Questions from Agencies
- How do I find/recruit online volunteers?
- I want to involve volunteers virtually - where do I begin?
- I want to start an online mentoring or tutoring program - where do I begin?
- What about confidentiality, privacy, and security? Doesn't volunteering virtually compromise these things for volunteers and/or clients?
- Do I need special software to involve online volunteers? Won't we all have to be on the same kind of computers and operating systems to work together?
- What's the key to success of a virtual volunteering program?
- I am getting lots of online volunteers signing up to help. Then they disappear.
What can I do to retain online volunteers? - I don't have a virtual volunteering program, but I do need volunteer management and recruitment resources online -- where do I find them?
- How can an agency work with online "volunteers" that are part of a mandatory service program?
Questions from Agencies
How do I find/recruit online volunteers?
Marketing volunteer opportunities online is a good place to start. This method offers many benefits for recruiting both face-to-face and online volunteers:
- It's effective, quick, easy, and doesn't require any additional costs
- It's an excellent way to reach non-traditional volunteers, and populations that might be under-represented in an organization's volunteer ranks, such as seniors, ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities
- You can reach a very targeted group, such as a particular kind of professional or people in a specific geographic area
- Wait to begin online recruitment until you have well-defined descriptions of an available opportunity. Be sure to have an immediate next step for people who call or e-mail (a date for a face-to-face meeting or orientation, for instance, even if it is several weeks away). Asking for volunteers but not responding to them immediately, or not having a method to immediately place them into your program, is like advertising a product you don't really have, which can cause hard feelings about your agency on the part of potential supporters.
- If your organization cannot or does not answer e-mail within 48 hours of receipt (two business days), don't include your e-mail address as a way for potential volunteers to contact you. Instead, direct volunteers to call.
- Make sure those who answer your agency's phone know you are posting information to the Internet, in case there is an increase in phone calls regarding volunteer opportunities.
When providing volunteer information online, whether in the form of an e-mail announcement, discussion group posting, or Web page, remember to provide:
- your organization's name, physical address, phone number, e-mail address (if this is an acceptable way for potential volunteers to contact you), and Web address, if you have one
- information about specific volunteer opportunities, or an overview of the kinds of service opportunities available
- information that will educate potential volunteers about the organization's mission, program focus, and value to the community, as well as the value of volunteers to the organization.
Where and How to Post
USENET Newsgroups
USENET newsgroups (called both "USENET" and "newsgroups") are ongoing online discussions dedicated to a particular topic and propagated to news servers worldwide. Messages, usually referred to as "posts", are posted to a newsgroup for everyone who subscribes to that newsgroup to see (it is free to subscribe to most newsgroups). Depending upon how a user accesses USENET, posts are either sent via e-mail or through an online form. Messages sent to a USENET newsgroup can be read by anyone with a newsreader program, such as NewsWatcher.
Your internet service provider (ISP) may provide access to USENET newsgroups as part of your internet service package. You will need to contact your ISP for information regarding any newsgroup access they provide.
In addition to providing Web-based access to USENET newsgroups, Google Groups provides a good overview of USENET's evolution and the basics of its operation, as well as a guideline for posting appropriately.
Look for groups whose participants are located in or focused on your geographic area, and groups centered around a particular subject or issue. For instance, if you are looking for someone to help with Web site development, contact a discussion group for Web site developers. For someone to help with an environmental project, look for an environmental activists group. For help at a special event for an agency that works in a particular city, find a group for citizens of that city.
Before posting, get a sense of the audience on a particular newsgroup to make sure that the audience would be receptive to your information. For instance, don't post volunteer opportunities to the newsgroup soc.org.nonprofit, as this group is made up of other nonprofit professionals who are looking for volunteers themselves. Posting inappropriately can result in bad publicity for your organization.
E-mail Mailing Lists
Like USENET newsgroups, e-mail mailing lists serve their membership by providing a forum for discussion on a specific topic. Unlike USENET, e-mail lists are not automatically broadcast to a worldwide audience, but to individuals who have subscribed to the list. Lists are usually closed discussions among subscribers, and messages are delivered directly to subscribers via e-mail. Though online archives are sometimes maintained, e-mail lists are usually not archived.
