What Was New with Jayne & Her Web Site

December 2022

Since it's December, here's a reminder of why I think December 5 should return to its roots ass International Volunteer Day for Economic & Social Development, as declared by the United Nations General Assembly in a 1985 resolution.

November & December blogs

October 2022

Through the rest of 2022, I'm happily VERY busy with lots of contract work (always fun to put my own recommendations into practice).

Also:: At the end of 2022, I will no longer be updating the news section and the research section of the Virtual Volunteering Wiki. It's been an unfunded project since it was launched a decade ago, in association with the publication of The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, one I've struggled to keep up-to-date because my paid work has to be my priority. The start of the COVID pandemic in the USA in 2020 meant a huge surge in news and, months later, a surge in research. But that's died down significantly, and after a lot of consideration, I've decided that the end of 2022 is a good time to stop updating those two sections. The reality is that:

Virtual volunteering is no longer new, innovative nor experimental. Virtual volunteering is mainstream. When this wiki was launched, there were already thousands of nonprofits, NGOs, charities, community groups and government agencies involving online volunteers, but there was a need to prove it. There was also an ongoing need to show the varied ways organizations involve online volunteers. But because of the global coronavirus pandemic, virtual volunteering is now a commonplace term and new initiatives are launched at least weekly.
I don't have the time nor the funding to continue. Without funding, I can't afford to subscribe to news outlets so I can read all of the stories. Also, my funded time has to take precedence over this wiki.

September & October blogs

July 2022

Taking August and Half of September Off.

I will be taking all of August off from blogging and from publishing any new materials on my web site, but I'll still be tweeting. I will also be very difficult to reach in that time frame by email. By all means contact me, but please give me a few days to reply. Same for the first two full weeks of September, however, I will be publishing blogs each week that month. Taking a break from writing and researching does wonders for my brain.

Review of Overland Expo PNW 2022.

In July, I went to my first motorcycle gathering in more than a decade. I wrote a review of it, just as I do of any motorcycle gathering, to help other riders, especially women, decide if such is for them and also, I hope, to help organizers know what works, and what doesn't, and to improve their events.

July blogs:

June 2022

Updated: List of news & research about virtual volunteering

The news and research sections of the Virtual Volunteering Wiki have been updated. The list of news articles is not comprehensive; rather, it is a curated list. The goal is not to list every virtual volunteering activity and related news story (because that would be impossible) but, rather to list ones that are unique, that show the impact of virtual volunteering, that are especially innovative, or even to show the challenges of involving online volunteers. The research list is of academic articles and case studies, not press releases or blogs. The Virtual Volunteering Wiki was developed in association with The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, Please note that I have no funding to maintain this wiki; I update the wiki entirely as a volunteer myself. If you wish to support the maintenance of the wiki, please see how here. And if you represent a university-based program that would like to take over updating and hosting the Virtual Volunteering Wiki, please contact me.

June blogs:

May 2022

How Volunteers Can Support the Person In Charge of Volunteer Engagement

The person in charge of volunteer engagement at a nonprofit, NGO, charity, school or other civil society organization or mission-based program primarily recruits and manages volunteers that are supporting other staff: the program staff, for instance, may need mentors for clients or people to clean up a public space or to foster animals. The fundraising staff may need volunteers to staff a donor event. But the person in charge of volunteer engagement should also be thinking about how volunteers can help with volunteer engagement - with recruitment, onboarding, training, support and recognition of volunteers. This resource provides information on how and why to do that.

UNESCO 2005 guide to involving volunteers in telecenters/telecentres
The UNESCO Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK) was created by and for UNESCO in 2005 to provide trainers in telecentres/community technology centiers (CTCs), community media organizations, multimedia community centers, civil society organizations and anyone in a community ICT4D initiative. The kit was set up in modules and targeted these initiatives in developing countries in particular. The MMTK materials were intended for mediated use by trainers in face-to-face workshops. I was charged with developing the section of the kit regarding involving volunteers and now have them shared on my web site.

Still asking: What should my next virtual volunteering video be?
At the start of the global pandemic two years ago, I created and shared videos to help organizations understand virtual volunteering and to quickly create roles and activities for online volunteers. I share them on my YouTube channel. What would you like my next free training about virtual volunteering to be? What is a subject I could cover in just 5 to 15 minutes that would help your nonprofit, charity, school, NGO, library or other cause-based program regarding virtual volunteering or some other aspect of volunteer engagement that's not already covered elsewhere? Please note the subject you need most in the comments on this blog (from May 2021).

Hiring someone to train a group about virtual volunteering? Of course I would love it if you hired me, but if not, then here's what to look for in a virtual volunteering trainer: that person has experience as an online volunteer with more than one program, and that person has involved online volunteers, in both short-term and long-term, high-responsibility roles, and involved both individual online volunteers and volunteers working in a team. And remember: I have more than an hour of FREE training regarding virtual volunteering on YouTube.

May blogs:

April 2022

Video-editing services:

I now provide basic video editing services: splicing different clips together, adding in title slides, fades between scenes, intro music, captions, etc. Great for speeches, presentations, client testimonials, volunteer testimonials and instructional videos. This is a fee-based service. More about these services and samples of my video editing work.

Reorganized Links to My Volunteer Management Resources

I"ve got enough resources on my web site related to volunteer engagement for a second book - but rather than put them in a book, I decided to reorganize my resources more like chapters in a book. I put them in the order I think you should read them, but also put them in an order to help you more quickly find just the advice you need, on demand. I'm particularly proud of my resources and blogs about Ethics in Volunteerism & Court-Ordered Community Service, a subject that volunteer consultants have ignored for way, way too long (but maybe given how much controversy it can draw, I shouldn't be surprised) .

The list of more than 100 research or academic articles about virtual volunteering has been updated with more research and case studies. Note that most of these are NOT written by me. There is no doubt many more research article in languages other than English than are listed here (at least I hope so). I have this list of research and case studies at the Virtual Volunteering Wiki, which I'm going to continue to maintain through 2022, but I think I'm gong to have to abandon, due to lack of funding.

