MOVISIE, kennis en advies voor maatschappelijke ontwikkeling

Despite the advance of private internet access, the majority of volunteer organisations are ill prepared for online volunteering. MOVISIE focuses on placing online volunteering on the agenda and sharing examples and experiences.

Online volunteering

Online volunteering in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the number of households that have access to the internet has increased rapidly in recent years (72% of all households in 2004, as compared to 44% in 2000), and the trend is expected to continue. Despite the advance of private internet access, however, the majority of volunteer organisations are ill prepared for online volunteering. Most are quite pleased if they have a website! Larger organisations, particularly those with an international character (e.g. NOVIB, Nabuur, Humanitas, Kindertelefoon) are aware of the opportunities and have started to take advantage of them (or are planning to do so in the near future).

Activities

At present, little is known in the Netherlands with regard how to many organisations deal with online volunteering and needed support for organisations that work with (or would like to work with) online volunteering. MOVISIE started a project ‘online volunteering’ in 2007 which is the first venture into this domain (Sandra Kamerbeek has published an article about online volunteering in a prominent journal for volunteer organisation professionals). The website is being prepared and we consider other avenues of communication. We focus primarily on placing online volunteering on the agenda and sharing examples and experiences (e.g. learning from each other and identifying problem areas). Next year, we would like to formalise our array of support services and broaden our network (including at the European level).

Survey

No data are available concerning how many people in the Netherlands volunteer online, nor do we know how many organisations are working with online volunteering. Within our current project, we have just started to conduct a limited investigation of the situation in the Netherlands, in the form of a survey.

What is online volunteering?

Peña-López (2007) has written a comprehensive overview of definitions that appear in the literature. According to this review, the closest that the sparse literature on online volunteer appears to come to a standard definition is derived from Ellis and Cravens (2000) and circulated by the United Nations Volunteers (2004). According to this definition, online volunteering refers to 'tasks completed, in whole or in part, by a person via the Internet from a home, work, university, cyber café or telecentre computer.'

The specification of possible computer locations in this definition appears to be needlessly limiting, as it seems to rule out the possibility of using a computer that belongs to the organization on behalf of which the tasks are performed, among other possibilities (e.g. iPhones and other emerging technologies). The use of the internet implies the use of computing facilities and should therefore be sufficient. Furthermore, this definition does not state explicitly that the tasks are done on a volunteer basis, although that is certainly implied. Read more.

Our definition

I feel that it is important for our definition of online volunteering to specify the nature of the tasks as well as the means through which they are accomplished. In order to correspond to existing usage while clearly delineating the territory that we will address, I therefore propose that MOVISIE’s Online Volunteering project adopt and consistently apply the following definition, which has been adapted from the definition used by the United Volunteers:

The term 'online volunteering' refers to tasks that are performed without (financial) compensation, without coercion, in some organisational context and in large part for the benefit of others or for society as a whole, and which are performed in whole or in part using the internet.

Funding: Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport

Project leader: MOVISIE

Project period: 01-01- 2007 till 31-12-2007; and most probably a new project in 2008

For more information contact Brechtje Walburgh Schmidt.

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