There are a variety of ways for nonprofits, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), schools, government agencies and other
mission-based organizations to involve volunteers to help with short-term
projects relating to computers and the Internet, and
short-term assignments are what are sought after most by
potential "tech" volunteers.
But there is a disconnect: most organizations have trouble
identifying such short-term tech projects for volunteers.
Below is a list of short-term
projects for "tech" volunteers that started out as a short list
of ideas brainstormed by myself and members of various online
communities. I've added a lot to it over the years.
These one-time, short-term assignments might takes a
few days, a couple of weeks or maybe a month to complete. But
each:
- has a definite start date and end date,
- shouldn't go on longer than a month (maybe two) and
- do not require a volunteer to make an ongoing commitment
to the organization - once an assignment is done, the
volunteer can move on to another assignment, or stop
volunteering with the organization altogether.
Volunteers who fill these short-term assignments will
still need to be vetted! They probably won't need
criminal background checks (unless they will have access to
information that could allow them to contact your clients,
particularly children), but you will need to make sure
people have the expertise they claim, and that may require
reference checks and viewing work samples. It will certainly
require an interview. If a volunteer is too busy to go through
your organization's standard application and orientation
process, they are too busy to undertake a short-term tech
assignment and give your organization the quality it needs. More
information on interviewing in this article: Finding a Computer/Network
Consultant
Also, some assignments may require organizations to purchase
software or other equipment that the volunteer will install on
the organization's systems. Make sure volunteers know that they
must get permission, in writing, before purchasing anything,
even if they aren't expecting reimbursement. When a volunteer
recommends tech purchases, you might ask a board member who
works at a company with a large tech department, or any staff or
volunteers that have a friend or family member at such, to ask
that tech department to give their input on the purchase
recommendations.
Short-term assignments for volunteers relating to
computers and the Internet:
- doing an audit of what software / apps are on the computers
of all company computers, company-owned smart phones, tablets,
etc., and what the software is for. Many organizations
aren't aware, for instance, that their computers have the
ability to edit video, or that they already have a program on
their computers that could be used for a database. This
information needs to be shared in a deliberate, obvious way
throughout the organization, so that everyone can know what
resources the organization already has.
- doing an audit of what software / apps employees and
volunteers are using as a part of their work, and how, and
then exploring ways staff could train each other regarding
these software / app uses. This information needs to be shared
in a deliberate, obvious way throughout the organization, so
that everyone can know what resources the organization has.
- cleaning spyware and viruses off of an organization's
devices, identifying and installing or configuring software to
prevent such in the future, and providing documentation about
these efforts for future reference.
- checking for the latest updates of software an organization
uses frequently (when the updates are not free and
automatically-made on the computers), and evaluating whether
or not updates that aren't free and automatic are a good idea
for the organization (they aren't always).
- installing more memory on the office devices (be clear to
the company how much such will cost and help the company make
the purchase - you are under NO obligation to pay for this,
and should not unless you have an agreement, in writing, that
you will be fully reimbursed).
- installing sound cards, web cams or other hardware on the
office computers (this will require someone to purchase this
hardware for the computers).
- creating or setting up a system that allows staff or
long-term volunteers at an organization to easily backup
computer files, or making sure they are regularly using
whatever backup system they have, and using it regularly.
- make sure they are backing up in such a way that, were they
to be hit with ransomware, they would not have to pay the
ransom but, instead, could restore their data from an older
version of the data from backups.
- making sure the photos the organization has shared on
Facebook are backed up on Flickr
or some other place on the Internet not owned by Facebook, as
well as on an external hard drive in position of a trusted
person at the organization. Make sure they organization
understands that Facebook is NOT a good place to store the
only copies of photos. Help the organization download and copy
photos in the appropriate backup places, as needed.
- making sure the videos the organization has shared on
YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook or other online social networking
site are backed up in secondary places online as well as on an
external hard drive in position of a trusted person at the
organization. Make sure they organization understands that
these sites are NOT a good places to permanently store videos.
Help the organization download and copy videos in the
appropriate backup places, as needed.
- developing a technology plan for the organization or an
individual department that anticipates future equipment and
upgrade needs.
- helping the organization do an audit of its Google Drive
use, to ensure it's not using more space than it should. Most
nonprofits, if they use a Google Drive, use the free version,
because they cannot afford to pay for cloud services. Make
sure they aren't about to run out of space.
