Virtual Volunteering
We continue to find ourselves in a position of urging our community to prioritize personal and community safety related to the global coronavirus pandemic. As such, we encourage you to explore virtual or remote volunteering as a safe alternative to in-person volunteering.
Virtual volunteering has benefits by offering more opportunities for people across geographical boundaries to get involved without the limitations of schedules or travel to an on-site location. Virtual and remote and volunteering are often used interchangeably because they are both completed off-site from an organization, community action group, or cause, but there is a slight difference.
Virtual volunteering – completed on your computer, typically requiring internet to either access opportunities and/or send completed projects.
Remote volunteering – completed at your home, in your neighborhood, or the outdoors, without social contact from anyone other than your household.
Examples of remote and virtual volunteering
Direct engagement
- Online tutoring or mentoring
- Hotline support or phone calls checking in on vulnerable populations
- Online workshops or training sessions for learners of all ages
Asynchronous engagement
- Record yourself reading a book for children
- Create a virtual field trip experience using your phone to record
Technical support
- Transcribe videos, audio, or written work into digital format
- Conduct research (article ideas, website section, grants, market/purchasing, curriculum)
- Develop a spreadsheet
- Marketing, communications, website or database development/support
Skill-based consulting
- Telehealth counseling
- Edit documents, write articles, proposals, scripts, website materials, etc.
- Curriculum development or create teaching videos of your expertise for learners of all ages
- Artistic support – writing songs, creating or producing a video
- Provide legal, business, medical, agricultural, financial or any other expertise
Donation drives
- Create a virtual wish list and send out the list to a group of people
- Put together comfort kits for vulnerable populations
- Create cards, notes of encouragement, or other craft to send to a group in need of comfort, encouragement, or other kind of support
- Sew/make blankets, masks, or other winter accessories for groups/people in need
Global Days Of Service 2021 – Project Ideas
During the week of October 18 – 24, 2021 we invite our Walden community to focus their changemaking energy in the following areas: global literacy, youth development, and storytelling.
You can find remote or virtual volunteer projects posted by our Walden community in our Walden Change Action Network. You may also wish to find your own project; below are a few publicly sourced short-term and long-term opportunities to explore that are related to our 2021 themes.
- Girls with Impact - Developed with Harvard leaders, their ‘mini-MBA’ program equips girls with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to become the leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators of tomorrow.
- Learning Ally - Works to solve the literacy problem - the 65% of students who are not proficient in reading by 4th grade. Volunteers read audiobooks and provide support to remove the barriers that stand in the way of our students’ right to education.
- LibriVox - Coordinates online volunteers to read and record audio versions of public domain books to make them accessible to everyone.
- PA eMentoring - Works with adults to serve as online mentors for high school students and young adults, helping them plan and prepare for college and career success.
- Translators Without Borders - Works toward a world without language barriers by recruiting volunteers to translate texts into different languages for NGOs and nonprofits.
- UPchieve - A free, online platform that connects low-income high school students in the U.S. with live, volunteer coaches (that’s you!) any time they need it. Coaches provide either math tutoring or college counseling, to help students improve their grades, academic motivation, and chances of going to college.
Helpful Resources
Virtual volunteering search engines
- Engage - Points of Light
- Catch a Fire
- Idealist
- United Way (narrow your search by “virtual” or “remote”)
- Volunteer Match (filter by “Virtual”)
Additional tips, ideas, and information
