Microvolunteering Online

Have you ever wanted to volunteer, but just couldn’t find the time?

We lead busy lives, work 10 hour (or more!) days, sit on multiple committees and have family and friends to visit and see.  It’s no wonder that over 70% of North Americans don’t volunteer for the simple reason that they just do not have the time.

But, what if you could volunteer during those few spare moments you do have waiting for the bus, sitting on the train or even waiting in the grocery line? Well now you can. It’s called “microvolunteering” and it’s completed online or through your mobile device.

Sparked is the world’s first microvolunteering network. Through crowdsourcing (outsourcing a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to a wide range of people), Sparked allows nonprofits to post challenges online so volunteers can complete these challenges when it’s convenient for them.

So now you might be thinking, what kind of volunteer work can I complete in just a few minutes? Challenges posted on Sparked range from:

• Giving design advice or feedback
• Helping solve an event planning issue
• Translating web content from English to French or Spanish
• And much, much more!

The concept of crowdsourcing is not new and is also a common feature within the open source community. Through crowdsourcing, millions of people can come together to share their skills and complete a task much faster than one person alone.

Now, I’m not saying that nonprofits could exist without their daily, dedicated, hard working volunteers, but isn’t it great to know that even though you work 12 hour days and then run your kids to hockey practice that you can still give back to your community?

Idea of the Week - Even if you're not interested in using Sparked now, consider building your own volunteer network online through your website or social media.