Adventures in Episodic Volunteering

by Jerry Bishop

My name is Jerry Bishop and I am modern day volunteer who uses the Internet and social media as the vehicle for my volunteerism. Some call what I do crowdsourcing while others refer to it as micro-volunteering. Either way the idea is the same.

Non-profits who need things done (seekers) post their needs as open challenges on web sites like Sparked.com where a crowd of volunteers (solvers) respond and work on the challenges. Because the challenges work best when they are focused, solvers can micro-volunteer on a challenge at almost any time of day without committing large amounts of time. The challenges can be for anything like strategy, logo design, tag lines, fundraising, web sites, social media, or research.

I began micro-volunteering in 2010 as part of researching ways to use crowdsourcing in my role as a college CIO and to write about it on my blog The Higher Ed CIO. My plan was to immerse myself in the world of crowdsourcing and micro-volunteering for 3 months to learn as much as I could about the growing phenomenon. But I was quickly hooked on the model and now 13 months later still make time to volunteer.

What makes this form of volunteering such a good fit for me is a couple of things. I can help on the causes I care about even though they are not local to my home. Because I have lived all over the country it’s a lot of fun to be able to help out organizations from areas where I used to live. Like when I saw a challenge from KidCare America in Lincoln, Maine I thought it would be fun to try and help. Since I lived in Kittery for almost 5 years the challenge was a little more fun as I recalled my trips to that part of the Maine.

Micro-volunteering also offers me a chance to work on things I otherwise would not be able to living in western Wisconsin. One minute I can be working to help support gorilla health conservation and the next I can be finding resources to address literacy in El Salvador, fundraising for community music programs in Oakland, supporting environmental rights in Papua New Guinea, or finding book donations for a library in Ohio hit by budget cuts.

Although I still do traditional volunteer work, I find that I get much more enjoyment from micro-volunteering for a couple of reasons. First, it seems less like scheduled work than cleaning dog kennels every Saturday morning. Second, I can contribute to more of the causes I care about even though I live in rural Wisconsin. Finally, I can choose from a diverse variety of projects to work that allow me to use all of my skills even when I only have 30 minutes.

I love micro-volunteering and see why more and more non-profits are turning to it as a way to supplement traditional channels for volunteers. For organizations struggling to find specific skills or just need more hands to make small work of a project micro-volunteering might be the way to go. So I will keep an eye out for more challenges from Maine to see if I can help.

Jerry Bishop is an independent IT consultant specializing in CIO services, IT strategy, and turning around underperforming IT departments. Jerry also publishes his own blog, The Higher Ed CIO, and writes for several CIO and technology forums on IT strategy, Internet trends, and social media. Jerry lives in western Wisconsin on an old farm where he spends his free time restoring native prairies and selling fruits and berries he grows at the local farmers market. He is also an avid micro-volunteer and closet crowdsourcing junky and admits to drinking too much coffee.