March & April blogs:

February 2022

Afghanistan has dropped out of the news. But the people in Afghanistan and Afghans refugees continue to struggle, to be oppressed, even to die.. Fleeing Afghanistan: "Experiencing the Dark Time: Caught Up In a Cage" is a first hand account of an Afghan who lived in Kabul until November 2021. Just before the recent Taliban takeover, she worked at a government agency and with some nonprofits in Afghanistan. She was also active in her community, going to Rotary Club meetings and various professional and civil society networking events. She lived under the Taliban as a young girl many years ago, but when they were removed from power back in 2001, she was able to return to school, pursue university degrees and begin her career. She was able to study in Australia and the USA and went on networking and education trips hosted by various international groups in Eastern Europe and India. She very much believed that she was free to pursue these education and career goals, and did so openly. This is her account of what life was like under the Taliban both the first time when they took over Afghanistan and then when they retook the country in August 2021, when the USA abandoned the country.

January & February blogs:

January 2022

Happy New Year!

Videos Your Nonprofit, NGO, Charity or Other Mission-based Organization Should Have Online.
Videos are a great way to represent your program's work, to show you make a difference, to promote a message or action that relates to your mission, etc. What should the content of your videos be? How long should they be? What platform should you use? Do you have to go to film school? This page provides details on what subjects you should consider for online videos, what should be long, what should be short, what platforms you should use, what tools you need (you probably already have them!) and how volunteers can help.

13 Reasons Not to Volunteer Abroad
These are the most common reasons people say they want to volunteer abroad. And they are not good reasons. In fact, they often hurt people and animals in other countries, rather than helping. This page is written for people that want to volunteer, rather than my usual audience - the people that engage volunteers. Note: when I originally posted this, it was 12 reasons. I have a feeling the number will continue to go up.

December 2021

November & December blogs:

Digital Dunkirk: online volunteers scramble to help endangered Afghans get visas & out of Afghanistan.
Starting in August, I became a part of a virtual volunteering endeavor: “digital Dunkirk.” In the USA, online volunteers, most working on their own, independent of any formal group, have been trying to put together visa applications for Afghans who helped the USA military, USA programs and USA citizens working in Afghanistan, or who helped women start businesses, access education and health care and promote women’s rights – all things that will make them the target of the Taliban. Volunteers in other countries also participated for Afghans that helped their countries' militaries and INGOs. This blog talks about what it's been like to be a part of this effort, links to various groups involved, and tries to illustrate why it's so wrong to value volunteer time in terms of monetary value and why there's nothing impersonal about virtual volunteering. Note: yes, I was supposed to be offline for most of of September, but a family emergency kept me in my house - and therefore able to participate in this endeavor from the start.

Social media use by humanitarian agencies: a literature review.
This is a list of research and policy guidelines regarding use of social media by a variety of humanitarian agencies and disaster-response agencies. This is by no means a comprehensive list. Using the references in these papers will lead to even more resources. Also included are resources regarding the ethics of taking in humanitarian and development situations, and the appropriateness of using such photos, with an eye to protecting people's rights and dignity. It's hoped that this can help nonprofits, NGOs, humanitarian agencies and others to develop appropriate, ethical social media use policies and procedures.

September 2021

I am offline for most of September. I am not checking email, social media, or any online spaces. If you are from the press and on deadline and need to interview me, then send me a DM via Twitter. Friends and professional colleagues, if you need to reach me urgently, text me (and you already have my number).

If you want to book me for a training or consultation, it's best to contact me as of October 1 or later.

July & August blogs

July 2021

The Difference in Email, Social Media & Online Communities: A Graphic Explanation.
It can be difficult for people to understand the difference in email, in social media and in online communities, especially since email can be used to create an online community, or social media can be used to create an online community (Facebook Groups, for instance). And they all are people sending messages to people - so what, really, is the difference? This is my attempt to graphically show the difference, but I'll still have to use words to more fully explain what I mean. All three of these avenues for online communication can intersect. But one online avenue of online communication may be a better avenue for a communication goal than another - this resource examines that as well.

My course at Gratz College is under way!

Through August, I'm teaching: MGT 553 Using Technology to Build Community and Grow Your Organization. The course is a part of the college's MS in Nonprofit Management. It examines online networking tools that can be used to foster connectivity, communication, and collaboration in order to strengthen nonprofit and religious-based organizations. As someone that has been online since the early 1990s and still believes that online communities are the heart of the Internet, I could not be more excited to teach this course! I'm using a mix of books, online readings, podcasts and my own audiovisual materials to explore how mission-based initiatives can use online tools to create a sense of community among donors, volunteers, clients, neighbors and partners, and how to attract new people to be a part of those communities. It’s a class about facilitation, trust-building, outreach, and working with humans - online.

I'm also still in very part-time role with TechSoup, helping to manage the TechSoup online community - introducing topics, answering community questions, trying to attract new participants and helping to move the community to a new platform in June. Yes, joining and participating in the TechSoup community is going to be one of the assignments for my Gratz College students!

So, if you want to book me for a training or consultation, know that my schedule is very tight now and through September (when I am on vacation)! And it's also that time of year when I start getting contacted about leading workshops in the Fall, so it's not too early to talk to me about my schedule after this class is done.

The global pandemic has dominated our lives for more than a year. If you follow me on social media, you've seen me attempt to play my part in educating people regarding the importance of vaccinations and the importance of identifying myths about the disease and the vaccines. On a personal level, after more than a year, I went on my first camping trip and staying in touch with motorcycle travelers who are also re-emerging. The global nature of this disease has really brought home for me that travelers from "the West" need to travel with respect for others, in addition to our needing more clear guidance on what to keep in mind when traveling abroad during a global pandemic or to an area that is experiencing a serious crisis.

May 2021

My big news: I will be teaching a course at Gratz College through August, I'm teaching: MGT 553 Using Technology to Build Community and Grow Your Organization. Here's more about this and my other teaching.

What should my next virtual volunteering video be?
Since the start of the global pandemic last year, I have been creating and sharing videos to help organizations understand virtual volunteering and to quickly create roles and activities for online volunteers. I share them on my YouTube channel. I list all of these videos on this blog. What would you like my next free training about virtual volunteering to be? What is a subject I could cover in just 5 to 15 minutes that would help your nonprofit, charity, school, NGO, library or other cause-based program regarding virtual volunteering? Please note the subject you need most in the comments on this blog.

May Blogs

New video: Is virtual volunteering going away after the pandemic?
I explain in this new four-minute video why virtual volunteering is here to stay, how it was well-established before the pandemic and how there's a much better question you should be asking.

