Volunteer Listing Services

Finding potential volunteers

May 3, 2000

A volunteer listing service is different from a matching program in that it simply connects an organization with potential volunteers. This can be a dream come true if you don't know of any sources for volunteers yourself, but it won't help you manage the project. The two major types of listing services TechSoup has identified are online listing services and local volunteer centers.

Online Listing Services

Online services are becoming increasingly popular as nonprofits use the Web more routinely. Impact Online's VolunteerMatch is the largest and most well-known of the services. It has made more than 150,000 volunteer matches to date, for nonprofits across the United States. To post a volunteer opportunity, you'll first have to register your organization, and provide your tax I.D. number, mission statement, description of services, volunteer opportunities and contact information (including email address). You will probably want to choose the "Computers and Technology" category to describe your volunteer opportunity. When volunteers express interest in your listing, VolunteerMatch will automatically send you an email with their contact information.

Other national online volunteer listing services include:

• SERVENet
• Idealist.org

There are some programs that list volunteer job descriptions for a specific area. Please see our TechFinderVolunteer Listing Organizations resource list to find one near you.

In certain cases, you may want to consider finding a volunteer who will do work for you remotely, and communicate over email. As a new type of volunteer management, Virtual Volunteering has both pros and cons. The disadvantages are obvious. It is more difficult to establish a good working relationship with a volunteer and ensure accountability when you never meet the volunteer face to face. Since the volunteer works remotely without access to your actual computers, the range of potential projects is much narrower. If you have trouble finding a technical volunteer near you, however, you may have more luck finding a virtual volunteer. The list of example projects describes the types of projects that a virtual volunteer can do. If you are considering using a virtual volunteer, read through the article, "Is Your Organization Ready for Virtual Volunteering? " The best place to find a virtual volunteer once you are ready is VolunteerMatch. See their list of virtual opportunities to get a sense of their program. To post a virtual volunteer opportunity, click on "Post" and choose "Add new virtual opportunity."

Volunteer Centers

Local volunteer centers are another major resource for listing your volunteer job description. Volunteer Centers are a general forum for nonprofits and community members to find each other. The only caution in working with volunteer centers is that some may not focus on technical issues, and thus may not have a large pool of technically skilled volunteers, or may not ask the right questions to determine volunteers' abilities. The Points of Light Foundation maintains a national list of volunteer centers . They also sponsor a volunteer center hotline: 800-VOLUNTEER (800-865-8683). After dialing in your zip code you will be connected directly with a major volunteer center near you.

Copyright © 2000 CompuMentor. This work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.