Future-proof Volunteer Engagement with Online Volunteer Opportunities

Are you wondering if online volunteer opportunities are something you should be offering more of (or at all)?

The short answer is “yes!”

Aside from offering flexibility to supporters who have busy lives, thus making your nonprofit an attractive place to serve, online volunteer opportunities also help your organization boost its level of active volunteers. Remote volunteerism allows you to engage volunteers from anywhere in the world AND those opportunities align with the remote work that many people have become accustomed to.

Moreover, online volunteer opportunities are an excellent way to engage skilled volunteers who can help you develop your agency’s digital maturity and help you stay up to date with today’s technologies.

Virtual volunteer opportunities and projects can be designed to help you assess and choose a volunteer management software system, develop email automations to build relationships while you sleep, develop a better volunteer recruitment webpage or messaging, improve your search rankings in Google, deploy and analyze volunteer survey results, and much, much more.

But before we get any more into designing online volunteer opportunities and roles, let’s kick this off with a few stats to help you make your decision.

Given the recent decline in active volunteers reported by AmeriCorps (a drop of seven percentage points from 2019 to 2021), it may feel like communities are no longer interested in volunteerism. But Google data reflects another story.

Currently, in the United States, over 22,000 people (about the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) go on Google each month to search for volunteer opportunities (33,100 globally). About 13% are seeking online volunteer opportunities specifically (16% globally).

Keyword: Volunteer Opportunities – Approximately 22,200 searches per month in Google (8,043 mobile and 14,157 desktop searches) and 33,100 globally
Keyword: Online Volunteer Opportunities – Approximately 2,900 searches per month in Google (696 mobile and 2,204 desktop searches) and 5,400 globally

5-Year Google Search Volunteer 2018-2023 – “Volunteer Opportunities”

A review of the past five years of searches related to “volunteer opportunities” in general reveal a dip in 2019-2021 and a consistent uptick in overall volume in the past year (Google Trends notes an improvement in their data collection as of January 1, 2022).

In other words, people continue to search online to find opportunities to serve in their communities. There has been no drastic downswing in interest.

5-Year Google Search Volunteer 2018-2023 – “Online Volunteer Opportunities”

While search volume for “online volunteer opportunities” is lower, it also reveals a consistent upward trend when compared to four or five years ago, as well as a surge during 2019-2020.

In other words, as organizations reduced the opportunities to volunteer in person, people sought online volunteer opportunities to replace them. And while interest is not as high as it was during the height of the pandemic, interest has remained higher in general.

So, if you wonder whether there is a market for volunteering and online volunteer opportunities, there most certainly is.

The question then becomes – how can you tap this market of volunteer talent?

For more on how one VolunteerPro member integrated online volunteer opportunities into her strategy, check out Blazing a Trail for Virtual Volunteer Opportunities HERE>>

Start by Designing Online Volunteer Opportunities with Human Motivation in Mind

Let’s start with a basic framework of what motivates us, and then see how we can apply it to engaging the community through online volunteer opportunities.

Science tells us that human motivations have changed over time. In today’s world, there are key things that experts believe motivate us in the workplace, regardless of age or generational affiliation.

Danieal Pink, in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, names three main drivers of intrinsic motivations (motivation that comes from within, versus extrinsic motivations that come from rewards or punishments). These can also be translated to the volunteer environment as well.

Autonomy
- Self-directed
- Task, time, team and technique
Mastery
- Making progress
- Challenges matched with our abilities
Purpose
- Related goals
- Beyond self-interest
- Pursuing on own terms

In addition, I would add Belonging or Relatedness to this list

Connection with others
Using the technology of the time
Feeling accepted and part of the “in group” not the “out group”

In addition, the psychologist Frederick Herzberg researched employee satisfaction in the 1950s and 60s and found that there are, “hygiene factors” or other requirements that may be needed before motivation can occur in the work environment. These also translate to an online work environment

A place to perform work (or a platform online – a “there” there)
Acceptable work environment (not treated like a cog in the machine)
Positive team culture (feeling acknowledged, keeping it positive, etc.)