- developing a technology training plan that identifies paid
staff and volunteer training needs, for the entire
organization or for an individual department. Remember: the
tech needs of staff that manage your volunteer engagement
won't be the same as your accounting department.
- evaluating an organization's web site or new web pages
regarding their accessibility (use by people with disabilities
and people using assistive technologies), regarding mobile
access (can the web site be easily viewed on a smart phone?
does it need to be?) and making recommendations regarding
accessibility and mobile readiness.
- reviewing visitor statistics for a web site and making
recommendations to improve the web sites ranking in keyword
searches on sites like Google.
- making recommendations about whether or not the
organization should develop an app that helps it better serve
its clients. For instance, does a homeless shelter need to
develop an app that staff could use to know what other
shelters in the area have beds available? Should an
organization focused on women's safety develop an app so that
a woman using the app could call for a taxi driven by a woman?
- help the company responsibly, appropriately and safely
dispose of old computers and smart phones.
- editing raw video to make a short
video for use with the general public, dispersed staff
or remote volunteers/online volunteers.
- editing raw audio to make a podcast to upload to
your computer and make available to anyone.
- installing and configuring an instant messaging client for
staff to use, via Signal or Telegram or the free version of
Slack.
- holding an in-house workshop for paid staff and volunteers,
such as how to:
- use software already on an organization's computers
(particularly under-utilized software, like the graphics
software that's already installed on most computers but
rarely used, or instant messaging software, or templates
that came with the word-processing software or database
software).
- manage large amounts of email (many people don't know
how to set up filters for messages, for example).
- maintain basic computer and Internet security/data
protection.
- prevent junk emailers from getting staff email
addresses (the perils of sending electronic cards or using
online address books or downloading "free screen savers",
etc.).
- use free online
services / free cloud computing tools, like groups.io,
YahooGroups, GoogleGroups, GoogleDocs, Drop Box, shared
online calendars, etc.
- use live, interactive
software such as chats, instant messaging, VoIP and
video conferencing.
- use tags on Twitter.
- use advanced functions on your word processing program
(how to set up an automatically-updated table of contents,
how to create fields for a mail merge using data from
another program, etc.).
- insert photos and videos into a slide show presentation
so that the presentation file size is still kept at a
manageable level (so that it could be sent as an
attachment, for instance).
- how to transition from one software package to another,
such as switching to a new database platform, or switching
from a proprietary office suite to LibreOffice.
- edit raw video to make a short
video for use with the general public, dispersed
staff or remote volunteers/online
volunteers.
- edit raw audio to make a podcast to upload
to your computer and make available to anyone.
- how to upload a video to YouTube or other
video-sharing software.
- how
to transcribe a YouTube video so that it has
accurate closed-captioning.
- how to use online
social networking and online professional networking
to recruit volunteers, reach potential clients, attract
donors, promote organizational success, etc.
- how to do some simple things to
a website to improve its accessibility.
- what phishing emails look like and how to recognize them
and what to do about them, and what to do if you click on
such and start inputting information or click "send"
before you realize you have been fooled.
There are also many long-term, ongoing assignments for tech
volunteers, of course, such as web design, web site management,
being on-call for tech problems, backing up systems, producing
live online events, etc. But before an organization involves
volunteers in such high-commitment endeavors, the organization
should consider creating a few short-term assignments, to get used
to working with tech volunteers and to help staff identify the
best candidates for longer-term assignments.
Also see:
Dos & don'ts for
technical assistance volunteers / volunteers donating
expertise
There are many people that want to donate - to volunteer -
their professional skills or expertise to a nonprofit, NGO,
charity, school or a community or environmental project. They
are sometimes called "skilled volunteers." These volunteers
might build a web site, or build an app, or build a garden, or
design a building, or provide legal assistance, and on and on,
for a nonprofit, or even a government program that engages
volunteers and supports a particular community, like a women's
shelter or a home for people with addicted issues. These are
volunteers that are going to work primarily with a program's
staff, including other volunteers, rather than directly with
clients, but the result of their service may directly affect
clients. But these type of volunteering gigs don't always work
out, leaving both volunteers and programs frustrated and
disappointed. The advice on this page will help everyone
involved have a more worthwhile experience.
Volunteer management mistakes to
avoid in IT projects
A lot of times, when volunteers are engaged to help a
nonprofit or charity regarding an IT project, things don't go
well. This resource from CompuMentor, hosted on my web site,
can help prevent those common frustrations.