The global COVID19 pandemic caused a drastic rise in the number of programs launching new virtual volunteering programs to engage their clients with volunteers who must stay home. Since April 2020 or so, via Google Alerts, I have been receiving daily a long list of stories that mention virtual volunteering, virtual volunteers, online volunteers, and other phrases related to virtual volunteering. I review them all, to see if programs are unique in some way, are a good model for others, or are otherwise worth knowing more about, and compile the stories that are especially worthwhile at the Virtual Volunteering Wiki. There's no better way to understand virtual volunteering in-depth than to see how other organizations are doing it. If you are a journalist seeking stories about virtual volunteering, you will find this list very helpful.

February 2021

Revisiting soc.org.nonprofit

Many, many nonprofits have been online and talking together since the mid 1990s. The soc.org.nonprofit USENET newsgroup was created on 27 June 1994 and bidirectionally gatewayed to the email mailing list usnonprofit-l@rain.org (USNONPROFIT-L). It was a community for the discussion of nonprofit management and program issues - not just tech issues. USENET newsgroups were some of the first online communities. Before the web, there was USENET, and there were communities for (what seemed like) every subject under the sun. There was nothing called "spam", many groups were carefully moderated by humans to insure no "flame wars" broke out and nothing off-topic got posted. If you want to see how nonprofits were using the Internet in the early days, and just how much their questions have NOT changed from then until now, it's worth revisiting this community. A terrific resource for academic researchers.

Online community management as volunteer management

I rediscovered a workshop I did on how cultivating, engaging and supporting an online community is a lot like cultivating, engaging and supporting volunteers - in fact, it's how I approach online community management. I've edited the raw video I found down to about 37 minutes and posted it to my YouTube channel, and made it available as a podcast as well.

My podcasts

I don't have many podcasts or other audio-only files. The ones I do have, at last, I have compiled them here on my own web site. All of these files can be listened to via my web site (streaming) or you can download any of them and listen to them offline, as you like.

February 2021 Blogs

January 2021

In December, 2020, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hosted an excellent webinar that presented a panel of representatives from virtual volunteering initiatives - nonprofits that have programs that involve online volunteers primarily, rather than traditional programs that added an online volunteering component. The webinar panelists talked mostly about the specifics of how their initiatives involve online volunteers (the exact roles that volunteers undertake), how those volunteers are supported and how those volunteers are central to their initiative's online program delivery and mission. It's one of the best webinars on virtual volunteering I've seen in a long, long time (and I'm a tough audience). I've summarized the webinar here.

Two milestones reached: I made my 5000th posting this month to the TechSoup Online Community Forum, and January 4th was the 25th anniversary of the launch of my own web site.

2020 was an incredible year for virtual volunteering, so much so that it was nearly impossible to keep the Virtual Volunteering Wiki news section updated. I don't add absolutely every announcement about a new virtual volunteering initiative - there are, literally, thousands and thousands of organizations involving online volunteers. Instead, I focus on especially innovative programs, or programs that have a particularly high-impact because of the contributions of online volunteers. Note: I have no funding at all to maintain the Virtual Volunteering Wiki, I would love to hand it over to a university-based program to manage (as long as they would make the commitment to maintain it for at least the next five years).

Advice for those assigning or supervising court-ordered community service
Mandatory community service or a "Court Referral Program" is an alternate sentencing option for Superior, Municipal, Traffic and Juvenile Courts in the USA. Community service is considered restitution by an offender through helping his or her community. The service means actions, activity, engagement -- doing something that needs to be done and that helps the community or a cause. Too often, the goals of court-ordered community service aren't happening, and instead, people who need the service cannot find a place to do their service hours, and nonprofits expected to host these volunteers cannot do so. This new resource is for judges, probation officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other criminal justice practitioners that are involved in assigning and supervising court-ordered community service.

November & December 2020 Blogs

October 2020

Still trying to remind everyone that virtual volunteering is an established, credible practice, more than 35 years old, with a rich history and more organizations than can be counted involving online volunteers this way. In short, Virtual Volunteering is NOT NEW. If you are a volunteerism "expert" and you are calling it new - you aren't a volunteerism "expert."

A milestone is reached: I have found more than 100 research or academic articles about virtual volunteering - and there is no doubt many more in languages other than English. I have the list at the Virtual Volunteering Wiki. Also see my blog about my thoughts about this important milestone: how it was reached and what it means.

A new video: Virtual Volunteering: Advice for Corporations & Businesses. (7 minutes).

New reviews are coming in for The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook! With a surge in sales because of the novel coronavirus, more people are offering new thoughts about the book, and I've compiled my favorites here.

September & October 2020 Blogs

September 2020

New: Resources regarding online harassment, defamation & libel. If you are a manager of social media, if you use online tools at all as a part of your work, this is a must read. And if your organization employs or engages a social media manager, as a paid worker or as a volunteer, this is also a must read (and a prompt for you to check on on that person's work - they may be being harassed and be reluctant to tell you).

Updated: One Day Activities for IT Volunteers or Volunteering Using IT (Hacks4Good, for instance)

For a couple of decades now, volunteers have been getting together for intense, one-day events, or events of just a few days, to build web pages, to write code (hackathons, apps4good, etc.), to edit Wikipedia pages, to transcribe historical documents and more. These are gatherings of usually of onsite volunteers, where everyone is in one location, together, but even before the global pandemic, these activities were involving or mobilizing remote volunteers - online volunteers helping from wherever they were. This resource has been revised to take into consideration more virtual volunteering / remote volunteering, rather than everyone being in the same room.

New: The Nonprofit & NGO Guide to Using Reddit
As of July 2019, Reddit ranked as the No. 5 most visited website in the USA and No. 13 in the world. Reddit is a community of communities, and its communities are called subreddits. A subreddit can have a focus on a geographic area, a book, a celebrity, a particular time in history, a specific hobby - anything. Statistics suggest that 74% of Reddit users are male. Users tend to be significantly younger than other online communities like Facebook with less than 1% of users being 65 or over. If you want to reach a younger demographic regarding your volunteering opportunities, your awareness messages, your data that shows your value to the community and more, you need to build posts to Reddit into your marketing strategy, no matter what your nonprofit's size or focus. This resource tells you how to do it.

July & August 2020 Blogs

July 2020

I remain overwhelmed with inquiries and work regarding virtual volunteering because of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. But I've squeezed in time for these activities:

My Journey to Virtual Volunteering, the United Nations & So Much More.
An essay I wrote WorldPulse and its #SheTransformsTech campaign.

Using Whats App or Similar Direct Messaging Apps in Volunteer Support & Engagement
Includes examples, how to get started, and evaluating if this is something you should explore.

