Volunteering is a prosocial activity where individuals or groups provide their services for no monetary or social gain but rather for the benefit of another person, group, or organization. According to data from a survey conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2016, roughly one-quarter of Americans, or 25%, volunteer their time.
Designed for modern-day busy schedules, Micro volunteering has reshaped the way people can volunteer and organizations can organize projects. Micro-volunteering means convenient and flexible opportunities that fit into a potential volunteer's schedule. Help from Home used the slogan "change the world from your pajamas" to reinforce the message.
As much of volunteerism has adopted a virtual mode, Micro-volunteering allows you to leverage a short amount of free time to do good via your smartphones and the internet. With micro-volunteering, you can onboard even the busiest supporters to assist your cause.
When asked, over 70% of Americans said they would love to volunteer but just do not find the time for it. With the breaking down of a project into smaller parts, volunteers can engage in mini-tasks that can be done on their commute back home, or while waiting at an airport. Essentially, these tasks that are projected as micro-volunteering opportunities mustn’t take up more than an hour or two of a volunteer’s time.
The concept of micro-volunteering has been around for a while now. Discussion around the topic has taken place under many names such as - byte-sized volunteering, micro-actions, and speed volunteering.
Micro-volunteering can offer a person with a jam-packed schedule an escape; by letting them volunteer during their break time or during their commute. Most of the micro-volunteering was done by young people in the UK, which is where more than half of all micro-volunteering actions took place in 2015. while the United States is growing at a paltry 3%.
The only requirements from volunteers are that they apply. One doesn’t need to go through an application or training process, and the tasks only take a few minutes to complete. Micro-volunteering can range from anything such as retweeting a message or signing a petition to researchers sorting through images and recordings from webcams.
Another concern people tend to have is that once they agree to volunteer they would have to dedicate a certain amount of their time to the cause, failing which there could be unpleasant consequences. Micro-volunteering offers flexibility to the volunteer to be able to choose their causes and how much time they can spare for the cause.
It also allows people who might otherwise be overlooked from traditional volunteer opportunities to participate. And micro-volunteering makes a real difference. As of January 2015, 53 scientific papers had been published as a result of the working of hundreds of thousands of volunteers at Galaxy Zoo. These volunteers were asked to study photographs of space.
To capture the attention of people who spend lots of time on the internet, instant gratification is required. This is accomplished by incorporating a feel-good factor into each event. This increases volunteer engagement and motivates them to contribute more. Micro-volunteering motivates people to take larger steps to improve our society. Its accessibility and practicality make it a good alternative even for the most time-pressed person interested in making a contribution to our society's well-being.
The availability and accessibility of the internet and devices have made it possible for people to volunteer remotely. If your nonprofit is considering offering micro-volunteering opportunities, there are a number of online tools and strategies that can help.
Chezuba is a platform that allows non-profit organizations to post projects based on their requirements, free of charge. Our volunteers have completed over 7000 successful projects. Visit us today and unlock the potential micro-volunteers can bring to your non-profit organization.
If you are interested in contributing your time in a short yet meaningful way, then Chezuba is just the place for you. You have the freedom to choose the causes you wish to support based on the amount of time you can spare for volunteering.
Employees tend to be more productive when they are given opportunities to give back to society. This need not be an entire weekend thanks to micro-volunteering projects. Sign up with us for a quick demo on how you can engage your employees in some fun volunteering activities and help the world around you.
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