Messages go to a central point and are then "reflected" automatically back to all who subscribe to the list. It is free to subscribe to an e-mail list. However, please note when you subscribe to any of such lists that the address for subscriptions is different than the address for posting comments and questions.
As with most USENET newsgroups, e-mail lists have established posting guidelines. When you subscribe to an e-mail list, you will typically receive a welcome e-mail outlining the mailing list's policies.
Online Communities
Yahoo! Groups are collections of online communities for people with similar interests. Like USENET and e-mail mailing lists, online communities exist for almost every topic under the sun.
Information on using Yahoo! Groups
Web Sites
According to a presentation given at the 2003 e-Philanthropy conference, 58% of computer users have searched online for information related to volunteering. Given that statistic, it is important that your organization and its needs are represented online.Even if your organization doesn't have its own Web site, you can still provide information to Web sites that post volunteer opportunities, or link to volunteer opportunities. VolunteerMatch is a good place to start.
If your organization has its own Web site, prepare a page listing volunteer opportunities, or information on how and why to volunteer with the organization. Be sure to add this page to your site map and navigation!
I want to involve volunteers virtually - where do I begin?
First, you need to make sure your agency is ready to involve online volunteers. That's the first step, and it's a critical one! Our agency assessment will help you determine your agency's degree of rediness.
If you are ready to involve volunteers virtually, based on our evaluation, then you can start implementing our step-by-step suggestions to set up a virtual volunteering program.
I want to start an online mentoring or tutoring program - where do I begin?
Only after completing all of the following steps is your organization ready to start exploring how you will bring volunteers and clients (students, mentees, the public, etc.) together online:
- Determine How This Program "Fits"
Before an agency staff starts a program that will bring together online volunteers with clients, students or the public, consider how such a program will fit within the organization's mission; how will this program be an extension of the agency goals? You will need to be able to answer this question before beginning any steps to set up such a virtual volunteering program at your organization. - Assess Your Group or Agency's Mentoring Experience
Does your agency already involve volunteers with clients, students or the public? Do staff have experience facilitating groups, managing a mentoring or tutoring program, or other face-to-face volunteer and client program? Again, you will need to have this offline expertise in-house before beginning any steps to set up a direct contact virtual volunteering program. - Virtual Volunteering Basics
Determine if your organization or group is ready to involve volunteers virtually, regardless of the type of service online volunteers will perform. Our online self-evaluation will help you determine if your potential program has the resources and expertise necessary to ensure success. For instance, it is of paramount importance that your staff is already comfortable communicating via e-mail. If your staff finds reading and responding to e-mail "bothersome", and even avoids using it, then managing an online mentoring is not going to be right for your organization at this time. - Readiness to Work With Online Mentors
Determine if your organization and every participating site are ready to work with online mentors. This self-evaluation covers all of the pieces that need to be in place before you launch your program, and can help identify problem areas to be addressed at individual sites. - Setting The Groundwork
Once you've determined that your organization is ready for virtual volunteering, it's time to build the internal groundwork: becoming experienced in online communications, getting staff buy-in and participation, developing an implementation plan, training staff and volunteers, etc. - For Mentoring Programs: Assess if Your Organization Has the Elements of Effective Practice
The National Mentoring Partnership defines the Elements of Effective Practice in Mentoring Programs on its website and in offline materials. It includes recommended requirements of a responsible mentoring program and a nuts and bolts checklist for mentoring programs. The Virtual Volunteering Project endorses these effective practices as necessary for online mentoring programs as well.
What about confidentiality, privacy, and security? Doesn't volunteering virtually compromise these things for volunteers and/or clients?
In answering this question, let's start with a question: how do you currently protect confidentiality, privacy, security of clients and volunteers among staff? You will use these same methods for volunteers, and you will adapt these methods for online situations.
Your legal obligations will also be a factor. For instance, your agency may be required by law to conduct certain screening procedures and background checks on volunteers, because of the nature of their work (such as working with children or visiting people in their homes). How do you screen these volunteers now? Could you adapt those methods for online application, or will you need to bring potential online volunteers onsite to go through your current screening process? You may be required to bond volunteers who will deal with financial records; in such cases, you must do the same thing with online volunteers as with those whom you see on site.
