The Oxford English Dictionary defines micro-volunteering as:
"actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause (e.g., signing an online petition), characterised as requiring little time, effort, or commitment, or as providing more personal satisfaction than public impact."
Traditionally, it differs from other types of volunteering because it is done quickly at a time of your choice, giving flexibility to fit around your life without having to commit to being in a set place for set hours.
While many volunteers do still take on long term commitments with set hours and locations, this form of volunteering is often carried out by people who have retired or who don’t work and is in decline across the sector.
But that doesn’t mean people no longer want to help. In fact, at Reach Volunteering, the number of people wanting to volunteer rose by 16% last year and they made more applications than ever before for volunteer opportunities. 61% of the record 16,000+ volunteers were under 40, indicating that many are volunteering alongside full time work.
So why is this such a different picture to the traditional volunteering landscape and how does it fit with micro-volunteering?
One answer to these important questions is flexibility. Many opportunities advertised on Reach have a guideline of the time involved but can often be fitted in around full-time jobs and other lifestyle commitments. Smaller organisations with very limited resources who need volunteers and their skills to establish and grow often approach volunteering in a different way. They are looking for expertise and passion to drive them forward and achieve specific outcomes so are often not wedded to rigid roles with set hours and locations.
The majority of volunteer opportunities on Reach can be carried out remotely and many in just a few hours a week at a time to suit the volunteer. A good number are short term projects that don’t require an extended commitment but enable volunteers to contribute their skills for specific reasons.
The growth of flexibility in volunteering may have started with micro-volunteering, but it hasn’t stopped there. While there are some larger charities who advertise a raft of micro-volunteering opportunities like completing a survey, putting up posters or sharing a social media post, many smaller organisations involve volunteers in core projects or ongoing work, like developing strategies, designing a logo or website, telling impact stories, devising a social media campaign etc.
Some organisations recruit teams of people to deliver the work, enabling volunteers to cover for one another if work and other life commitments mean they can’t volunteer as much time as they hoped, while still ensuring the volunteer work is completed. This approach also allows a charity or group to combine different skills and levels of experience, giving volunteers the opportunity to share their knowledge and learn from each other which enriches the experience for the volunteers.
30% of the opportunities posted on Reach last year were by organisations with no paid staff. Being wholly led by volunteers means there is a deep understanding of the challenges to juggling volunteering around the day job, and also places volunteers at the heart of the organisation giving a sense of responsibility, belonging and reward not associated with micro-volunteering.
Although this type of volunteering is flexible and can be performed remotely, just like micro-volunteering, the contribution is far from ‘micro’. These volunteers are creating significant benefit for society and gain a huge sense of reward in return - which may be a big aspect of why it is growing at pace.
Flexibility, involvement and reward. Is this the true future of volunteering?