These are some of the key ingredients you want to be sure to include when designing a satisfactory workplace and role, even more important when volunteers are working remotely.

Wondering how to recognize volunteers from far, check out Volunteer Appreciation Ideas for Remote Volunteers HERE>>

10 Tips for Designing Online Volunteer Opportunities That Work for Everyone

Below are ten tips for designing online volunteer opportunities that work for your organization and are irresistible to remote volunteers.

Tip #1: Take the Upwork approach
- Design for a gig worker – create discrete projects with a beginning, middle, and end
- Review how these projects are described on websites like Upwork and Fiverr

Tip #2: Design for team and individual roles and goals
- Make sure that everyone understands the goals and aims for their role
- Also, make sure they know how their work contributes to the organization’s overall success

Tip #3: Have clear and detailed deliverables
- When you don’t share clear outcomes with your team, they are likely to veer off in different directions that don’t contribute to what you are trying to carry out
- So, develop a clear scope of work for the project – freelancers understand this way of communicating

Tip #4: Request a preliminary discovery call
- Like all volunteer recruitment, you can take time to ensure the role is a good fit for both you and the prospective volunteer
- Catchafire offers “Explore Calls” where you can ask a question and talk to an expert with no obligation – these are helpful when figuring out how to scope out a project

Tip #5: Give Volunteers a Say
- Explain how your team will work together, using a participatory decision-making process to develop
- Agree upon team goals that are achievable and make sense

For more on setting up online volunteer opportunities for success, check out Your Weekly Plan for Managing Virtual & Remote Volunteers HERE>>

Tip #6: Help build their portfolios
- Promote your online volunteer opportunities as a way to gain experience
- Let them know that you’re OK with them adding their work to their portfolio and that you are willing to write professional references at the close of a successful project

Tip #7: But also, be clear on minimum qualifications
- Not everything needs to be entry level – don’t be afraid to require specific skills or experience
- Pinpoint the software or tech skills they must have and what they can learn on the job

Tip #8: Promote healthy boundaries and balance
- Encourage remote volunteers to keep a productive work-life balance and let them know they are NOT expected to check email when they are off duty
- Refrain from sending texts to volunteers unless they agree or in emergency situations

Tip #9: Let volunteers know they will also have access to social interaction with peer volunteers
- Even though they are working remotely, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to connect and network!
- Set up fun social or co-working events from time to time
- Set up a Slack workspace or group chat that volunteers can log in and check when they return to duty to see what’s happened while they were off

Tip #10: Begin, start and end with gratitude, even in the position description and recruitment post!
- Call out wins and successes in every email, interaction, event, etc.
- Thank people for going above and beyond and recognize for effort

As you can see, many of the principles for effective volunteer management in person also apply in the online context with a few nuances here and there.

As with all volunteers, but particularly with remote volunteers, be sure to point back to the mission and how their work fits in on a consistent basis. This ensures that they continue to feel like an important part of your mission even if they aren’t interacting with people on site.

For more on how to build a powerful sense of team in online volunteers – check out Volunteer Nation Episode #018 How to Use Slack to Strengthen Volunteer Teams HERE>>

Last Week to Save! VolunteerPro Membership Community

VolunteerPro Membership is the #1 online community where leaders of volunteers learn, connect, and act. As a member, you will enjoy access to a large digital library of downloadable content, training, templates, and worksheets, live monthly training and workshops, and a strategic roadmap to develop your volunteer program through our propriety system, The Volunteer Strategy Success Path™.

Here are just a few of the training resources you’ll find on volunteer recruitment inside the community:

Your Volunteer Offer: What to Say & Where to Place It (Video)
Re-energize Volunteers with “Welcome Back” Events (Video)
How to Use Facebook Groups, Pages, & Posts to Engage & Mobilize Volunteers (Video)