27 Mar 6 Virtual Volunteering Projects
More than ever before, technology allows people to connect across continents to collaborate, contribute, and care for each other. At the bottom of this blog are a few global, online volunteering opportunities that I highly recommend. And especially during the global COVID-19 pandemic, what better way to spend your time than giving back while wearing pajamas from the safety of your home. Scroll to the bottom to see my suggestions!
The time-scarce chaos of life makes it challenging to find time to meet up in person with anybody, even before quarantine and social distancing become my daily norm. And volunteering in person? Extra challenging.
So my curiosity was piqued when I learned about MicroMentor, a site that connects small business owners and entrepreneurs around the world with virtual advisors and mentors. I signed up a year ago, listed my areas of expertise on my profile (nonprofits and social enterprises), and within a few days I had connected with three entrepreneurs. To my surprise, all of them were located in Uganda.
I had never even been to West Africa, so I worried for a moment: what will I have to offer? Will what I know have any relevance? I set expectations low and suggested to each that we meet for a 1-hour phone call consultation to see if it was a fit.
My first mentoring meeting got off to a rough start. I had suggested over the MicroMentor messaging platform that we use “Google Meet” video conferencing out of habit, because at the time that is what I used all day long at work – and he agreed. We were only a few minutes into our introduction when the call dropped. After repeated failed attempts he sent me a note on the MicroMentor platform: could we do a WhatsApp voice call instead? I complied and when our connection finally got working I asked him if WhatsApp was better for folks in Uganda.
“Well, for any kind of video meeting I require data, and data is very expensive for me,” he explained. “WhatsApp is very affordable.”
My face turned red as I imagined what those three minutes of video might have cost him. Of course this man in rural Uganda did not have unlimited wifi in his corporate office tower, as I did. What was I thinking? My worry that I would have little to offer seemed validated.
The rest of our conversation went well, but it was clear that he was still in the very early stages of brainstorming what kind of small business he planned to run. Was it an after school program for kids or vocational training for adults? The next entrepreneur was in a similar vein. These brainstorming sessions were fun – the kind of business brainstorming I might have with a friend over a beer – but I questioned their utility.
My third meeting was different. I matched with a young woman in Kampala, Credo, who had developed an idea during her University engineering thesis project to create clay irrigation systems for small-scale farmers. Her inspiration had come from reading about clay vessel irrigation used by farmers thousands of years ago in Asia and Africa.
Post-graduation she worked for a number of years to gain business experience and saved money for the dream of starting her own triple-bottom-line social enterprise to help farmers reduce water usage and increase yields. She was passionate, articulate, organized, and supremely capable. Wow.
I know nothing about agriculture, other than growing some cherry tomatoes in my backyard as a kid, or my current collection of mini succulents on my bookshelf. But I know a thing or two about entrepreneurship, getting a new business off the ground, how to start small and seek opportunities to scale.
We brainstormed go-to-market strategies. We brainstormed production. We brainstormed the difference between a for-profit legal status or nonprofit. At the end of the call, she said to me: “This has been so helpful to me. Sometimes, I’m all alone thinking through these ideas, and it helps so much to have someone to brainstorm with and weigh the various options.”
“Do you have a website?” I asked her.
“Sort of,” she replied. Another volunteer had started building her one, but she needed help refining the text.
“I can help there!” I replied as I’ve helped on websites for a handful of nonprofits.
We began to set up weekly or bi-weekly calls, meeting at the start of my day, which corresponded with the beginning of her evening.
As we talked more about agriculture, I had a lightbulb moment. A few weeks before I met Credo, I attended a meetup in San Francisco about international development. There was a panel conversation with a few people who had done various international development projects in different corners of the globe. One was an irrigation project in Zimbabwe specifically for women farmers, led by a hydrology scientist from Berkeley Labs, a leading science lab affiliated with UC Berkeley and staffed by world-class scientists. I contemplated reaching out to the researcher to arrange a virtual introduction. Maybe she could be a great advisor?
Then my social anxiety kicked in: I worried she would scoff at me. Maybe I would come across looking silly or naive.
I found the scientist on LinkedIn and sent her a cold email. I connected her with Credo and explained to Credo how to conduct the call: be honest and transparent. Ask for advice. Be open to suggestions. If it goes well, ask if you can meet again.
They hit it off. The scientist was just as impressed with Credo’s intelligence, vision, ambition, and determination as I was. They began meeting weekly too and have both expressed heartfelt gratitude to me for making the connection. It was powerful for me to help facilitate the realization of Credo’s dream, and a testament to how, even online and across cultures, we all have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of others.
Credo’s organization is still in startup mode, and like all startups the mountain to climb is arduous and steep. But she is making impressive progress each day Credo told me, “It makes such a difference having two women to talk to about this. Here in Uganda, most mentors are men, and there are some barriers there. With other women advising me I feel more confident like I can really do this.”
Yes you can, oh yes you can.
Interested in being a virtual volunteer mentor? See below.
- MicroMentor (the mentoring platform that I used to connect with my mentee)
- A project of the well-known humanitarian organization Mercy Corps. They connect small business entrepreneurs from around the world to mentors who can help them to brainstorm business problems and solutions. I personally have volunteered with MicroMentor and was matched with an extraordinary entrepreneur in Uganda who I now speak to almost every week!
Other Virtual Volunteering websites:
- Help researchers from Amnesty International to expose human right violations.
- Help decipher satellite data to map remote parts of the world where humanitarian organizations are trying to meet the needs of vulnerable people. Make sure to watch the training videos so you can contribute constructively – it’s fun and easy once you get the hang of it!
- If you have professional skills you can volunteer by helping a nonprofit organization in your area of expertise. This could be technical skills, business strategy, marketing, legal, fundraising, graphic design, and more.
- A list of virtual volunteering projects around the world aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Dubbed as “people-powered research,” Zooniverse allows regular Jane Doe’s to help academics working in various disciplines around the world. The projects are fun: from classifying galaxies to counting penguins to transcribing manuscripts – there’s truly something for everyone.
Reference (not for publication): Credo’s website: Earthcare Innovations.
Looking for other ways to change the world? For international and unique one day volunteer opportunities, visit Give a Day Global’s volunteer page.
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