Online volunteering is often overlooked for its non-virtual counterpart, but it can be just as rewarding, with its own set of benefits too. So why not try volunteering online?
Below we discuss 10 reasons why it could be your next step to making a difference.
1. Online volunteering is a flexible way to make a difference
One of the biggest benefits to volunteering online is that while ordinary volunteering ties you to a specific location, online you can create real, positive change from anywhere in the world. This means that you can make a difference to the lives of others without having to travel, spend any money or uproot your life. Instead, you can volunteer around a busy schedule and work to help solve global issues from your home. This means that you can work on issues that you are passionate about, but have never previously felt were accessible to you, whether that’s an international issue you have an affinity for or a cause you never felt you had the spare time for.
2. You can learn more about issues affecting lives around the world
The flexibility of working online not only means that you can workon issues across the world, but it also allows you to learn more about international problems and affairs, helping you to develop a global perspective and discover issues and cultures that you may not have been previously aware of. Alternatively, by looking through online volunteering opportunities, you may learn about charities that you never knew existed, but work towards solving international problems that you are passionate about. Here at Children of Cameroon, we are a UK-based charity that aims to help children in Cameroon break out of the poverty cycle by connecting the children with sponsors who help to support them through their education.
3. You gain an insight into the charity sector
Volunteering online, you learn about more than the issues afflicting the world. You also learn about the sector that works to solve them. Just like regular volunteer work, online volunteering can also help you to learn more about the charity sector itself and how it works, not just in your own country, but due to its virtual nature, internationally too. This can be invaluable if you’re looking to move into the charity sector, because you can gain an insight into the different roles and processes that make up a charity. Volunteering at Children of Cameroon, you also learn how the work that occurs in the UK connects with the work that our fieldworkers do in Cameroon to help change the lives of the vulnerable children who live there.
4. You can use your unique strengths to create positive change
Online volunteering, perhaps even more so than the non-virtual variety, is skill-specific. Whatever your strengths and passions, whether you love writing or web design, art or finance, there will be a charity looking for an online volunteer with a particular expertise in those fields. Online volunteering is a chance to pursue a passion, to do what you love or what you’re good at, while making a tangible positive change to the world and the lives of those who occupy it.
5. You meet new people (even virtually!)
In times of incredible hardship, like the current crisis affecting all of us, people need connection more than ever. Volunteering can be a great way to meet and connect with new people. Online volunteering, while based on virtual rather than face-to-face communication, is still a fantastic way to meet and form potentially lifelong bonds with like-minded people from diverse backgrounds who are all working towards a common goal to make a difference. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting how we connect with each other, online volunteering can be a great alternative to more traditional ways of forming relationships with others.
6. You can develop new skills…
Alongside the existing strengths you can bring to a charity to help make a difference, you can also pick up a whole range of new experiences and skills through online volunteering too. Volunteering is a fantastic opportunity to gain experience in an area you’ve always wanted to work in, but have never had the chance and so is great for those looking to make a side-step or to break into a new field, as well as for those at the start of their career. Even if you’re looking for personal rather than professional development, online volunteering is the opportunity to try something new, while working towards a good cause. Wanted to start writing blogs but have never tried it? Online volunteering is the place to start.
7. ...Including digital skills
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were living in a world increasingly reliant on digital services. Now we’re living in a world that has been irreversibly affected by coronavirus and the challenges it has brought, with digital skills quickly becoming the foundation of many sectors. You can use your newfound (or perhaps deeply entrenched) digital skills to help drive positive action by putting them to use volunteering online for a charity. If you’re a recent graduate or someone who’s trying to return to work during this current recession, volunteering online can also show employers that you have those all-too-important digital skills required for the modern workplace, remote or not.
8. It looks great on your CV
Of course, all of the potential skills that have been mentioned above can make for valuable experience and be a fantastic addition to any CV. But, even more generally, volunteering of any kind looks great on your CV. It shows employers that you have the passion to work hard for something that you believe in and that you will put the needs of others above your own. It also presents you as someone who is driven to spend their spare time effectively, helping to create positive change, especially during a time of global hardship. Online volunteering can be invaluable for anyone at any stage of their career. With online volunteering so accessible, no matter the circumstances, why not start now?
9. Volunteering gives a sense of purpose and improves wellbeing
We’ve already covered the various ways that volunteering online can improve the lives of others, help charities and improve your professional life, but it can also have a profound effect on your mental wellbeing. Countless studies over time have found that volunteering can help to improve people’s sense of purpose and self-worth, increasing their happiness levels and helping to alleviate depression. In our current global situation, where there are increasing concerns over the mental health of a vast amount of people, online volunteering can help to help you as well as others.
10. You can make a difference in an area you truly care about
With such a vast array of charities to choose from when volunteering online, you have an endless choice of causes to volunteer for and so can make sure that you help to make a difference in an area you really believe in and can put your all into. Importantly, the work of passionate volunteers can lead to some of the most profound changes. If you strongly believe in the power of education to break the poverty cycle and want to work towards improving the lives of vulnerable children, we’d love to hear from you. You could genuinely help to change the lives of children in Cameroon.
Do you want to try online volunteering? If so, take a look at our volunteering opportunities.
Or if you want another way you can make a difference to children in Cameroon remotely, why not visit our child sponsorship page?
If you have any questions about volunteering online with us or our work, leave a comment below!