Volunteering is something which we do purely for the joy of just giving back. We’ve heard the phrase “with the advent of the internet”, but we truly realized its power when we volunteered for a good cause online, from the comfort of our homes. Now, you can make a difference in the world and contribute only by having an internet connection. Here are some virtual volunteering options:
Virtual Volunteering: Read, Sign Up And Make A Difference
United Nations Online Volunteering Service
Contribute to worldwide peace and development, and address sustainability challenges through the UN’s online volunteering program. You can write, edit, research, translate, teach and train, use your artistic and designing skills, administer and work on various projects or help in tech development with this free of cost service.
Till date, they've successfully gathered 12,000 volunteers across the globe and made the process easier than a face-to-face setting.
Child Rights And You
CRY is a non-profit organization that works for children’s rights. If you want to make a difference in the lives of thousands of kids there and bring a smile on their faces, we'd recommend you try out their virtual volunteering options. You can delve into online research, write and edit content, help in translation, help in design development and IT, and monitor news.
This is a great learning opportunity and a great way to make a change.
Translation Without Borders
If you’re fluent in more than one language, you can contribute significantly to TWB. There will be a variety of texts for you to translate, such as medical copies, crisis responses and other intriguing material. You can also work as a project manager, graphic or web page designer or help in fundraising.
We Are Crazy
We Are Crazy is an international organization that provides one of the most fun and innovative ways for you to volunteer online. They deal a lot with social media marketing and have interesting roles for you to choose from, either education-related or their worldwide club.
They also provide flexible work hours (you get to choose between 1 week, 3 months and 6 months; 1 hour daily for each) and a certificate at the end of your volunteering journey.
iVolunteer
iVolunteer has recently switched to online volunteering in lieu of social distancing. They have great opportunities for you to work on at the comfort of your home on any device of your choice. The impact of volunteering this way is also high since it leverages higher skills and helps you hone your own talent.
Chezuba
Chezuba connects NGOs who have a requirement for volunteers to people who are eager to help and make a change using their skills. You start by creating your profile and then browse for projects according to what you like and apply. It's that easy! Choose from a variety of skills such as proofreading, audio and video editing, fundraising, marketing, copy writing, accounting and finance, social media, graphic designing and more.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is an online library of 60,000 free ebooks. You can choose from different epub and kindle books and either download or read them online. They claim to have the world’s best literature and come completely free of cost to readers. If you love reading and would like to contribute back to authors, here’s your chance.
Project Gutenberg signs up volunteers to proofread books, procure eligible paper books, burn CDs and DVDs for people without internet and promote themselves on the internet. You can also donate to them and help their cause.
Volunteering India
If you’re a creative resource looking to help out those in need, Volunteering India is a good website to consider. Through this website, you can involve yourself by volunteering to help an organisation with creating and managing websites, content creation, material designing, people management, coordination, research, marketing, technical assistance, editing/ translating material like grant requests, proposals and much more.
Amnesty Decoders
Amnesty International's global network of digital volunteers, Amnesty Decoders is an online platform where you can contribute your time in a meaningful way. As a volunteer, you'll aid Amnesty researchers sift through social media, documents, images and other sources of information to collect actionable data that can be used to help their campaigns and their movement towards digital activism. All you need is a laptop, phone or a tablet to join up and start contributing.
Zooniverse
If you have a knack for research and an interest in scientific fields, then you can sign up as a volunteer and contribute your time to research projects from your own home on this platform for people-powered research. Zooniverse covers a variety of topics across many disciplines in the fields of sciences and humanities and you can volunteer for a project that suits your skillset. The best part? You don't need any specialised training or qualifications to sign up!
TED Translators
It's most likely that each of us has, at some point, watched a TED talk. These informative and educational talks are all about making learning accessible and sharing knowledge. To make this even more possible, you can volunteer to translate these talks into a language you are fluent in. You can sign up on the website and contribute your time to making these incredible resources available to many more people.
DoSomething.org
Want to contribute your time but not sure where to start? DoSomething.org has campaigns and programs that you can sign up for to actively make a change in the world. Geared towards young people, this platform encourages you to work towards a real-world impact and drive change both offline and online!
