Virtual Volunteering: An Untapped Resource

for Employee Engagement

Jayne Cravens Founder

Coyote Communications

Panelists: Facilitator:

Lauren Wagner Sr. Manager, Engagement

VolunteerMatch

@Lauren_Lynn2

Kaye Morgan-Curtis Manager, Global Inclusion & Philanthropy

Newell-Rubbermaid

How To Ask Questions

• Type questions into the box on the

right side of the your screen

• Submit via Twitter to

@VM_Solutions using “#VMbpn”

• We will pose questions at the end of

the presentation

• A copy of the slides will be circulated

after the event

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Poll:

Q: How do you feel about virtual volunteering?

A. Sounds Great! I want to start/expand it at my

company!

B. I’m not sure.

C. I’m skeptical, maybe even scared, of this topic.

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

About Jayne Cravens

Co-author: The LAST Virtual

Volunteering Guidebook

On Twitter: @jcravens42

Also on Facebook & GooglePlus

http://www.coyotecommunications.com

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

What is “Virtual Volunteering”?

• A volunteer (unpaid person) who completes tasks, short or

large or somewhere in between, in whole or in part, off-

site from the organization being assisted, using the

Internet and a home, school, telecenter or work computer or other Internet-connected device (such as a

smart phone).

• Also known as online volunteering, micro volunteering,

crowdsourcing, digital volunteering, online mentoring, etc.

• Tasks can take just a few minutes and a one-time

commitment (micro volunteering or crowdsourcing) or

can take many days and be an ongoing commitment.

Volunteers can work alone or as part of a team.

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Virtual Volunteering Tasks

• translate documents

• research subjects

• create web pages

• edit or write proposals,

press releases, articles,

etc.

• develop curriculum

• design a database

• design graphics

• provide legal, business,

medical, agricultural or

any other expertise

• counsel people

• tutor or mentor students

• moderate online discussion

groups

• write songs

• create a podcast

• edit a video

• monitor the news

• answer questions

• tag photos and files

• offer opinion or feedback

• manage other online

volunteers

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Range of volunteering assignments

• Long-term (board membership, committee membership,

web master, marketing manager, social media manager,

etc.)

• Groups of volunteers (helping at an event)

• Short-term (evaluating your web site re: accessibility,

creating a social media plan, researching Hispanic

professional associations, editing a document, tagging

photos with appropriate key words)

• High-responsibility/high-skilled (editing a video, translating a

publication, managing a team)

• Online

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• We are a global marketer of consumer and commercial products with a

strong portfolio of leading brands known for delivering superior

performance, design and innovation.

• Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

• Approximately 19,000 employees worldwide

• Sales in more than 100 countries

• NYSE: NWL

ABOUT NEWELL RUBBERMAID

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OUR BRANDS

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OUR GLOBAL EMPLOYEES

Factory Non-Union

Professional/Sales

Factory Union

Clerical

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EMPLOYEE GIVING

Give Serve Grow is our global employee

giving program that offers employees

opportunities through volunteer service or

donations, to support causes that touch their

hearts and are important to enriching lives in

their communities.

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SIGNATURE PROJECTS

• Global Day of Service

• Annual Week of Caring

• Leadership Forum Service

Project

• “Hands On” or “Cares”

Events

• Team Service Projects

CLIENT SINCE 2012

ENGAGEMENT

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Myth #1:

Virtual Volunteering is a Very New Concept…

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Myth 1: Virtual volunteering is a very

new concept

• It's actually more than 30 years old!

It's as old as the Internet. There are

thousands of organizations engaging

online volunteers – and thousands

and thousands (millions?) of online

volunteers.

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Myth #2:

Virtual Volunteering is Great for People who

Otherwise Don’t Have Time to Volunteer…

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Myth 2: Virtual volunteering is great for people

who otherwise don’t have time to volunteer

Volunteering, even virtual volunteering,

even micro tasks, takes REAL time. It's

not for when you might have some time

to volunteer – it's for the time you have

MADE to volunteer & understand that

this is a REAL commitment (organizations

are counting on you!).

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VIRTUAL VOLUNTEERING

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WHO USES VIRTUAL VOLUNTEERING

Manufacturing/Warehousing Employees

Ex-Pat Employees

Call-Center Employees Executives

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Myth #3:

People who Volunteer Online Don’t Volunteer

Onsite, Face to Face…

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Myth 3: People who volunteer online

don’t volunteer onsite, face-to-face

All research shows that most people

that volunteer online ALSO volunteer

onsite, usually at the same

organization they support online

(although, indeed, there are many

people that support organizations

geographically far from them).