Volunteering in the time of a pandemic: How to find volunteering opportunities during the novel coronavirus / COVID-19 & how to stay safe while volunteering.

This is a resource for people that want to volunteer, but if you want to engage volunteers onsite, in-person, you should review this and make sure you can meet all of these standards that are being recommended.

May & June 2020

May & June 2020 Blogs

Virtual Volunteering is EXPLODING
The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a sudden, drastic rise in the number of programs launching and expan virtual volunteering programs to engage their clients with volunteers who must stay home. Via Google Alerts, Since late March, I am daily receiving a long list of new news stories, articles and blogs that mention virtual volunteering, virtual volunteers, online volunteers, online helpers and on and on. And Twitter is awash with new initiatives being launched. Here is how I've been responding since late March:

I have prepared a resource to help nonprofits, charities, government programs and other that involve volunteers to quickly, immediately, launch online roles and task for their volunteers, so they can continue to be engaged and so the organization can continue to meet its mission and, perhaps, even reach more people with their services.
I am trying to sound the alarm about safety in virtual volunteering: I am seeing so MANY new activities launch without any consideration for safety of volunteers and clients. It's going to lead to problems, maybe even tragedy. Please, please read this resource about virtual volunteering safety. At least watch this short YouTube video I made about safety in virtual volunteering, just five minutes long,
I also have a video about the very personal nature of virtual volunteering (it's in response to people saying that virtual volunteering lacks a "personal" quality).
Long before COVID19, I maintained the longest list ANYWHERE of where and how to find virtual volunteering opportunities - a resource that targets volunteers, who want to keep helping but aren't finding enough online volunteering to keep them engaged.
Per many volunteering abroad programs being postponed, I've created a list of Ideas for High Impact Virtual Volunteering Activities, for people seeking ideas for an online project that will mobilize online volunteers in activities that lead to a sustainable, lasting benefit to a community or cause, particularly for a community or audience that is at-risk or under-served. These ideas absolutely can be adapted for remote volunteering within the same country where the online volunteers live as well - "remote" could mean across town rather than around the world.
I have a series of videos about virtual volunteering, made this year that, altogether, in less than an hour, provide a robust video introduction to virtual volunteering, to rapidly introducing or expanding roles and activities for online volunteers. These videos are freely available.
Building a team culture among remote workers
Coming together face-to-face, in the same room, does not automatically create team cohesion and a strong sense of team. Yet, many people think having online meetings automatically means it’s difficult for staff to have a strong sense of team. When thinking about creating a sense of team online, try to get away from that aforementioned belief. People feel a part of a team if they feel heard and included, whether online or off. And they will attend meetings and pay attention to those meetings if they feel the meeting is relevant to their work - on or offline. This resource offers ideas for live events, asynchronous events & activities that can build a sense of team among remote workers.
I am trying to get the word out about The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. There are so many, many programs launching online volunteer engagement that NEED to read this, especially those that will be expanding into virtual volunteering in connection with their programs (serving seniors, serving children, etc.).
I've created a list of Considerations for ensuring safety in online service delivery by volunteers, where volunteers are interacting with members of the client and the public. Not all of these suggestions are appropriate for every volunteer engagement scheme. These suggestions are written specifically for NON tech staff - instead, for the people that manage client programs and manage volunteers, and the people that manage IT staff, so they can come to this issue from a human support, human management issue FIRST, rather than a tech issue.
I am regularly posting about new virtual volunteering initiatives to the Reddit Subreddit regarding volunteers.
I am tweeting like crazy and responding to tweets by people posting about virtual volunteering in some way.
And a reminder: Virtual Volunteering is NOT new - this short YouTube video explains why its inappropriate to call virtual volunteering new.

March & April 2020 Blogs

February & March 2020

Gone for Most of March

I will be traveling in Baja, Mexico for most of March and I will not be answering email or any electronic messages in that time. I may not even have access to my phone number. It's going to be wonderful! If you want to reach me, it's best to write me before March 1st or after March 30th. If you need to reach me urgently, DM me or MT me on Twitter and I'll get a notice on my phone the next time I'm in Internet range.

Considerations When Redesigning Your Web Site
When is it time to redesign your nonprofit, NGO, charity or government program's web site? And what guidance should you provide your designer? This page offers detailed information that will get you a better web site - not just a different one. As with most content on my web site, this is for small programs, including all-volunteer organizations.

Recruiting Volunteers To Serve in Difficult, Even Dangerous Roles
Some volunteering is perceived as difficult by potential volunteers and the general public, because of the clients that volunteers will work with or the kind of activities volunteers must undertake. Examples: serving as a Big Brother/Big Sister, mentoring a foster child, assisting adults with developmental disabilities, volunteering in a shelter for women experiencing domestic violence, or staffing a suicide hotline. Some volunteering is perceived as difficult AND dangerous, such as fire fighting or search and rescue or volunteering in prisons or jails. Some volunteering is perceived as controversial, such as providing water stations in the dessert for people entering a country illegally and can die from dehydration, or defending a women's health clinic patients from protesters. Difficult, dangerous and/or controversial roles actually appeal to many people who want to volunteer: they feel strongly about the cause, or they want to do something substantial and challenging. But other roles may seem too intimidating to new recruits, like mentoring a young person going through the foster care system, working with young people in the juvenile justice system, working with people with intellectual disabilities, or working with seniors. How do you recruit for roles that might seem difficult, dangerous, even controversial? How do you recruit for a subject area or role that might provoke an initial reaction of fear among potential volunteers? This resource can help.

Cultivating Online Civility
When I began writing about online culture, back in the late 1990s, misinformation was at a minimum and easy to identify, and hateful trolls were oh-so-quickly banned from online communities. Now, hate and misinformation rage online, and not just among strangers - neighbors are raging against each other on local online communities. Can online civility be restored? Is it possible to challenge misinformation and destructive speech in the strongest, most deliberate of terms without being accused of hate speech yourself? This page links to efforts focused on online civility - most of these efforts are not by me, BTW.

Available Again For Consulting or Employment!

Happy to say that I'm again available for consulting or employment - but AFTER March, as I will be out of the USA for most of that month! Here are the consulting services I offer for nonprofits, NGOs, charities, government agencies or universities. I also would be very open to a senior position regarding communications or project management or a university-level adjunct position.

Add Video-Editing to My Repertoire
In the last two years, I've produced a fair number of videos in relation to my work: writing and producing simple trainings, editing presentations, training and speeches by others, and captioning all of these - nothing too sophisticated, though I did produce a short program highlights video with music. If you have simple video editing or captioning needs, please contact me - I have very affordable rates for this freelance work.

