Micro-volunteering

Just to keep everybody up to speed on some micro volunteering links:

www.urbantastic.com - as mentioned above in the article. It is now a defunct website as of several months ago. Was a Canadian venture set up by 2 guys that had been loosing momentum for the past 2 years. The founders pulled the plug a wee while ago.

The Extraordinaries - has been in and out of operational phase, but is currently in private beta phase at the moment. Register your interest if you want to micro volunteer with your iphone.

Thanks @HelpFromHome - I've now removed urbantastic from the original post

Great post Tom - @HelpFromHome the Extraordinaries are a US site though and assume they will mainly promote opportunities that benefit US non profits?

Those interested in micro-volunteering may want to look at the NCVO website. There was a lively discussion a little while back on whether micro-volunteering could make a difference. It highlighted the different reactions to something that seems to be more and more talked about.

Interesting article Tom. Having volunteer roles broken up into timed tasks is something we have been encouraging. As well as reminding organisations that volunteers may want the opportunity to volunteer from home. At Greater London Volunteering our recent Big Issue day (We have 4 of these a year for our members to focus on issues impacting upon the voluntary sector) was looking at Converting Taster Volunteers to see the notes from the event please go to www.glv.org.uk Thanks

Thanks for the plug!

An interesting article Tom. I am looking forward to more things developing over the coming months especially where people can see that micro volunteering can have a very local impact to organisations and individuals in their communities. I hope that myself and colleagues in the Time & Talents Network and at VE will be developing local ideas aimed at Employer Supported Volunteers which will raise further awareness of UK based micro volunteering and the excellent work and ideas already in existance from Mike @HelpFromHome.

@JamieT - you're correct about The Extraordinaries. When they were in their operational phase, it was all to do with US non-profits.

@TimeTalentExeter - I sent TimeTalentExeter an email last week-ish introducing you to HFH's Lunch Break volunteering scheme for office workers. Just wondering whether you were interested in it. The email was just to introduce you to the scheme, as it's not fully functional yet, just to see if there was any interest from you guys and gals over there.

Thanks for all the comments

@JamieT I quite like that international dimension - hopefully as micro-vol develops there will be possibilities to help out all over the world in various ways. Of course, with Twitter campaigns you already can.

@VeroniqueJochum thanks for the link - an interesting discussion that echoes much of what has been said here on i-volunteer in the past. Overall, while there's still some scepticism, most people seem to be warming to the idea.

@JenGLV - great resources from your link; thank you http://greaterlondonvolunteering.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/big-issue_notes_4aug.doc

@HelenJ - you're welcome!!

@TimeTalentExeter - yes, as well as the international possibilities, the local ones are also interesting. And I agree with you that Mike @HelpFromHome is doing fantastic stuff

I personally think micro-volunteering can be really exciting. I think it can add new layers to volunteering and help act as a bridge to more significant involvement.

But, if I'm honest, I have two concerns:

• Micro-volunteering activities are sometimes not what many would call volunteering, a bit like many struggled to see how young people running fashion shows with vfunding was really volunteering.

• There is a danger that the concept and opportunities develop because the technology makes it possible and not because the real need is there.

Finally, one of the big challenges here is for volunteer managers. Many are still struggling to get their organisations to adapt volunteering opportunities to fit with peoples' increasingly time pressured and choice filled lifestyles. In that context, if many organisations find it hard to re-engineer existing volunteering opportunities down to more episodic ways to get involved, they are going to really struggle with the idea of people volunteering for five minutes.

Hi,

I posted a response to an earlier micro-volunteering opportunity and was a bit disappointed that no-one replied:
http://www.i-volunteer.org.uk/helpfromhome/micro-opportunities-no-4/

Generally I think micro-volunteering is a great idea, but I think there needs to be some definitions to ensure it isn't exploited by companies looking for some good PR.

Olly

Referring to robjackson74’s post, my take on micro volunteering is to use VE’s definition of volunteering, where it states that ‘volunteering is described as an unpaid activity where someone gives their time to help an organisation or an individual who they are not related to.’

