Charity of the Month: Online Volunteering

And so I come to you, dear readers, not only greatly delayed in my monthly entry, but also with another exception to our definition of "charity of the month." This organization isn't really a charity, per se, but I think it's a great way to put your skills and knowledge to use towards charities. And for people like me, it's a great way to get experience in something I'm interested in, without having to move to DC or NYC.

What is this organization I speak of, you say? Well, it's actually part of the United Nations, a program dedicated to mobilizing volunteers for development: OnlineVolunteering.org. And I quote: "the...service connects volunteers with organizations working for sustainable human development."

The greatest thing about this org is that you can volunteer from the comfort of your own home. You don't have to wake up at 8am on a Saturday, you don't have to make a monetary donation from that non existent savings account. You just volunteer your time, whenever that may be, towards something you're good at. Or something you want to get good at.

You can find a volunteer area by any one of three ways:

1) The kind of work you want to do:

• Research
• Writing and editing
• Translation
• IT development
• Project development and management
• Design
• Consulting
• Coordination and facilitation
• Training and coaching

2) The specific development topic you want to work on

• Education
• Youth
• Development advocacy and strategies
• Integration of marginalized groups
• Governance and human rights
• Health
• Culture
• Income generation and employment
• Environment
• Food and agriculture
• Volunteerism
• Gender

3) The geographic region you're interested in serving:

• Global
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Eastern Europe, CIS

Pretty cool, huh? I urge you to check out their user friendly website, and see if there are any online volunteer opportunities you find interesting. You may not only learn something new and interesting, but you'd also be helping a worthy organization or charity in achieving their development goals. Personally, I'm really excited to find some time to dedicate to some online volunteer work.