Have you benefited from any of the resources on my web site? Would you like to support me in continuing this work? I accept donations via PayPal or you can make a regular monthly gift by becoming a patron (via patreon.com).

January & February 2020 Blogs

January 2020 News

How Volunteers Can QUICKLY Help Your Program To Be More Accessible Online
Most nonprofits, NGOs, charities, schools and other mission-based organizations will never be able to afford a professional web designer, let alone one that can build a fully accessible web site. Yet, these organizations most certainly want people with disabilities to access their online information, just like any other donor, client, volunteer, participant, activist or other potential supporter. This resource talks about how volunteers can help any mission-based organization have a more accessible, more welcoming web site.

UPDATED: One Day Activities for IT Volunteers or Volunteering Using IT

This page provides advice on how to put together a one-day event, or just-a-few-days-of activity, for a group of tech volunteers onsite, working together, for a nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO), community-focused government program, school or other mission-based organization - or association of such.

Special Offer Reminder

If your group (association, university class, etc.) is in the USA and the group you may want to receive one of my trainings is an audience that will be at least one third African American, Latino and/or American Indian/Native American, I will give you a special, reduced rate for an online or onsite training. This is per my commitment to helping African American, Latino and American Indian/Native American managers in nonprofits, civic organizations, government programs and schools in particular to build their capacities regarding communications and/or volunteer engagement, and to cultivate far more trainers and consultants from these communities. Please contact me for more information about my special rates for your audience. Here are some of my trainings on YouTube. You can read more about my consulting services and the list of University-Level Instruction - Course Options that I am interested in teaching, in-person or online.

December 2019 News

Updated: One Day Activities for IT Volunteers or Volunteering Using IT

You can recruit a group of volunteers for intense, one-day IT or web-related events, or events of just a couple of days, to build web pages or improve your web site's accessibility/usability, to write code for a new app, to edit Wikipedia pages, to transcribe historical documents and more. Because computers are involved, these events are sometimes called hackathons, even if coding isn't involved, though edit-a-thon or transcribe-a-thon are also being used more and more. This updated resource can help your nonprofit think about possibilities for such one-day events that might benefit one of your programs or the entire organization.

November & December 2019 Blogs

October 2019 News

Make All Volunteering as Accessible as Possible: advantages for your program & how to do it

If you want access to the greatest amount of talent and resources that volunteers can possibly bring to your program, you have to make all volunteering as accessible as possible. That means looking for ways to accommodate a myriad of people who have different abilities, needs, personality types and work styles. As Susan Ellis said, "Accessibility and diversity are about accommodating everyone, not just people with disabilities or people who are from minority groups. You want to make volunteering as welcoming to the widest number of people possible." This resource can help.

Booked through February 2020

I'm working full-time again for a previous client through February 2020 (and, per funding, much longer, I hope!). That means this client is currently my professional priority and I am very limited on any consulting work I can do. I am still available for trainings on a very limited basis. Here are the services I offer for nonprofits, NGOs, charities, government agencies, universities or for-profit companies wanting to improve CSR. And my earlier offer stands: if your group (association, university class, etc.) is in the USA and the group you may want to receive one of my trainings is an audience that will be at least one third African American, Latino and/or American Indian/Native American, I will give you a special, reduced rate for an online or onsite training. This is per my commitment to helping African American, Latino and American Indian/Native American managers in nonprofits, civic organizations, government programs and schools in particular to build their capacities regarding communications and/or volunteer engagement, and to cultivate far more trainers and consultants from these communities. Please contact me for more information about my special rates for your audience. Here are some of my trainings on YouTube. You can read more about my consulting services and the list of University-Level Instruction - Course Options that I am interested in teaching, in-person or online.

September & October 2019 Blogs

August 2019 News

In this guest blog for the Energize, Inc. Hot Topic, I explore the criteria for when a role should be filled by a volunteer INSTEAD of a paid employee.

I’m seeing more and more local organizations – non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, schools – in developing countries posting on sites like Reddit, asking foreign volunteers to travel to their countries and volunteer. These NGOs and others offer no information on whether or not its legal for foreigners to come to the country and volunteer, no information on what they will do to ensure volunteers will be safe, no information on what screening they do of volunteers to ensure safety of volunteers – they just post, “Hey, we help orphans / wildlife / women, and you can come here and help us.” Hosting International Volunteers: A Where-To-Start Guide For Local Organizations provides detailed suggestions for NGOs in developing countries interested in gaining access to foreign volunteers.

A travelogue of my 4 day, 3 night, 580 mile motorcycle tour of Deschutes National Forest, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Big Obsidion Flow, McKay Butte Fire, and Fort Rock, Oregon.

May & June 2019 Blogs

April 2019 News

Special Offer

March & April 2019 Blogs

So many of us are reeling at the passing of Susan J. Ellis in February. There is no person on Earth who has done as much to promote volunteerism and the best practices for engaging and support volunteers than Susan. Her contributions cannot be overstated. This is my tribute to my dear colleague, with links to several others.

My advice for corporate social responsibility (CSR) is different than most anything else you will read on the Internet or read in a book. It's different from most anything you will ever hear at a conference or workshop or consultation. My advice is meant to be provocative and disruptive. I'm sharing information and approaches and complaints that so many nonprofit, NGO and public school staff want to say to corporations and foundations, but they've been too afraid to. This new section of my web site provides an index of resources meant to help for-profit businesses, large and small, engage in CSR - financial donations, in-kind donations, employee volunteering, etc. - in a way that really does benefit the causes, communities or nonprofits and goes beyond feel-good public relations.

How to volunteer outside, on public lands - national parks, national forests, national monuments, state parks, etc. - is a frequently asked question Quora and Reddit. Also, people in the USA often will pay thousands of dollars to travel overseas to undertake activities they could do right here in the USA, for far less money and spending far less travel time. This is my attempt to reach out to people who want to volunteer outside in support of wildlife and/or our natural spaces and provide them with the guidance they need. This is a part of my growing set of resources for volunteers.

I'm available for consulting or employment!

