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agencies that involve online volunteers:
outside the United States

Does NOT include international organizations based in the US.

If you would like your agency to be included in this listing, please complete our online survey.

    AfricaWorld
    http://www.earthcorp.com/AfricaWorld
    Involves online volunteers as moderators and contributors to its online discussion groups and education forums, which offer advice and information about jobs, work-travel-study & research opportunities and issues relevant to the African Diaspora. The group uses the Internet to recruit all of its volunteers.

     
    Barcelona 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures
    http://www.barcelona2004.org/html/indexfuc_e.html
    This organization in Spain has online volunteers performing research to find online discussion groups for topics relating to the forum's mission (peace, sustainability and cultural diversity), disseminating information about the Forum (online "ambassadors"), and developing and maintaining the Virtual Forum's online activities. Those who complete the organization's online application automatically become subscribed to the group's mail distribution list, Web Volunteers 2004. Their volunteer information is available in English, but most of the site is in Spanish.

     
    Befrienders International
    http://www.befrienders.org/
    Has centers worldwide, including the U.S. Each center has trained "listening" volunteers who provide support via phone to people who are suicidal or despairing, and who work to increase public awareness of issues around suicide and depression. Some of the centers also provide support via e-mail; though not an immediate service, e-mail is answered within 24 hours. This organization and its centers are affiliated with Samaritans (see below).

     
    Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty
    http://www.ccadp.org
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    This organization involves volunteers in a number of ways -- designing web pages for inmates, collecting and distributing email for prisoners, contacting media / attorneys to direct them to the CCADP site, researching cases online, typing penpal requests to post online, and answering students' questions.

     
    Chebucto Community Net
    http://chebucto.ns.ca/
    A community network serving the Metropolitan Halifax area in Nova Scotia, Canada. Much of the work of the CCN is done by online volunteers, one of whom has also been volunteering with the VV Project. CCN's Web site for current and potential volunteers is a good model for other organizations looking to recruit volunteers and honor their value via the Internet.

     
    Community Linkages Program / Volunteer @ction.online
    http://www.gov.on.ca/mczcr/english/citdiv/voluntar/pilots.htm
    This ambitious Canadian program by the Ontario government addresses the voluntary sector's need to increase its use of technology networks to enhance volunteer recruitment and support, maximize organizational efficiency and share resources. Some of its pilot projects involve online volunteering.

     
    German Charities Institute
    http://www.dsk.de and then "English"
    This organization was one of the first to provide information to the Virtual Volunteering Project about its involvement of online volunteers.

     
    Internet Volunteer Team for Kanagawa Volunteer Support Center
    http://www.ivt.org/kvsc-sp/
    This group of online volunteers in Japan created and maintain this Web site in support of their local volunteer center. While this site does have an English version, note that the translations from the original Japanse were probably done by an online tool, and, therefore, the web site's English text is not always easy to understand.

     
    Macdonald Youth Services (MYS)
    http://www.mys.mb.ca/volunter/howcont.html
    This organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada has provided children and their families with a range of treatment and support services since 1929. MYS uses the Internet to recruit onsite volunteers, involves online volunteers (including some from the United States) in assignments that assist staff (web site building, database creation, online research, desktop publishing, etc.), and is expanding its own virtual tutoring program. An outline of MYS's screening process and online application and other forms are available on its web site.

     
    Peace and Environment Resource Centre
    http://www.perc.flora.org
    Canadian nonprofit organizations that uses a number of internal communication mechanisms, including a list, to keep volunteers up-to-date. The organization provided information for the Virtual Volunteering Project's suggestions for Internet discussion groups for volunteers.

     
    reach4it.com
    http://www.reach4it.com/
    For young women aged 12-18 to exchange ideas, hear the voices of their peers and connect online with women mentors. It also has a program to match adult women in mentor/mentee relationships online around a variety of issues -- career, self-esteem, body image, etc. The organization is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (but is open to participants globally), and was formerly Women Helping Women International and its "Take Aim" program.

     
    Samaritans
    http://www.samaritans.org/
    A charitable organization, founded in 1953, serving the United Kingdom and Ireland. Samaritans trained "listening" volunteers provide support via phone and e-mail to people who are suicidal or despairing, and work to increase public awareness of issues around suicide and depression. The organization's onsite training of its volunteers is focused on fine-tuning listening skills and providing the knowledge and confidence necessary to support callers in crisis. The Samaritans e-mail service is not an immediate service; mail is answered within 24 hours. Befrienders International is affiliated with the Samaritans and has branches in the U.S. (see above).

     
    United Nations Volunteers (UNV)
    http://www.unv.org
    As part of the UNV program, there are about 4,000 women and men of over 140 nationalities serving annually in developing countries as volunteer specialists and volunteer field workers. Since 1971, more than 20,000 UN Volunteers from some 150 developing and industrialized nations have worked in about 140 countries. The UNV is launching a large international virtual volunteering effort later in 2000.

     
    Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
    http:www.vita.org
    VITA's Inquiry Service enlists volunteers serving as technical experts to answer requests about a variety of development issues that come from around the world. Originally, experts provided their assistance via phone, fax and postal mail. VITA has now launched a version to involve online volunteers in its Inquiry Service program.

     
    YouthOrg UK
    http://www.youth.org.uk
    Aldershot, Hants, United Kingdom
    YouthOrg UK's virtual community and web site are entirely managed, developed and published by volunteers. Online volunteers also maintain a Web-based bulletin board, answer technical inquiries and design graphics. "Peer to peer education is probably the best way to describe this relationship between the volunteers," says Mark Harding, founder of the organization. Mark says the factors that contribute to the success of his online programs are "praising volunteers," "ensuring their volunteering work is seen by other potential volunteers," and "ensuring the content of the web site is written in a level the youth workers and young people can relate to." He says two of the biggest obstacles are that potential volunteers "fear they need to be an Internet genius to contribute" and potential volunteers giving inacurate email addresses when they sign up to help.

     

Other regions:  
Back to Index of collaborating agencies

Does your organization already involve volunteers via the Internet? Then We Want to Hear From You!

If your organization involves volunteers "offline" to promote your agency's mission (tutoring clients, staffing a crisis line, support groups, etc.), and you want to explore involvement of online volunteers in a similar capacity, OR, if you already DO involve online volunteers and want to expand these activities, the Virtual Volunteering Project would love to help you. Read more about how we might collaborate.





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