Virtual volunteering, evolunteering, micro volunteering, digital volunteering - it goes by many names, but it all means the same: people volunteering remotely via a computer or handheld device, including a smart phone. It's a practice that's been around for more than 30 years, and it presents terrific opportunities for employees to donate time and expertise as a part of an official company employee volunteering program. Yet, many companies aren’t utilizing this great opportunity to engage even more employees in their volunteering programs. Why is it worth encouraging at your company, what policies do you need in place, how can you support employees as online volunteers, and how can you track and celebrate their accomplishments? Join VolunteerMatch in conversation with virtual volunteering expert, Jayne Cravens, and Kaye Morgan-Curtis of Newell Rubbermaid, to answer these questions and hear how companies are using this strategy to engage employees who might not have otherwise been able to participate in their programs.

1. 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

2. 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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

8. 88
• 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

9. 9
OUR BRANDS

10. 1010
OUR GLOBAL EMPLOYEES
Factory Non-Union
Professional/Sales
Factory Union
Clerical

11. 11
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

13. 1313
Myth #1:
Virtual Volunteering is a Very New Concept…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

32. 3232
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.

33. Q&A
33
• Type questions into the box on the
right side of the your screen
• Submit via Twitter to
@VM_Solutions using “#VMbpn”
33

34. Stay Informed
Blog:
www.VolunteeringIsCSR.org
Twitter:
@VM_Solutions
Newsletter:
Monthly ‘Good Companies’
newsletter - Sign up on the
blog!
3434

35. Save the Date – June 26th
35
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
35
Lauren Keeler
Apollo Education Group
Samantha Lucas
Allina Health