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Myth #4:

Online Volunteers Engage Primarily in Technology

Related Tasks…

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Myth 4: Online volunteers engage

primarily in technology related tasks

• Most tasks aren't tech-related. Most relate to

offering expert advice (legal, graphic design,

marketing) or relate to language translation.

• Look at VolunteerMatch online volunteering tasks –

note how many aren't tech related.

• Most organizations don't say, “We need online

volunteers.” They say “We need someone to

research this topic” or “To write a marketing

strategy” or “To help us create a social media

policy.” They don't know these are online

opportunities – but you can volunteer for such and

then tell them how you will do it online.

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Types of Virtual Volunteering

Home Work Help

Translation Services

Resume Writing/Review

Fundraising Calls

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Myth #5:

Companies That Allow Employees to Volunteer

Online From Work End up With Lost

Productivity…

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Myth 5: Companies that allow employees to

volunteer online from work end up with lost

productivity

• I can't find any stats that

demonstrate this. In fact, most

companies I talk to with policies

allowing employees to take PAID

time off to volunteer can't get

employees to take the time.

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Wrap Up

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The Infancy Stage

• Improve employee engagement and

morale

• Enhance learned or teach new skills

• No cost and less time consuming

than on-site projects

• Limited or no interaction with

beneficiaries

• Less or no company oversight of

projects

• Limited options in types of projects

offered

TRIUMPHS CHALLENGES

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Ideas about tracking time & accomplishments

by employees engaged in virtual volunteering

• The more employees see employee volunteering being

recognized and celebrated, the more likely they are to

report their hours.

• Create a space or section on the employee Intranet for

discussion/reporting about volunteering. It could be a

place where people share photos of themselves

volunteering, testimonials about their volunteering, etc., a place where senior staff thanks volunteers, and a place

where volunteers or the HR department posts opportunities

for volunteers.

• Encourage picture sharing of volunteers-in-action (people taking selfies at their desk or wherever they engage in

virtual volunteering); they can share this on the intranet or

with HR or whomever is in charge of the employee

volunteering program

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

Cont. • Regular reminders in employee newsletters and company-wide

communications about volunteering (where to find such,

upcoming opportunities, photos of employees-in-action,

testimonials from employees that have recently volunteered,

thank you’s to volunteers)

• Reminders at company-wide meetings (photos, thank you’s,

upcoming opportunities, testimonials)

• Recognition of departments that have the most number of

employees that volunteered in a month or a quarter; that would

require they report their volunteering in some way

• create a volunteer reporting form, the simpler the better, to

encourage employees to share volunteering information. Have it

online (and use all of the above means to encourage employees

to fill it out), but have paper versions as well, and drop by

department meetings and hand them out and encourage

employees to fill out such before the meeting.

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

What to do now?

• Write an article about virtual volunteering in your company

newsletter

• Introduce some of the ideas offered about tracking time and accomplishments by employees engaged in virtual

volunteering, and regularly remind employees of these

activities

• Have a panel discussion at lunch time of people you've discovered volunteer virtually at your company, and invite

employees to come ask them questions about their

experience; at the end, include info about how to find

virtual volunteering

• Do NOT segregate online volunteers from onsite volunteers

in overall data; remember, they are ALL volunteers.

Advanced

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© Jayne Cravens

coyotecommunications.com

More re: virtual volunteering By Jayne Cravens (me) and

Susan Ellis.

Available from Energize, Inc.

http://www.energizeinc.com

Also, we have a free wiki that

tracks research and tools (&

welcomes your contributions) at

http://virtualvolunteering.wikispace

s.com

& it links to our discussion group

on LinkedIn

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Poll:

Q: I feel inspired & excited to start promoting

virtual volunteering to my employees.

A. Yes! Can’t wait!

B. I’m not sure.

C. Definitely not, I’m still skeptical.

Q&A

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• Type questions into the box on the

right side of the your screen

• Submit via Twitter to

@VM_Solutions using “#VMbpn”

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Stay Informed

Blog: www.VolunteeringIsCSR.org

Twitter: @VM_Solutions

Newsletter: Monthly ‘Good Companies’

newsletter - Sign up on the

blog!

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Save the Date – June 26th

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Lessons From the Field:

Unique and Innovative Strategies to Increase Engagement in your Employee

Volunteering Program

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PT (1-2 p.m. ET)

Register here:

http://bit.ly/1p53QS0

Featuring:

Doretha Easler NV Energy

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Lauren Keeler Apollo Education Group

Samantha Lucas Allina Health