technology offers great potential to address the number one barrier to volunteering - time pressures. Online applications, Internet based orientation, CD training modules and email can help to minimize time requirement and free up time so volunteers can do what they really want to do - make a difference in a life and in the world.
References:
Merrill, M. & Safrit, D. (2002). "Management implications of contemporary trends in volunteerism in the United States and Canada." Journal of Volunteer Administration, Volume 20, No. 2, 2002.
Moy, L. (2002). "Tapping global resources: A guide to involving and managing online volunteers." Journal of Volunteer Administration, Volume 20, No. 2, 2002.