Jayne Blog (Volunteerism, Nonprofit Tech, Civil Society, etc.)

Apr. 6, 2008 - online volunteering: the fundamentals never change

I've been serving as volunteer manager for the Aid Workers Network (AWN), an online resource for people working in aid and development all over the world. Most of the AWN users are professional aid and development workers involved with a variety of relief and development efforts all over the world. They range from security officers to health care workers to teachers to program managers to headquarters staff and just about any other task you can think of relating to aid and development agencies. Some work for small NGOs, while others work for huge organizations, like the United Nations.

After graduating to a more sophisticated web site and a brief stint with a paid staff person, AWN has gone back to being an all-volunteer organization in support of the AWN community. The reason was not to save money, but because AWN needs the support and investment of aid workers themselves in order to be sustainable and worthwhile, the kind of support and investment that can come only from AWN's target audience seeing the web site as their responsibility and worthy of their time and support.

I got involved with AWN about six years ago just a forum participant, per my work at UNV/UNDP. I was asked to set up a formal volunteering program for AWN in December 2007, and will be recruiting and supporting AWN volunteers through December of this year. My fellow volunteers are all online and quite remote from me, so it's an excellent opportunity to once again test the suggested practices regarding online volunteering, as well as new practices like using advanced tools (video). One concept I started touting back in 1997 that's been very much reinforced yet again during this latest gig managing online volunteers: the biggest challenges regarding online volunteering are still regarding issues that have nothing to do with technology and everything to do with the fundamentals of maintaining any successful nonprofit organization (an active board, for instance), and the basics of volunteer management that every volunteer manager faces (generating new, interesting assignments, for instance).

About Jayne

This blog (web log) is by Jayne Cravens, and is primarily focused on resources and news regarding mission-based organizations: nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, and public sector agencies, as well as development issues and humanitarian efforts. It promotes resources and opinions relating to volunteer management/community involvement, tech use by nonprofits, and outreach strategies for nonprofits. There are also some personal postings (such is the nature of blogs), regarding travel, causes I personally support (like women's empowerment, urban biking, etc.). To comment on this blog, you must register on forumer.com.

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