Final update: July 29, 2022

The Virtual Volunteering Wiki was developed in association with The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, available as a print book and an electronic book.

Also see this page of news feeds that automatically link to the latest web pages, blogs, and other online materials that use terms that relate to virtual volunteering (this is automatically-generated content; we do not control what shows up on these RSS feeds or what online materials get linked).

Note that the list below on this page is not comprehensive - rather, it is a curated list. The goal is not to list every virtual volunteering activity and related news story (because that would be impossible) but, rather to list ones that are unique, that show the impact of virtual volunteering, that are especially innovative, or even to show the challenges of involving online volunteers. Also, these are news articles, as opposed to research and academic papers, which can be found here.

News regarding virtual volunteering has stopped being tracked on this wiki. The reasons:

• Virtual volunteering is no longer new, innovative nor experimental. Virtual volunteering is mainstream. When this wiki was launched, there were already thousands of nonprofits, NGOs, charities, community groups and government agencies involving online volunteers, but there was a need to prove it. There was also an ongoing need to show the varied ways organizations involve online volunteers. But now, virtual volunteering is a commonplace term and new but not-so-unique initiatives are launched at least weekly. There are also SO many research articles related to virtual volunteering now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's impossible to keep up with them as well.
    
• I don't have the time nor the funding to continue. Without funding, I can't afford to subscribe to news outlets so I can read all of the stories. Also, my funded time has to take precedence over this wiki - an entirely unfunded endeavor.

If you would like the wiki to continue to be updated, here's how to support this work.

If a link below is broken, please type it into archive.org to retrieve an archived version of the article.

2022 Articles & New Resources (in reverse date order):

18 July 2022. "Sponsored" volunteers are key to many OpenSource projects and online communities. WordPress, the popular open source CMS that many companies, including nonprofits, use for their web site and/or blogs, is powered by a global community of contributors who volunteer - meaning they are NOT paid by WordPress for their time and talent to improve WordPress. But did you know that many of them are sponsored by their employers specifically to contribute to WordPress - meaning their companies pay them for this time? Hugh Lashbrooke joined the Community Signal podcast to discuss why employers see this as a good investment.

29 May 2022: Molly White is a veteran online volunteer (Wikipedia editor). She's now fast becoming the cryptocurrency world’s biggest critic. A 28-year-old software engineer, she has edited Wikipedia to bring attention to overlooked women scientists. During the Trump presidency, her interests shifted to right-wing Internet movements and domestic extremism, and she edited Wikipedia articles on the brutal online attacks on women gamers and journalists, which came to be known as “GamerGate,” and the “boogaloo" militia movement. In the past 15 years, White’s racked up more than 100,000 edits and served on the organization’s all-volunteer arbitration committee, the high court that settles disputes on the site. On her website, Web3 is Going Just Great White now documents case after case of crypto malfeasance: investments that turn out to be scams, poorly-run projects that collapse under mismanagement and hacks that drain supporters’ money.

19 April 2022: Catholic Charities online volunteer mentors help young Afghans bridge a cultural divide. When the pandemic hit, a popular mentoring program through Catholic Charities that supported refugees in Virginia pivoted online. At least one of the now-online volunteers began meeting with his mentee from Afghanistan on Zoom twice a week for an hour, exceeding the program’s requirement of four hours a month - and was able to mentor additional young people as well.

19 April 2022: Reflections on 2 Years of Virtual Volunteering at MozFest (Mozilla Festival) Since moving online in 2021, MozFest (Mozilla Festival has engaged more people than ever from all around the world with the movement for a healthier internet and more trustworthy AI. The entire MozFest community of Staff, Wranglers, Facilitators, Participants, and Volunteers have created a new kind of virtual MozFest magic... our online events have delivered innovative experiences and accessible, inclusive, creative, and participatory sessions for festival attendees. Our Volunteer program is one of the many supports that makes MozFest work so well online. Volunteers support participants in the annual Mozilla Festival (MozFest), hosted by the Mozilla Foundation. The festival is both a traditional conference with panel discussions, round-table discussions, presentations, exhibits, etc., as well as an event that hosts hack-a-thons, build-a-thons and brainstorming sessions. Themes include online privacy and security, open innovation, decentralization, digital literacy and digital inclusion. This article lists take-aways from their virtual volunteering engagement and the changes made between 2021 and 2022 to improve the program.

April 2022: The State of U.S. Civic Engagement shows widespread acceptance of virtual volunteering. One-third of respondents anticipate volunteering more through virtual opportunities than did so before the pandemic, according to Civic Life Today: The State of U.S. Civic Engagement, a survey-based study from Points of Light. The report is based on a mobile-optimized online survey of a national representative sample of 1,500 adults age 18-65 in the U.S. Samples based on ethnic and demographic composition. Respondents were asked what the most important activities since the crest of the pandemic would be. More than four in ten (41%) said voting would be more important than ever, while just under one third (32%) agreed with the statement “We all must get involved to rebuild our communities and the country.” Slightly more than one in four (26%) say “It is more important than ever to listen to and learn different perspectives that educate, challenge and better prepare me to take action in my community,” and roughly one quarter (24%) believe volunteering will be more important than ever. 65% of respondents indicated that virtual volunteering would be the primary way they volunteer during the next month. Those virtual opportunities will draw from an increasingly large pool of support: 36% plan to volunteer more than they did before the pandemic. A full copy of the report is available here.