For me, the cruxes here are time and person/organisation. I’ve used the example in another post but I’ll use it here – if I were to hold a door open for a disabled person in their wheelchair (rather than just continue to walk on or, heaven forbid slam it in their face), am I being kind and courteous or am I giving up my time to help someone out, albeit for a few seconds. For me, it’s both and with reference to VE’s definition above, because I am giving up my time to help someone, I am technically volunteering.

For me, micro volunteering is about giving up your time (albeit in small packets of time, sometimes as little as 10 seconds) to help a person or an org out. I believe it’s challenging the traditional concept of volunteering and it will take time for it to become widely accepted.

Help From Home provides a vast range of micro opps to participate in, some of which may not be acceptable to all under their own definition of volunteering. Nevertheless, it’s constructive comments above by people like Olly Benson and robjackson74 (and elsewhere on i-volunteer) that will lead to a constructive debate about the concept of micro volunteering.

I welcome any other comments on how micro volunteering should be embraced / defined / classified etc.

Finally, to follow up on robjackson74’s comment about volunteer managers struggling to adapt volunteering opps to people’s limited time frames, my experience with the response that Help From Home has had via it’s inclusion on vinspired’s and do-it.org (thru Wessex Community Action) databases has been very encouraging indeed - in fact Wessex Community Action approached Help From Home, because they'd had an increase in the number of people enquiring about quick, easy home based actions and they felt HFH could accommodate their 'customers' enquiries.

Micro Volunteering - Untapped Potential with Some Apparent Wrinkles to Work Out

Although a number of areas appear to require further elucidation, micro volunteering seems to have untapped potential in our ever expanding and changing technological age. To place micro volunteering in context, I will briefly provide an overview of online volunteering (also known as Virtual Volunteering or Internet-based volunteering).

In essence, online volunteering enables an individual to contribute to a non-profit organization (or NGO) of their choosing from the comfort of their home (or similar venue) via an Internet connected computer. I began pioneering online volunteering with a Canadian charity in 1998, wherein I had the opportunity (and privilege) to work with Internet-based volunteers from around the globe. These highly-skilled cyber Samaritans, who were motivated by a myriad of reasons, performed a range of tasks such as video editing, PSA audio production, voice overs, tutoring, programming, photography, word processing, photo retouching, illustration and design. A volunteer management process was developed and employed that focused on the identification, articulation and means of achieving organizational needs, risk management (e.g., screening, logical assignments), volunteer satisfaction, recognition and retention.

From my above online volunteering frame of reference, micro volunteering appears to have a number of areas that require further refinement. Moreover, a number of proposed (or considered appropriate) "micro-volunteering" tasks have been performed successfully by Virtual Volunteers (Online Volunteers) for years. Without the luxury of a full macro analysis of micro volunteering at hand, the following questions appear salient as a starting point for further dialogue:

* What specific routine and meaningful micro-volunteering tasks can be performed in what (reasonable/realistic) time frame and how will these said micro-volunteering tasks mesh (conceptually and in practice) with similar/same virtual volunteering tasks? 
* For those micro volunteers involved with sensitive information or non-profit clients, what type and extent of screening will/should be undertaken?
* With limited resources, how will a non-profit manage (e.g., screen, co-ordinate, appropriately assign, supervise, document and evaluate) numerous volunteers involved in micro volunteering (such as, 100 volunteers involved in two minute tasks)?
* What motivates individuals to engage in what types of micro volunteering?
* Are there certain types of non-profit organizations (based on such variables as: mission, structure, size, geographic area, resources and/or budget) that are best suited for micro volunteering (meaning micro volunteering efforts will result in the most impact, however that may be defined, for the non-profit)?
* Are there specific types of tasks with certain types of non-profit organizations which attract specific micro volunteers?
* Continuous recruiting is a significant resource drain. What methods and strategies will assist in retaining micro volunteers?
* What specific types of devices using what type of Internet connections are best for micro volunteering?
* What motivates non-profits to embrace micro volunteering?

As technology evolves and best practices surface, micro volunteering will be further refined and its potential more fully realized.

For further information about how a non profit organization can develop a productive virtual volunteering program through the use of appropriate technology, please visit http://news.RandyTyler.org or http://www.RandyTyler.org