I'm available for conference training days, short-term or long-term consulting, for short-term deployment abroad, or even a part-time or full-time gig. You can see some of my trainings on YouTube and read more about my consulting services. I'd also love to teach. I've developed a list of University-Level Instruction - Course Options that I am interested in teaching, in-person or online. I have lectured as a guest in several classes at various universities, and I am very interested in creating and delivering undergraduate and graduate-level courses as part of an MBA program, a nonprofit management or public sector management degree, a social work degree, a public health education degree, a marketing or public relations degree, or international affairs, among others. I've detailed my research, university teaching experience, teaching philosophy and course development interests here.

January & February 2019 Blogs

Diagnosing the causes of volunteer recruitment problems

My top blog in 2018, BY FAR, was this one. In fact, it’s now one of my top 15 most-read blogs ever. I've curated a list of my other most popular blogs in 2018 here.

Efforts to Educate the Public About Humanitarian Development & the work of Nonprofits, NGOs, Charities, etc.
The audience for my web pages and blogs are, primarily, staff at mission-based organizations: nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, government agencies, schools and other public sector organizations, as well as their partners - corporations, universities, etc. I also sometimes write material for volunteers themselves - or people who want to be such. Sometimes, however, I write material to try to educate the public about humanitarian and development work and about the work, culture, ethics and limitations of nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities and other mission-based organizations. Here are some of those blogs focused on the general public.

Join me on Quora and Reddit in 2019

I am the most-viewed contributor to several Quora groups, including those on volunteerism, volunteering, nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations, non-profit fundraising, community service, and more, I'm also one of the moderators of the subReddit on volunteering. I'm all alone on these forums in trying to answer questions, for the most part - and I don't want to be. Please join me on these groups and help me educate people about the realities of volunteer support, nonprofit management and ethics, and voluntourism!

December 2018 News

Volunteering to Address Your Own Mental Health

The majority of my work is focused on helping professionals that work at nonprofits, non-governmental organizations, government agencies and other mission-based programs. That includes helping them to work with volunteers. However, I have a section of my web site focused on helping volunteers themselves, based on the questions I read on Quora, Reddit and other sites from people that want to volunteer. This new resource on that section of my web site is designed to help you have realistic expectations for volunteering and to avoid an experience that will make you feel worse instead of better.

November & December 2018 Blogs

November 2018 News

I dream of hostels

I would love to see nonprofit travelers hostels developed in Louisville, Kentucky and in Tillamook State Forest, Oregon.

October 2018 News

Folklore, Rumors, Urban Myths & Organized Misinformation Campaigns
Interfering with Development & Aid/Relief Efforts, & Government Initiatives
(& how these are overcome)

Folklore, rumors (or rumours) and urban myths / urban legends, as well as organized misinformation campaigns and "fake news", often interfere with aid, relief and development activities, and government initiatives, including public health initiatives -- even bringing such to a grinding halt. They create ongoing misunderstandings among communities and cultures, prevent people from seeking help, encourage people to engage in unhealthy and even dangerous practices, cultivate mistrust of people and institutions, have even lead to mobs of people attacking someone or others for no reason other than something they heard from a friend of a friend of a friend, motivated legislators to introduce laws to address something that doesn't exist, and influenced elections. Since 2004, I have been gathering and sharing both examples of this phenomena, and recommendations on preventing folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts and government initiatives. I do this entirely on my own, as a volunteer, with no funding from anyone. I am pleased to have recently updated these resources with new resources.

September & October 2018 Blogs

September 2018 News

How to Recruit Volunteers in Forest Grove & Cornelius, Oregon -
for nonprofit organizations, government programs, schools & communities of faith

A few nonprofits in my area have said that they struggle with finding enough volunteers. I made this straight-forward resource for this specific geographic area, both to help these nonprofits and to offer an example for other communities in how to put together such a customized guide for themselves.

Nevada Travelogue

For two weeks in late July (and two days in August), I traveled through Nevada via motorcycle.

July & August 2018 Blogs

June 2018 News

A history of the Smart Valley initiative

In 1994, perhaps earlier, an initiative called Smart Valley was launched in California. Smart Valley was a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization focused on creating an "information infrastructure" in Silicon Valley, California - Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, San José, Santa Clara and the surrounding area, creating projects to enhance the quality of life in Silicon Valley. Smart Valley's projected included SmartSchools NetDay and PC Day, Smart Voter, to help people learn about upcoming elections, Connect 96: The Global Summit on Building Electronic Communities, the Public Access Network (PAN), a Telecommuting Initiative, and the Smart Valley Webmasters Group. Smart Valley was also affiliated with the nonprofit organization Plugged In, one of the first digital divide efforts, working to bring "the tremendous technological resources available in the Silicon Valley to youth in low-income communities" in East Palo Alto and SV-PAL, the Silicon Valley Public Access Link.

Summer Webinars!

My dear colleague Erin Barnhart (Effective Altruism) is organizing summer webinars on selected Fridays regarding expanding skills in volunteer engagement, some featuring my other dear colleague, Liza Dyer and some featuring me! These webinars are intense, fun, interactive, an hour long (never more), affordable and each focused on ONE aspect of effective volunteer engagement. We designed these topics based on what we are all hearing from people working with volunteers, in any capacity, as well as our own experiences as managers of volunteers and as volunteers ourselves. Here's more info about the webinars.

May & June 2018 Blogs

May 2018 News

The Virtual Volunteering Wiki has moved

The Virtual Volunteering Wiki was developed in association with The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook. The wiki has been hosted at virtualvolunteering.wikispaces.com- its home since 2013. Unfortunately, as of September 2018, Wikispaces will be discontinued by its parent company. It's a devastating blow, as The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook has the Wikispaces address in it - and that can never be changed - and Susan Ellis and I have worked so hard to get the Wikispaces address shared, far and wide. The Virtual Volunteering Wiki has been relocated here, at www.coyotecommunications.com/vvwiki/. Although it will not longer be, officially, a wiki, it will maintain its neutral tone and will welcome contributions from anyone who has information about virtual volunteering. Some of the most popular pages on the wiki:

Definition of virtual volunteering and other terms used for this type of volunteering, including microvolunteering
Examples of virtual volunteering activities, including microtasks and activities for virtual teams
Myths about virtual volunteering
History of virtual volunteering
Research and evaluations of virtual volunteering,
News articles, blog posts, and other updates on virtual volunteering

March update

Video: why accessibility must be a part of human rights, digital divide & social inclusion efforts

If your initiative has a mission regarding human rights or the digital divide or social inclusion, shouldn’t that include a web site that is accessible for people with disabilities or using assistive tech? YES! Yes it should! I've made a less-than five-minute video talking about why. I captioned it using the YouTube closed captioning tool, which is AMAZING.