More than anything else, confidentiality is a training issue. Emphasize the importance of confidentiality at every opportunity. Put a statement about it into every volunteer job description. Add it to orientation materials. Say it in training. Be sure you explain clearly what you mean by "confidentiality." It is more than not revealing a client's name; it's not revealing any information that would allow someone to guess the identity of the individual involved. You can (and, in some cases, should) develop a specific pledge of confidentiality, noting that violation of this key principle is cause for dismissal. Ask every volunteer to sign it, by fax or postal mail (don't hesitate to use real paper and real stamps!)
In some cases, however, "confidentiality" is a smokescreen put up by staff resistant to volunteer involvement, on or offline. It can be paternalistic to feel that clients must be "protected" against volunteers who might gossip or somehow betray confidentiality (as though volunteers are more prone to such activity than staff).
If you really wonder how clients feel about their situation being shared with a volunteer, ask them! If the clients give permission (freely, without any sense that they have to say yes), then it's ok to share their identities with a volunteer.
The Internet provides many ways for clients and volunteers to remain anonymous when interacting with each other, and it may be appropriate for your agency to utilize one of these methods. An agency could (and many do):
- Require volunteers and clients to have their own special e-mail address to be used exclusively for their work with each other, one that does not reveal personal information, such as last names. Make sure they have not registered this e-mail address in any way that can be traced to a real world identity, such as the "Member Profile" on AOL or linking it off a personal Web page. However, make sure someone at your agency has a record of what e-mail address goes with what volunteer or client.
- Require all volunteer and client interactions to take place via a private online chat room, where participants use screen names or aliases to communicate with each other (these screen names should not be first and last names). Again, make sure someone at your agency has a record of what screen name or alias goes with what volunteer or client.
- Set up a list (via e-mail) that allows participants to post under a screen name or alias, and hides actual e-mail addresses. As always, make sure someone at your agency has a record of what screen name or alias goes with what volunteer or client.
- Explore programs that will allow users to send and receive e-mail to each other, without being able to see each other's actual e-mail address; this can be done through programs for purchase, and by setting up a script using perl.
To keep volunteers and clients anonymous, participants should not mention any personal information in their online interactions that could allow someone to trace their identity, such as their real names, e-mail addresses, web sites, postal addresses, schools they attend or companies they work for, etc.
For more information, the Virtual Volunteering Project includes tips for Safety in Online Volunteering Programs. This is information and links to resources to help your agency create general safety guidelines for all online volunteering programs, suggestions and examples for those managing programs involving youth as online volunteers, and suggestions for bringing together youth and adult online volunteers.
Having said all of this, there is no reason to believe that online volunteers are any more prone to be predators than any other volunteer--and the number of people who actually pose a risk to clients is quite small. By all means, take reasonable and appropriate precautions, and set and strictly enforce policies about confidentiality and security, but then move on with the work.
Do I need special software to involve online volunteers? Won't we all have to be on the same kind of computers and operating systems to work together?
The Virtual Volunteering Project promotes the idea of not limiting virtual volunteering programs to only one type of computer user. Online volunteers use a variety of computers, software and operating systems. Also, online volunteers often have better software and hardware than the not-for-profit or public sector organizations they are assisting. Virtual volunteering activities should not force an organization nor a volunteer to upgrade or change its computers or software.
We have many suggestions and links to resources to help online volunteers and agencies share files and communicate via the Internet, regardless of the kinds of computers or software being used.
However, for some tasks and volunteering opportunities, it is required that the volunteer and the organization be on the same type of computer, operating system or software. For instance:
- If an agency needed someone to build a database for them on a software program they already had in house (FileMaker Pro, Lotus Approach, Microsoft Access, etc.), the volunteer would need to have to have that same software, and be on the same version of this software. In such cases, noting this requirement in a particular volunteer task description when recruiting for the volunteer position will get you candidates who already have the software or hardware your agency uses.
- If an agency wanted a volunteer to moderate or facilitate a private chat room or other online forum that requires a particular software to access. Note, however, that it may be difficult to find a volunteer who already has this program. In this case, you would have to consider providing the software to the volunteer(s) undertaking the task.
- If an organization brings volunteers (mentors, tutors, etc.) together with clients (students, prisoners, etc.) online, you will probably use a special, private web site with numerous safety, archiving and collaborative features that may require all users to use the same type of computer, operating system or software.
