How to prepare for online volunteering?

Preparations for online volunteering

Waht to consider before applying for online volunteering opportunities?
How can I make the most out of my online volunteer collaboration?

Waht to consider before applying for online volunteering opportunities?

Before applying for online volunteering opportunities, make sure you …

Have basic IT tools at your disposal: do you have an email account and adequate access to the Internet? Both are crucial for maintaining regular communication with the organizations you support.
Enjoy communicating online: collaboration with organizations and fellow volunteers will take place over the Internet. To engage successfully in online volunteering, you should feel comfortable working in an online environment.
Consider your expectations: what is your motivation? What do you hope to gain by volunteering online? What skills and expertise can you offer an organization? Answering these questions will help you identify volunteer opportunities that are right for you.
Are aware of cultural differences: online volunteering connects people of various backgrounds from around the world, making it a truly multicultural experience. Being aware of cultural differences, diverse working styles and the challenges that arise from communicating in different languages is crucial to successfully engaging in online volunteering.
Assess your self-motivation: you will have a great degree of flexibility in terms of the time you will be spending on an assignment. Characteristically, supervision of online volunteering is irregular. It is therefore imperative that, as an online volunteer, you are able to organize your own schedule, be self-motivated and enjoy working independently.
Set enough time aside: you should be confident that you can dedicate enough time for your online volunteering activities. Remember, once you have signed up for an assignment, you will have made a commitment to an organization – they will, therefore, be counting on you to complete the task for which you volunteered within a specified timeframe.

Collaborating with online volunteers remains a new experience for many organizations. The initial experience of volunteering online may leave room for improvement; every online collaboration should be viewed as a learning curve for both organizations and online volunteers.

How can I make the most out of my online volunteer collaboration?

An organization has responded positively to your application to volunteer online. What to do next?

Clarify expectations and deadlines: make sure you have a clear understanding about what the organization expects you to do. Ask for details on how the collaboration will be organized, what support the organization will provide, and clarify schedules and deadlines.
Gather all relevant information: do not hesitate to ask for further information on the project, the organization's mission, programmes or policies, if you feel that the organization’s website or profile page do not answer all your questions.
Communicate clearly and regularly: respond to emails as quickly as possible. If you are not in a position to give a detailed response right away, confirm receipt of the message and let the organization know when you will get back to them. Regular progress updates and clear communication are imperative, particularly in an online environment.
Address issues with honesty: be honest about your progress and about the problems you encounter. Regardless of the reason, if you cannot or do not wish to pursue the collaboration, you must inform the organization and explain why you are no longer interested. This will help the organization adjust to the situation or improve its online volunteer management.
Consider working with other online volunteers: team work can be more effective as well as fun. If you realize that your work would benefit from additional support, do not hesitate to suggest to the organization to put you in contact with other online volunteers.
Give feedback: after completing your assignment, sharing your comments on the online collaboration is very valuable to organizations. It allows them to evaluate their own performance and make any necessary changes for the future.

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