Since 2007 the Canterbury & Herne Bay Volunteer Centre has been supporting, promoting and developing volunteering opportunities within the Canterbury District. As technology continues to evolve, people are looking for new ways to volunteer in a non-traditional way keeping up with the new technologies and trying to better time-manage their lives in this busy world. We consider it a privilege to be able to help, and we are stepping up by developing a Virtual Volunteering project to enable everyone to find the volunteering roles that fit in with their lives.

We aim to work with a number of organizations to explore and co-produce resources to support and increase the development of virtual volunteering opportunities.

In terms of volunteers, we will be supporting volunteers (of all ages and backgrounds) to enable them to inform and be actively engaged (both online and face to face) with volunteer-involving organizations regarding the development of suitable and pertinent virtual opportunities.

This will enable us to both to match up the volunteer expectations with organizational expectations to enable the co-design of virtual volunteering opportunities and resources, to meet all needs.

Inspiration for Organizations

Ideas for Volunteers

Skill based volunteering

Volunteering

Benefits for Organizations:

Increase knowledge of how virtual volunteering can benefit organizations:

Increase diversity of volunteers: this can include younger people who are well versed in internet use; people who are housebound or have some other disability; people living in rural or remote locations; people on a low income.
Increase ability to cater for beneficiaries in different ways
Increase ability to fund raise or promote service provision as a result of adopting virtual volunteering opportunities (social media in particular)
Increase skills of organization/employees/volunteers/beneficiaries
Expand their volunteering offer
Increase diversity
Better respond creatively to volunteers’ abilities and desires in terms of how they volunteer
Increase volunteers’ positive engagement with organizations
Increase their ability to cater for their beneficiaries
Attracting pro-bono volunteers

Benefits for Volunteers:

Increase knowledge of how virtual volunteering can benefit volunteers:

Increase potential access to a wider and more diverse range of volunteering opportunities.
Enabling people with disabilities, in remote/rural areas or on a low income to volunteer
Increase engagement with the community and community organizations
Encouraging employees to volunteer and share skills due to accessibility of time limited or micro volunteering
Increase social engagement of volunteers via virtual networks.
Decrease social isolation and loneliness
Increase volunteers’ positive engagement in the community
Actively contribute to their community
Increase their social networks
Learn new skills and increase their self-esteem and confidence
Increase choice in volunteering roles
Increase volunteers’ positive engagement with organizations