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Newsletter
March 2011
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THIS MONTH'S TOPICS
1. FROM THE SERVICE: Online volunteering facts and figures 2010
2. TIP: How online volunteers can support organizations’ fundraising activities
3. EXPERIENCE: Helping a community-based organization in Uganda secure funding
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1. FROM THE SERVICE: Online volunteering facts and figures 2010
A steadily increasing number of civil society organizations, governmental institutions and United Nations organizations recognize the value of online volunteering. The figures speak for themselves: 10,000 online volunteers engaged in development projects through the UNV Online Volunteering service in 2010 and carried out 15,000 assignments.
The magnitude of online volunteers’ contributions to peace and development is even larger, since these figures are based on the data recorded on the website. They do not take into account the many online volunteers who expand their support beyond their initial assignment. However, the stories that are regularly featured in the newsletter show that what starts as a one-time collaboration often leads to a long-lasting relationship between online volunteers and organizations.
In 2010, 55% of online volunteers were women, 62% were from developing countries and 2% considered themselves as people with disabilities.
Most assignments carried out by these volunteers benefitted projects with a global reach (42%) and in Sub-Saharan Africa (35%). They focused mainly on education (24%) and youth (16%).
Amongst the organizations that involved online volunteers in 2010, 77% were NGOs, 21% were United Nations organizations and 2% were governments.
The tasks for which these organizations required the most support from online volunteers involved writing and editing of project proposals, newsletters and fundraising requests (36%), translation from/into local/international languages, and research of best practices, funding partners, etc.
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2. TIP: How online volunteers can support organizations’ fundraising activities
A common challenge faced by development organizations is raising the funding for their projects and activities. Online volunteers can support organizations’ fundraising activities in many ways.
They can develop a fundraising strategy, design a social media fundraising campaign, share innovative fundraising ideas, research potential donor organizations and funding opportunities, obtain information on submission guidelines, draft letters and correspondence, write project proposals, or provide advice on how to approach and deal with different donors.
When you ask volunteers to support your organization’s fundraising activities, it is important to remember that -- as is indicated in the criteria for opportunities, and because of the legal and liability implications -- online volunteers should not be requested to make in-kind donations or financial contributions, or to solicit donations from third parties. This includes the submission of funding proposals on behalf of the organization or the sending-out or posting of fundraising appeals for the organization.
Read about the experience of the community-based organization PACODET in Eastern Uganda, which involved online volunteers in its efforts to secure project funding.
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3. Experience: Helping a community-based organization in Uganda secure funding
The community-based organization Pallisa Community Development Trust (PACODET) serves a rural population of about 60,000 people in the Pallisa district, Eastern Uganda. PACODET involved online volunteers in the development of its project proposals in the areas of health care, community-based-adaptation to climate change, food security and civil rights.
The volunteers, all experts in their respective subject matter, “helped us define the issues in these projects and develop our programmes with a clearer focus”, says Stanley Okurut, the organization’s director.
Through one of the project proposals, for example, PACODET was able to secure funds from a business to equip the laboratory of a now fully-functional health centre. “The Online Volunteering service has provided us with the rare opportunity and resources to implement activities through these volunteers that we would not have been able to achieve within that space of time and available resources,” says Okurut.
The collaboration was organized in a way that enabled the PACODET staff to strengthen its capacities in proposal development. According to Okurut, “working with the online volunteers has enriched our knowledge on project proposal development. They led us in a journey from needs assessment, objective setting and log frame planning to proposal writing.”
Environmental engineer Alejandra Woodcock from Colombia supported PACODET with the development of a project aimed at promoting agro-ecological practices to mitigate climate change and to improve seed security and agricultural biodiversity for sustainable livelihoods of communities in the Pallisa district.
“I contributed to the revision of the proposal drawn up by PACODET, making some adjustments, and I suggested a more comprehensive approach so that the project could become sustainable over time and have greater positive impact on the environment through the introduction of the concept of agro-ecology and sustainable farms. I also suggested some organizations, whose field of work involves Africa, as possible sources of funding”, she says.
Swetha Jegannathan, native of India and living in Singapore, holds a Masters in Biotechnology and has worked as a Business Analyst for a leading software company serving the pharmaceutical industry. She started with drafting and editing proposals and supporting PACODET’s correspondence with potential funding organizations.
“During this time, I found people had not heard about PACODET and the wonderful service they were providing to the people of the Pallisa district in Uganda. So I thought we should work towards creating visibility for PACODET via online, print and other media. With the director's constant support, I have been devising strategies and tasks that would increase PACODET’s visibility, thereby making it eligible for grants, funding and support for the wonderful cause it is pursuing.
I have been posting tasks on behalf of PACODET on the Online Volunteering service website, to find additional support for article and newsletter writing, brochure and documentary creation. We are currently working on releasing the newsletter for PACODET and planning to have it published monthly. We have also created Twitter and Facebook pages, blogs and discussion forums with information on PACODET, and our social media volunteers are currently working on taking it all forward.
We are hoping to make PACODET known worldwide, and in future are hoping to expand its ability to create and generate livelihood in the region by selling the products online. The journey with PACODET, its director Stanley and other online volunteers has been very motivating and encouraging. The work is addictive and has become part of my daily routine. I constantly explore new things and ideas that I feel could be put to action at PACODET. I have been able to realize the power of Internet technology in reaching out to the needy in remote places. This has made it possible for me to give shape to my volunteering ideas and vision I had so far only dreamt of.”
Stephan Dietze from Germany, who works for the public administration, shared his business and project management expertise with the organization’s staff as well as with his fellow volunteers. “During my MBA studies I also worked on a comprehensive case study about innovative HIV/AIDS projects in Africa. With the HIV/AIDS case study of my MBA studies in mind, I found it very interesting to work with PACODET on its community-based HIV/AIDS projects in Eastern Uganda.
The project-based work with PACODET’s director and with other online volunteers has been a really pleasant and fruitful cooperation. At the beginning, Stanley Okurut gave us the opportunity to brainstorm and develop our own ideas for potential funding proposals. He also regularly provided relevant background information when discussing project activities in detail. Sharing and editing project documents among all the team members has been key for a close and effective collaboration.
New online volunteers with other professional backgrounds have found it helpful that I provided them with knowledge about management techniques (e.g. log frame approach, GANTT charting) which they can directly apply in a project context. Apart from my “coaching” activities, I have taken the responsibility of coordinating the activities of our small group of online volunteers. Together with them, I have also prepared a range of comprehensive project documents and funding proposals.
Working as an online volunteer has influenced my life in a variety of ways. I have gained new skills and experience in other professional areas, especially international development work. It allows me to provide help to others, which is a great experience! It is very satisfying to see that my contributions have a small but lasting effect. Last but not least, I have met interesting people and made new friends.”
