To vzfdh

What type of microvolunteering are you referring to?

The microvolunteering opps on Sparked, KoodoNation, Troopp and BrightWorks all seem to enable a nonprofit to request help, ie. they are either asking a question or inviting someone to use their professional skill to complete a task. This question or task is normally just that, and I would imagine involves a short amount of time to describe the task - so the time and effort to create this type of microvolunteering task appears to be very small.

This type of microvolunteering uses an intermediary (ie., the companies mentioned above) between a nonprofit and a volunteer to facilitate the completion of a task. Nonprofits should not be able to access private information about a volunteer on the intermediary's database. I'm a member of some of these networks and I would be very peeved if my personal information was released to a nonprofit without my permission. So, for a nonprofit to ask a question or describe a task where the real reason is to harvest information about a volunteer doesn't seem to ring true. Firstly, it doesn't take that long to ask a question or describe a task. Secondly, there doesn't appear to be any access for a nonprofit to extract information about a volunteer, unless that volunteer decides for their profile to be made public.

What about the microvolunteering opps featured on HelpFromHome.org? Some of these probably have taken some time to develop, whilst others haven't. I personally have participated in quite a few of them on the HFH website and have I been bombarded with emails to sign up, to read a newsletter or to become their Facebook fan? No I haven't. In fact, it's been very decidely quiet on that particular front. However, I'm sure that isn't the case for some of the opps on HFH, it's just that in my experience, I've not been hit with loads of emails at all or anywhere near it.

So, from my experience purely as a volunteer, nonprofits are seemingly creating microvolunteering opps for the sake of getting tasks completed and not for an alterior motive of harvesting volunteer's information to be used in marketing campaigns or whatever other use it could be used for. So, the bottom line for me was that my actions were gratefully received, but not abused for the sinister motive of gaining my support, monetary or otherwise.

As for the notion of it isn't worth it for a nonprofit org to create a microvolunteering task, I'm not sure that's totally true. Help From Home has a database of over 140 actions waiting in the wings to be added to its 800 plus database and there's still loads more to sort out. Basically, HFH is having a hard job keeping up with the rate at which microvolunteering actions come on to the 'market'. If the time and effort is not really worth it for a nonprofit to create a micro-opp, then why am I seeing so many of them? Of course, that depends on your definition of microvolunteering and how micro is micro, time-wise.

I'm not saying your points aren't invalid, I'm just saying that from my observations and experience, they don't seem to stack up as an all encompassing sweep of the microvolunteering arena. Others may have different experiences / observations and I'd be interested to learn from them.

For another response to the same (word for word) points vzfdh (or Jayne C in the TechSoup forum) posed in August 2010, visit the TechSoup site here:
http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/f/22/t/30701.aspx

check it out http://www.guardian.co.uk/voluntary-sector-network/2011/jul/06/micro-volunteering-charities-people

Micro-volunteering could support a lot in PR, marketing and related communications. It is great, just the time is the issue. If we find what could motivate people to participate in micro-volunteering, it will be success for everyone. How much could one NGOs save money on that and help the humanity in case there is help just from one volunteer. We should have some data, some stats…how micro-volunteering could be useful. Students could be the excellent target audience to be used for micro-volunteering.
I ve seen http://www.sparked.com/, you could find almost all type of services…..HR, copyright, web, design and others.
And indeed, the government should use more the service of micro-volunteering or have some projects together…

It's not just about communication &PR. All professional fields could be included in microvolunteering.
There's a simple explanation. What does one do when he/she goes at the office? Works in front of a computer. So nowadays, almost everything is done or needs to be done through a computer. Well, if one has a computer with internet access, one can work from anywhere in the world. Microvolunteering is just that : small amounts of unpaid work donated by individuals from different countries in order to benefit global development.

Targeting Micro volunteers from younger Generation with Thesis given below to Achieve UN NDG 03 via C.7 ITC Applications project ID: 1320847039

THESIS: Dated 27 November 2011


The gender gap, gender bias, gender disability and gender domination in the past and present world is causes void & expand inequities among Gender/genetic sequence.

The expanding inequities, missing information & communication among the gender’s sequence are suppressing moral excellence in human beings.

The suppressed Moral excellence in genders is further increases inequities in conflict which decreases the equity ratio below the optimal limit.

When Gender equity ratio fall below the optimal limit that the number of micro volunteerism will fall and slow down the process of generalization and social transformation to live under unclean world of disorder, diseses an death.

Therefore,NGO,childcare consortium is trust that the existing Micro volunteers from younger generation to work on this Thesis by targeting UN MDG 3 via C.7.ITC Application to promote Natural Human information & Communication via gender expressions and response to achieve standard uniform instant information and communication technologies around the worldfor Peace.

Regards

A.Karunakaran, Founder NGO, childcare consortium, Chennai, India.
WSIS project Prizes 2012 contestant
A_karuna@live.com

NGO is in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Natio

To reginav

Responses to some of the issues you raised.

"If we find what could motivate people to participate in micro-volunteering, it will be success for everyone."