11 April 2022: Ukrainians are scrubbing open-source maps to keep intel from Russia’s army. OpenStreetMap is widely used by the world's biggest tech companies. It’s also revealing potentially sensitive wartime intelligence. OSM mappers told Rest of World that they’re concerned that contributors, all online volunteers, could add potentially compromising details like roads, blockades, and other kinds of infrastructure into the platform. On March 27, the Ukrainian government passed a new law making it illegal to disseminate the location or movement of the country’s armed forces. Ukrainian OSM members said they would “take action to amend (delete, modify, revert to the previous state, etc.) any found cases of mapping related to military or critical social infrastructure facilities as well as contact the [Data Working Group] and other [OSM Foundation] working groups to ban the users who systematically make similar changes (more than one).” But the decision to stop updating the map of Ukraine has also opened up a series of new questions for the OSM Foundation and community more broadly about the use of maps for conflict and humanitarian aid. there is one thing that an OSM contributor says the Ukrainian mappers may add in the coming weeks: mass graves.

2 March, 2022: An initiative called Tech For Ukraine, part of Tech To The Rescue, needed online volunteers with Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian or Moldavian language skills to find and compile credible initiatives supporting Ukraine refugees, so the efforts of those initiatives could be amplified online. They put out the call on Februrary 26th and had enough volunteers within hours. They are continuing to recruit online volunteers for tech development to help Ukraine, though they prefer companies with employees that volunteer in teams. They are posting updates to Facebook.

February 15, 2022: Peace Corps Virtual Service Pilot Engagements. The Peace Corps regularly posts online volunteering roles for returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCVs) to support projects in countries where Peace Corps members have served, or are serving, onsite. For instance, to develop adolescent sexual and reproductive health materials for an NGO in Boswana to use, or to assist with effective plan strategies to improve a campaign regarding solid waste management in Peru, or to facilitate a small group for English language support, or to produce an analytical report of the training topics needed to enhance volunteer initiatives in Peru. Virtual service engagements are between 12-27 weeks long, depending on the request of the Host Country Partner. VSPPs engage synchronously and asynchronously for approximately 5-15 hours per week on tasks outlined in their engagement. Virtual Service Pilot Participants (VSPPs) and Host Country Counterparts identify mutually agreeable meeting times given the difference in their respective time zones and schedules. VSPPs can request to receive a one-time amount of $250 during their engagement to cover start-up costs (such as internet connectivity, phone charges) directly associated with virtual engagement. VSPPs are responsible for access to and availability of a computer, internet, and/or telephone in order to enable direct virtual engagement with the Peace Corps office overseas and their host country counterpart. These opportunities are a great resource if you are looking for ideas for virtual volunteering at your own organization.

January 22, 2022: United States supports free online mentoring platform for entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. The USA government’s Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a free online mentoring platform to connect emerging entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka with experienced business experts. The platform, available to the public at yes.youlead.lk, connects aspiring entrepreneurs across Sri Lanka with more than 100 experienced business leaders and subject matter experts to help them navigate unprecedented challenges and support the long-term success of their businesses.

January 12, 2022: Peace Corps Volunteer goes from onsite service to online service to support Ecuador. Cullen Thomas O'Donnell served in Peace Corps Ecuador for three years before being evacuated in March 2020 because of the global pandemic. Maintaining his connection with his community, O'Donnell participated in the Peace Corps' Virtual Service Pilot to support Ecuadorian English teachers and students. "The Peace Corps’ Virtual Service Pilot was a formal extension of the work we had already started — virtually supporting Ecuadorian English teachers and students... The contributions of the local community means that the work I was involved in as a Peace Corps Volunteer is sustainable. Community members played an active role in every aspect of every project... I tried hard to ensure my VSP project was sustainable, too... We have now started the second phase of the program — a conversation club, in which participating teachers not only practice their speaking and listening skills, but also gather ideas for implementing clubs at their own schools."

January 11, 2022: Online volunteers add more women scientists to Wikipedia. Chemist Maggie Tam had never edited Wikipedia before taking one of our recent 500 Wiki Women Scientists courses — in fact, she didn’t even know you could. “I used to think that each Wikipedia article was written by a single author,” Maggie admits. “I didn’t realize that anyone can edit and make changes to articles. Maggie took a 500 Wiki Women Scientists course offered by Wiki Education. Now, as a volunteer, she’s the Communications Committee Co-Chair for Females in Mass Spectrometry, a nonprofit community that supports women in the field of mass spectrometry. In an effort to help improve Wikipedia’s coverage of the topic, she connected with 500 Women Scientists, an organization that partnered with Wiki Education. She's been adding more women scientists to Wikipedia, and engaging others in the Females in Mass Spectrometry group with an edit-a-thon using the 500 Women Scientists and Wiki Education resources. She wants Wikipedia’s coverage of women scientists to reflect the reality of the women already in the field — and inspire the next generation of scientists.