Jacob just pointed me to this article from a couple years ago. It's got some good info in it about virtual volunteer opportunities. Here's a quote:
Online volunteering is growing as Internet access improves worldwide, particularly among African and Latin American organizations needing assistance
Sandrine Cortet, 36, sought to put her French skills to work when she and her husband moved from Paris to Edison, N.J. But they had only one car, and a train to volunteer opportunities in New York would have been expensive. So she translates documents from home, most recently for a refugee group's newsletter.
"A lot of organizations can't even get their minds around online volunteers," she said. "When they hear about it, their first thought is, 'I don't know about computers.' You don't have to know about computers. You do have to know about people."
Sandrine Cortet, 36, sought to put her French skills to work when she and her husband moved from Paris to Edison, N.J. But they had only one car, and a train to volunteer opportunities in New York would have been expensive. So she translates documents from home, most recently for a refugee group's newsletter.
"A lot of organizations can't even get their minds around online volunteers," she said. "When they hear about it, their first thought is, 'I don't know about computers.' You don't have to know about computers. You do have to know about people."
Organizations/people mentioned:
Volunteer Match - has had a big increase in the number of virtual volunteer opportunities.
InterConnection links Web designers with people who need Web help.
Jayne Cravens - is quoted - her name comes up everywhere in volunteer literature and she had a very interesting critique of our mobile phone volunteerism efforts a few months back.
U.N. Volunteers online service - for volunteer translation services
Ben and co.,
Robert here from VolunteerMatch. I also wanted to point you guys in the direction of this piece that just came out:
http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/resources/special-reports/volunteers-boards/virtual-volunteering-widens-opportunity
Might be something of interest to your readers.
BTW, that older exchange with Jayne Cravens at the NetSquared blog is good stuff. There's a lot to admire in the energy and passion of projects like yours, and I think Jayne's advice will help speed you on your way to success in the long run. Certainly, an orientation that takes greater account of the operational needs of the nonprofit community can only be a plus.
Keep up the good work,
Robert
http://www.volunteermatch.org
Posted by: Robert Rosenthal | December 02, 2008 at 03:40 PM
Thanks for the comments Robert - and link to that pithy article (I'll blog about it soon).
Posted by: Ben Rigby | December 03, 2008 at 10:40 AM
translation services volunteering is a popular way to donate some of your expertise for a worthy cause.
Posted by: translation services | December 04, 2008 at 06:45 AM