What's the key to success of a virtual volunteering program?
The key to success in managing a virtual volunteering program, based on our observations and experience, is that the staff at an agency have already successfully involved volunteers in traditional, face-to-face settings. They understand and have put into practice the basics for a successful volunteering program -- an established system for volunteer recruitment, creating assignments, screening, matching to assignments, management, feedback and evaluation.
Other keys to success:
- All staff are committed to the success of the virtual volunteering program (as well as all volunteering activities, regardless of where service is performed), and supporting volunteers in their activities;
- The virtual volunteering program (as well as all volunteering programs) fits within the mission of the organization, and all activities are in support of this mission;
- Online volunteers are encouraged, valued and supported by all staff as agency investors rather than "free labor";
- Online volunteers are recognized by staff for their contributions to the same degree as onsite volunteers and other agency supporters (such as donors);
- The agency can quickly place online volunteers into assignments;
- Agency staff keep in touch with online volunteers, online and, as possible, via phone and postal mail.
I am getting lots of online volunteers signing up to help. Then they disappear. What can I do to retain online volunteers?
Recruiting online volunteers is the easy part! Keeping them is more difficult.
In the traditional office, much of the communication and inspiration with volunteers occurs informally. But opportunities for information exchange are very different in the virtual office. If the agency doesn't respond to their questions or comments quickly, or initiate communications regularly, online volunteers can feel isolated or undervalued, and gradually uninspired about the work your organization is doing.
Also, many volunteers who contribute virtually will work only on a short-term basis, because of personal preference; they may complete one project in two weeks and then withdraw from your program, content with this short-term virtual experience. This is not uncommon.
A key to keeping online volunteers active is putting new volunteers into an orientation process immediately. This shows demonstrates your commitment to volunteers and sets the tone for timely communications.
There are many simple things you can do to help managers feel comfortable about working with volunteers virtually, and, in turn, help volunteers provide you with the best possible support. We have management tips that can help, including information on how to encourage regular reporting by online volunteers, how to stay in touch and in tune with online volunteers, and how to build a sense of team and ensure inclusion of online volunteers.
In addition to these process tips, we also offer advice regarding Online Culture - learning the different styles of "personalities" online, interpreting people's written communications and assisting volunteers and managers alike in being clear and effective online.
I don't have a virtual volunteering program, but I do need volunteer management and recruitment resources online -- where do I find them?
ServiceLeader.org has many links to Internet resources that provide information on and tools for volunteer recruitment, management and recognition, program evaluation and service leadership, both on and offline. You may find these resources in the "Volunteer Management" section of our website.
How can an agency work with online "volunteers" that are part of a mandatory service program?
People in "mandatory service" are people who have been directed by the court system to perform a certain number of community service hours as part of their probation or as part of "payment" to the community for a misdemeanor crime.
If such a person contacts you about working with your agency, tell him or her that the first step is for that person to get permission to perform community service online from his or her court liaison, because many courts do not yet recognize online service as "real" volunteering (because most have never heard of it). Offer to write a letter to the liaison on the person's behalf, as appropriate, to show that you represent a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, and describe the kinds of things online volunteers do for your organization. Explain how the volunteer's work will be reviewed and how hours of contribution are determined.
You will want to get the name, address, phone number, fax number and, if available, the e-mail address of the person's court liaison, and know how often you have to report this person's hours to the liaison.
It might also be appropriate for you to ask the nature of the person's offense. It might not. It depends on the type of tasks you are going to have this person perform. For instance, you might not want a person who has been sentenced to community service for hacking into a secured government computer system, for fear that they will do the same to your system; OR, you may think, great, this person really knows computers, so I'm going to involve them in a particularly challenging computer task we don't have the expertise for!
There is an opportunity for fraud in mandatory service performed over the Internet -- namely, how do you know if the person who has been sentenced is actually performing the service, and not that person's parent, sibling, roommate, etc? You don't. At the Virtual Volunteering Project, we've left such verification up to the court liaison when working with mandatory service people. Some organizations have said that perhaps a solution is to have the person provide his or her service via a public library computer, and to have a library staff person to sign the person's time sheet, in addition to the volunteer manager's signature.