March & April 2018 blogs

January & February 2018 blogs

January 2018 updates

I've created two new resources to help organizations use social media:

For Schools: You Should Be Using Social Media. Here's How.
There are a lot of web sites saying what the benefits are for schools to use social media. But there's few that give specifics on what a public school should be sharing via Facebook, Twitter, etc. This advice talks not only about exactly what your school should be posting to social media, but the consequences of not doing so, as well how to handle tough questions and criticism. It also links to legal advice.
For Local City & County Governments: You Should Be Using Social Media. Here's How.
To not be using social media to deliver information and to engage means you are denying critical information to much of your community and promoting an image of secrecy and lack of transparency. In fact, the lack of use of social media can be seen as your city council or county government trying to hide something, and even lead to rumors that are much harder to dispel than they would have been to prevent. This advice talks not only about exactly what your school should be posting to social media, but also how to handle tough questions and criticism.

December 2017 updates

I was honored to guest blog the Energize, Inc. Hot Topic for December. The topic I chose to write about: "Letting Fear Prevent Volunteer Involvement is Too Risky." If you can't tell from the title, it's about how the risks around involving volunteers often aren't as great as NOT involving them - to NOT involve volunteers puts your organization at risks that I consider far greater than by involving them. There is a podcast version, in case you would prefer to hear me blabble.

I also have a new resource on my web site: Getting More Viewers for Your Organization's Online Videos. Videos are a great way to represent your organization's work, to show you make a difference, to promote a message or action that relates to your mission, etc. But just uploading a video isn't enough to attract an audience. This new page on my site offers specific steps that will get more views for your organization's videos on YouTube. Note that many of these tasks would be great for an online volunteer to undertake, with guidance from an appropriate staff member

November 2017 updates

Since June, I've been working with Knowbility, a nonprofit based in Austin, Texas with whom I’ve been working with on and off since its founding in 1998. I'm recruiting nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, schools and others to be able to participate in OpenAIR 2018, so that those participating organizations can welcome more clients, more donors, more volunteers and more supporters via their web sites. This Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) by Knowbility was a hackathon before there was the word hackathon - it's been going on since 1998. See the event web site OpenAIR 2018 event web site. for more information and how your nonprofit, NGO or charity can participate. This means, however, that I’m not available for any consulting gigs, other than one-off trainings, until after May 2018. So if you are thinking of me as a consultant in 2018, contact me ASAP, as my schedule fills up quickly! More about my consulting services.

Check out this photo of me and some of my fabulous Knowbility co-workers!

Also, check out my new five minute video pitching participation in OpenAIR 2018 to nonprofits, NGOs, charities and artists. Give me five minutes of your time, watch the video, and PLEASE consider participating!

November & December 2017 blogs

October 2017 updates
I had the honor of being profiled by Open University in the United Kingdom, where I received my Master's Degree. I also wrote a followup regarding whether or not pursuing a graduate degree at OU helped my career (spoiler alert: it did).

October 2017 blogs

September 2017 updates
I am thrilled to announce that I am working with Knowbility, a nonprofit based in Austin, Texas with whom I’ve been working with on and off since its founding in 1998. And even better: what I’m doing will help nonprofits, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, schools and others to be able to welcome more clients, more donors, more volunteers and more supporters via their web sites. I am the Knowbility liaison for nonprofits, NGOs, schools and other mission-based organizations that will participate in OpenAIR 2018. This is my very favorite group volunteering gig and hackathon anywhere in the world. This Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) by Knowbility was a hackathon before there was the word hackathon. It was an onsite, local event for many years, and is now an international virtual volunteering event! See the event web site OpenAIR 2018 event web site. for more information and how your nonprofit, NGO or charity can participate. This means, however, that I’m not available for any consulting gigs until after February 2018. So if you are thinking of me as a consultant for next year, contact me ASAP, as my schedule fills up quickly! More about my consulting services.

Also, I've created a web page that answers the question, "How did you get a job with the UN?!" Because I am exhausted from answering that question on various online discussion groups.

September 2017 blogs

August 2017 updates
Latest Resource: Civil Society Capacity Building: Why?
My favorite kind of professional work is building the capacities of civil society organizations, especially in transitional and developing countries, to communicate, to change minds and to engage a variety of people and communities, through communications, dialogue and volunteering. But the term civil society isn't used in USA as commonly as it is elsewhere, and many don’t understand exactly what I mean when I talk about my favorite type of work. This new resource explores exactly what is meant by the phrase civil society capacity building.

August 2017 blogs

July 2017 blogs

June 2017 blogs
in June, all blogs were focused on communications and community engagement in some way

May 2017 blogs
in May, all blogs were focused on volunteerism in some way

April 2017 blogs

March 2017 blogs

January & February 2017 blogs

December 2016

United Nations Tech4Good / ICT4D Initiatives, a list of the various United Nations initiatives that have been launched since 2000 to promote the use of computers, feature phones, smart phones and various networked devices in development and humanitarian activities, to promote digital literacy and equitable access to the "information society," and to bridge the digital divide. My goal in creating this page is to help researchers, as well as to remind current UN initiatives that much work regarding ICT4D has been done by various UN employees, consultants and volunteers for more than 15 years (and perhaps longer?).

Updated:
Preventing Folklore, Rumors (or Rumours), Urban Myths & Organized Misinformation Campaigns From Interfering with Development & Aid/Relief Efforts & Government Initiatives
Folklore, rumors and urban myths / legends have interfered with humanitarian aid activities and government initiatives, including public health programs, even bringing such to a grinding halt. They create ongoing misunderstandings and mistrust, prevent people from seeking help, encourage people to engage in unhealthy and even dangerous practices, and have even lead to mobs of people attacking someone or others because of something they heard from a friend of a friend of a friend. With social media like Twitter and Facebook, as well as simple text messaging among cell phones, spreading misinformation is easier than ever. Since 2004, I have been gathering and sharing both examples of this phenomena, and recommendations on preventing folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts and government initiatives. I've updated this information with new information per the organized misinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine and the elections in the USA. Now, with fake news sites set up specifically to mislead people, as well as crowdsourced efforts by professional online provocateurs and automated troll bots pumping out thousands of comments, countering misinformation efforts has to be a priority for aid and development organizations, as well as government agencies.

What Was NetAid?
A history of the NetAid initiative, part of which became the UN's Online Volunteering service.