Help From Home will be publishing it's findings from a 6 month survey of microvolunteers in January, 2012. Although it did not get a huge response from people, you will see some very interesting trends as to what motivated people to microvolunteer. UK based Institute of Volunteering Research will also be publishing results of a 6 month survey about people microvolunteering using smartphones ealy in the New Year. Watch this space!

"We should have some data, some stats…how micro-volunteering could be useful. "

Check out Help From Home's report, 'Microvolunteering: Evidence of Impact'
http://helpfromhome.org/articles/articles-3

"Students could be the excellent target audience to be used for micro-volunteering. "

Check out Help From Home's, 'Help From School' project for ways in which HFH is trying to engage students in microvolunteering.
http://helpfromhome.org/our-projects/help-from-school

"I ve seen http://www.sparked.com/, you could find almost all type of services…..HR, copyright, web, design and others. "

Sparked appear to confine themselves to skills that professionals can do in communication and PR. It doesn't appear to appeal to the masses without those skills. The microvolunteering tasks that Lucyana suggests in her previous post and Google Doc (also mentioned in a previous post) are wide ranging, far reaching and appeal to a much greater audience. Their impact therefore could be much greater than what Sparked are achieving. I am seeing more and more instances of people advocating the use of microvolunteering, not only for people to participate in, but also for nonprofits to create tasks.

"And indeed, the government should use more the service of micro-volunteering or have some projects together…"

The UK government is already promoting microvolunteering (and Help From Home) on it's official Number 10 website.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/take-part/giving/volunteering-time-banking/

Other goverment microvolunteering projects include:
http://helpfromhome.org/archives/7354
http://helpfromhome.org/archives/1290

However, I agree that governments are missing a trick here, although I am aware of a few calls from various forums to engage the government more in this type of volunteering:
http://katebennet.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/volunteering-works/
http://microparticipation.com/
http://microparticipation.com/news/three-great-posts-about-micro-participation/
http://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/the-need-for

Hope all that helps

Dear all,
Discovering what a micro volunteer action looks like I realized how extraordinary is that people can help a number of nonprofits projects through quick and easy activities. It seems there are several definitions of micro volunteering around, as well as an evolving trend in terms of ICTs implementation and new players on this idea, so after some exploration I would like to bring to the plate some definitions from the main actors in this field.

1. Help From Home defines it as: Small, quick, low commitment actions that benefit a worthy cause. The actions might be a task that could be accomplished as a whole unit from start to finish by one person or it might be an action that could be broken down into its component parts where an individual is just one of many people performing the same task to achieve an end result. 10 seconds to 30 minutes is all you need to help out a worthy cause.

2. Sparked: The nonprofit that needs help asks a large(-ish) group for assistance. Microvolunteers who have the time, interest, and skills (ideally), and who may be previously unknown to the nonprofit, do the work. It is convenient since It's volunteerism that fits into your schedule when you have time - typically (but not necessarily) via an internet connected device such as a mobile phone or personal computer. In practice, to achieve this level of convenience, there is often no training or vetting necessary; And it’s bite-sized since volunteer tasks are broken into small(-ish) pieces, so that you can complete a task in the time that you have available (whatever that time may be).

It seems like everyone can help and if you have some spare time zoning out on Twitter or merely killing time on your computer isn't the only option anymore. And this is how you can do good while watching TV, riding on the bus or even just reclined in bed. It’s something you can do it wherever you go. Additionally there is a huge diversity of the type of micro-actions goes beyond traditional volunteering Opportunities, which means a wide scope to do more good in new ways and very inclusive – no barriers to age, race, creed, culture, gender, etc.

My question is how to attract more volunteers and how to guide Nonprofit organizations to make the most of this idea. How to make it enjoyable and trendy and spread it all around the world?

Please find below some interesting examples of micro volunteering and a sample of its impact:

Plan a tree without getting your hands dirty
Take a look at Ecolution, an MTV channel initiative in partnership with Indian NGOs. The idea behind it is ridiculously simple -- for every virtual tree that you choose to plant via the Ecolution application on Facebook, they will plant one for real, on the ground.
"Indian youngsters are connected with the city and country at large. They are keen on getting involved in social initiatives. Since MTV has an active Facebook page with a 1.1 million strong fan base, we decided to create an opportunity for youngsters to do their bit for the environment," says Ali Husein, Director-Digital Media, Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd.

Here's how it works: There is a list of cities that you can choose from to plant your virtual tree in. The top five cities for which they receive the maximum responses is where the social organisations that MTV has tied up with (Give India and Rotaract Clubs), will plant 10,000 trees in January next year. Perfect for the busy youngster who is juggling college, tuitions, a social life and recreation.

Eliminate hunger with a click
Back home, Bhookh (.com) helps you donate one cup of food to a malnourished child in India. Mumbai-based founder Jay V Sutaria says it works on a simple principle. "The site loads in a couple of seconds. When you click on the green 'donate' button, you are taken to a page that thanks you for your donation and displays ads by our sponsors, who pay for your click."

Bhookh.com donates this money to the Indian chapter of UN World Food Programme (UNWFP) towards food for the chronically hungry.

http://www.helpfromhome.org/microvolunteering-project.pdf