"Volunteers & Pro Bono Support",
a chapter of Fast Forward's "Definitive Guide to
Starting & Scaling a Tech Nonprofit"
I am highly-critical of the vast majority of guidance about
working with volunteers in tech projects. Not this one. It
begins with a reality check about volunteers - like that they
aren't free and have many priorities (jobs, family, etc.) that
are often more important than their volunteering service and
have to be accommodated, etc. It then talks about what needs
to be on the web page about volunteering before ANY
recruitment begins. Later, it also reviews the importance of
welcoming volunteers and training the volunteers that will
work in nonprofit tech-related projects.
Finding a
Computer/Network Consultant (paid or volunteer)
Staff at mission-based organizations (nonprofits, civil
society organizations, and public sector agencies) often have
to rely on consultants, either paid or volunteer, for
expertise in computer hardware, software and networks. Staff
may feel unable to understand, question nor challenge whatever
that consultant recommends. What can mission-based
organizations do to recruit the "right" consultant for "tech"
related issues, one that will not make them feel
out-of-the-loop or out-of-control when it comes to
tech-related discussions?
One(-ish) Day "Tech" Activities
for Volunteers
Volunteers are getting together for intense, one-day events,
or events of just a few days, to build web pages, to write
code, to edit Wikipedia pages, and more. These are gatherings
of onsite volunteers, where everyone is in one location,
together, to do an online-related project in one day, or a few
days. It's a form of episodic volunteering, because volunteers
don't have to make an ongoing commitment - they can come to
the event, contribute their services, and then leave and never
volunteer again. Because computers are involved, these events
are sometimes called hackathons, even if coding isn't
involved. This page provides advice on how to put together a
one-day event, or just-a-few-days-of activity, for a group of
tech volunteers onsite, working together, for a nonprofit,
non-governmental organization (NGO), community-focused
government program, school or other mission-based organization
- or association of such.
CompuMentor & TechSoup Recommendations for Working with
IT Volunteers
Here is the 1996
version of the CompuMentor Volunteer Handbook for its
mentors and the 2009 upgrade for IT
volunteers to work with nonprofits here. Don't let the
dates on these make you think these are outdated; much of the
advice is still excellent, for both those volunteering in ICT
projects and those nonprofits and others that will work with
them.
Tech Volunteer Groups / ICT4D
Volunteers
A list of tech volunteering initiatives, some defunct, some
still going strong, that recruit tech experts to volunteer
their time support either local nonprofit organizations or
NGOs in developing countries regarding computer hardware,
software and Internet tech-related tasks.
Pro Bono / In-Kind / Donated
Services for Mission-Based Organizations:
When, Why & How?.
There are all sorts of professionals who want to donate
their services -- web design, intranet setup, graphic
design, human resources expertise, legal advice, editing,
research, and so forth -- to mission-based organizations.
And there are all sorts of nonprofits and NGOs who would
like to attract such donated services. But often, there's a
disconnect -- misunderstandings and miscommunications and
unrealistic expectations that lead to missed opportunities
and frustrating experiences. This resource is designed to
help both those who want to donate professional services and
those who want to work with such volunteers.
Creating One-Time, Short-Term
Group Volunteering Activities
Details on not just what groups of volunteers can do in a
two-hour, half-day or all-day event, but also just how much
an organization or program will need to do to prepare a site
for group volunteering. It's an expensive, time-consuming
endeavor - are you ready? Is it worth it?
Webinar on Finding and Involving Tech Volunteers
Recorded in April 2009, this
presentation with slides and audio is a recording of a
live webinar I did for TechSoup.
It explores how to effectively involve volunteers in
computer and Internet related tasks at your organization,
including ways to identify tech-related assignments, ways to
support volunteers in these assignments, and, of course,
methods to recruit and screen such volunteers. Nonprofit
staff members can feel a sense of both awe and fear about
tech volunteers, and this can lead to misunderstandings and
frustrations on the part of both parties. This webinar will
help nonprofit staff stay in control of tech volunteering
tasks so that the finished assignment meets the nonprofits'
needs and the tech volunteer has a satisfying experience.
It's less than an hour long.
Return to my volunteer-related
resources
my web site home page
My
Resources for Nonprofit, NGO & other
mission-based management
how to support my work &
this web site