November & December blogs 2016
My top blogs of 2016
Volunteers Along Immigrant & Refugee Journey
Folklore, Rumors & Misinformation Campaigns Interfering with Humanitarian Efforts & Government Initiatives
Did Facebook hurt the Syrian Revolution?
20 Years Ago: The Virtual Volunteering Project
How did volunteers impact the 2016 USA Presidential election?
fake news, folklore & friendships
Nonprofits & NGOs: you MUST give people a way to donate online
How Will Trump Presidency Affect Humanitarian Aid & Development?
2017 National Summit on Volunteer Engagement Leadership
To Do List the Day After the USA election
Why I still don’t like “International Volunteer Manager’s Day”
When “participatory” & “consultation” are just words
Gossip’s toll in your workplace
Research Explaining How Websites Encourage Volunteering & Philanthropy
papers on cyberactivism by women in Iran & Azerbaijan
Some Truths About Volunteer Retention
Volunteering & social cohesion in a post Brexit world
Song of frustration re: volunteering

November 2016

Tech Volunteer Groups / ICT4D Volunteers
A list of tech volunteering initiatives, some defunct, some still going strong, that recruit tech experts to volunteer their time support either local nonprofit organizations or NGOs in developing countries regarding computer hardware, software and Internet tech-related tasks.

Updated: PDX-area Organizations Involved in Overseas Development / Aid / Relief & Volunteer Efforts Or Educating People Re: Other Countries/Global Affairs
Some are nonprofits, some are university programs, and some are for-profit companies / businesses. Some are focused exclusively on aid and development, some are focused only partially on such. There are more than 35 such organizations here, mostly in Portland, but a few in other places in Oregon.

Al Gore Campaign Pioneered Virtual Volunteering
Back in 2000, when Al Gore ran for president, his campaign championed virtual volunteering by recruiting online volunteers to help online with his election efforts. I was getting ready to leave the Virtual Volunteering Project then, to work for the UN in Germany, and was not able to document these pioneering efforts at the time. I remembered this effort recently, per the current (and seemingly never-ending) Presidential campaign in the USA, and went digging on archive.org to find the original materials from that campaign regarding this work with online volunteers. He even had a site for users of personal digital assistants (PDAs), the precursor to the smart phone. ( Somewhere on the site is also a mention of either online volunteering or virtual volunteering, but I can't find it anymore...

October 2016

University-Level Instruction - Course Options
I have lectured as a guest in several classes at various universities, and I am very interested in creating and delivering undergraduate and graduate-level courses as part of an MBA program, a nonprofit management or public sector management degree, a social work degree, a public health education degree, a marketing or public relations degree, or international affairs, among others. I've detailed my research, university teaching experience, teaching philosophy and course development interests here.

Research needs re: virtual volunteering
What would NGOs and nonprofits love to know about virtual volunteering? What would be great, even ground-breaking research regarding virtual volunteering? Here are some digital volunteering research topics in dire need of exploration (and that really need to be undertaken by people that are NOT me).

September & October 2016 blog entries

August 2016

Lessons from onlinevolunteering.org
Some key learnings from directing the UN's Online Volunteering service from February 2001 to February 2005, including support materials for those using the service to host online volunteers.

Updated: Where to Find Online Volunteering
My work is focused mostly on nonprofits, government agencies and other mission-based programs, but a lot of individuals that want to volunteer contact me as well, often about where to find online volunteering opportunities. I created this page for anyone looking to quickly get into virtual volunteering, whether it's a long-term, high-responsibility commitment or a micro task.

August 2016 blog entries

The awesome power of tweet tags

Research needs re: virtual volunteering

Virtual volunteering: it’s oh-so-personal

assigning law breakers to community service: worthwhile?

“If no one is complaining, we don’t have to change how we do things”

Proud to fool courts re: community service

Kentucky politicians think volunteers are free

Volunteer management is community engagement

July 2016 blog entries

women-only hours at community Internet centers? why?

humanitarian stories & photos – use with caution

Wikipedia needs improvement re: volunteerism-related topics

Tourism, a catalyst for peace and development

Safety in Virtual Volunteering

Why Do So Few Women Edit Wikipedia? Insights into virtual volunteering

Police: use social media to invite community participation, show compassion

Is it really *impossible* to break into humanitarian work?

Universal accessibility in tourism! World Tourism Day theme 2016

Selling community service leads to arrest, conviction

June 2016 blog entries

May 2016

I blog often about communications - crafting welcoming messages, crisis responses, managing online conflict, encouraging reconciliation, etc. I decided to create an index of those blogs here. For more than two months, every Tuesday night, and sometimes on Saturdays, I attended the Washington County Sheriff's Department's citizens academy. The academy ended in May. As a consultant and researcher regarding volunteer engagement and communications, I’m talking to organizations about community engagement, and I wanted to see a non-volunteering community engagement scheme first hand, to see how it works and to think about ways the idea might be exported to other, non-law enforcement agencies and even overseas. Also, I’m a human rights advocate, and when I look at what happened in Ferguson, Missouri in particular, I am outraged. So I wanted to see what the attitude of my local sheriff's department is. I blogged halfway through the experience. And now have a lovely photo of me and Sheriff Pat Garrett (no, really, that's his name).

May 2016 blog entries

April 2016

Due to a lot of retweets and mentions, I've been getting a lot of visitors to my blog: Vanity Volunteering: all about the volunteer. Have a read and leave a comment!

April 2016 blogs: (in published date reverse order)

March 2016

A visit to Havana, Cuba
I went to Havana, Cuba at the end of February. It’s been a life-long dream. Per my research before and during the trip, I've written published two blogs in March, one on Internet access / digital literacy in Havana, and one on Tweeters re: Cuba development & ICT4D.

March 2016 blogs: (in published date reverse order)

January & February 2016

Me in South Carolina Jan. 27 - 29
I'll be the keynote speaker and presenting workshops at the South Carolina Association for Volunteer Administration (SCAVA) annual conference, January 27-29, 2016 in North Myrtle Beach! You do not have to be a member of SCAVA to attend. Join me! And you can book me for your conference or workshop!

Me in Vancouver, Washington Feb. 11
I'll be the keynote speaker at the Nonprofit Network Southwest Washington / Directors of Volunteer Programs Association (DVPA) conference on Thurs., February 11 in Vancouver, Washington (state). And you can book me for your conference or workshop!

January & February 2016 blogs: (in published date reverse order)

What was new prior to 2016 (since 2005)

Quick Links

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What WAS New with Jayne & Her Web Site