In today's world, we live our lives on the internet. We communicate, learn, find loved ones, get our news and buy products all online. But, 90% of volunteering happens offline.
Traditional offline volunteering has a lot of hoops to jump through. You normally
- Get online
- Search for an opportunity that interests you
- Fill out an application
- Participate in a training call
- Schedule the time to volunteer
- Drive to the organization
- Get more training
- Volunteer!
- Then, drive home.
This is a huge chunk of time that most people just can't do regularly.
A lot of Americans who would normally volunteer can't because it just doesn't fit in with their schedules. Not because they don't have any spare time, but because that spare time only comes in chunks of 20 - 30 minutes at a time.
We wanted to capture that spare time people have on the net and bring a new form of volunteerism to people's lives -- a form that supports traditional volunteer work and helps people get involved in between the times when they can actually show up in person and do something.
To be clear, we are not trying to stop people from volunteering offline. We just want to help facilitate engagement and keep relationships active in between those times when people can get together.
Sparked connects nonprofits with busy people who want to volunteer.
We work with organizations of all sizes and figure out what your needs are - those things you have to get done, but can't because you don't have the staff or budget. Those needs are posted as challenges and are routed to our skilled microvolunteers who donate their time to get it done for you.
- Our microvolunteers can be part of a larger corporation's employee volunteering program or one of thousands of freelancers or small business owners that also want to offer their skills and expertise to nonprofits.
- Sparked can deliver an incredibly high quality talent pool to nonprofits so you can get solutions from the best people possible.
- We have matched microvolunteers with nonprofits who needed graphic design, translations, social media design, IT problem solving and copy writing for fundraising letters.
- Sparked is also a way to fundraise - just not directly. Sometimes the best way to fundraise is to save money in the first place. If you don't have to outsource work to a graphic designer or translator, you save money and increase your capacity while keeping your supporters engaged with your organization.
Getting started and finding microvolunteers with Sparked is easy:
- Create an account at www.sparked.com.
- Post a challenge - create your own or customize our templates.
- Collect your results - Volunteers will take on your challenge. Results are laid out like a forum so it's open and easy for volunteers to collaborate (which also holds them accountable).
- Thank your volunteers. You can also give awards of excellence.
Your volunteers and supporters live in an incredibly networked world and finding ways to help make it easier for them to participate is important for your organization.
We know the frustration when you reach that point in a project that is just outside your skill set and we want to help you get more done - better and faster. The talent that comes from the world's biggest brands, like Kraft and SAP, is on Sparked right now ready to use their skills to help you solve your problems.
To find out more about Sparked or get started visit: http://www.sparked.com/content/nonprofit
You can access the full recording of this webinar here: http://web.networkforgood.org/nonprofit-911-040511-recording/
If you have any other questions or would like to make a comment about this webinar, join the conversation at The Network for Good Community.
Adapted by Kristina Leroux
