October 15, 2009 | Read Time: 5 minutes
The call to service does not always come through loud and clear.
Despite good intentions, prospective volunteers have plenty of reasons for postponing: lack of time, the hassles of background checks, an inability to figure out how they can help solve the world’s problems, and the frustration of being turned away following disasters.
Entrepreneurs and government agencies are trying to find solutions to such roadblocks. Here are four innovative approaches:
Doing Good While Killing Time: The Extraordinairies
Only a little more than a quarter of the American population volunteers, and nearly two-thirds of Americans with a full-time job say they don’t have time to volunteer. How to reach those people? Make volunteering easier and shorter.
Enter the Extraordinairies, a start-up company that allows people to take actions to support the causes they care about during dead time — while waiting in line, riding the bus, or sitting in an airport terminal. These “microvolunteer” opportunities can be delivered to an iPhone, or completed through the group’s Web site.
Currently, volunteers can use their spare moments to add identification tags to photographs owned by the likes of the Smithsonian Institution, locate and describe playgrounds for a national database being assembled by the nonprofit group KaBoom, or catalog images of abuse for Big Cat Rescue.
The Extraordinairies, which is still in a test phase, plans to generate revenue by charging a subscription fee — perhaps $99 per month — to charities that post volunteer opportunities. In June, the Extraordinairies received a one-year grant worth $249,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
“Even a few minutes of brainpower is helpful,” says Jacob Colker, one of three co-founders. “Especially when you have tens of thousands of people doing it.”
One-Time Background Checks: The Go Pass
Background checks are a headache for both volunteers and charities. While background checks are important — especially for volunteers who will be working with children or older people — they are a drain on time and money for charities, and may deter some people from volunteering.
An innovation in the works at NYC Service, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s program to make volunteering easier in New York City, will simplify the process of vetting volunteers. With the Go Pass, the city will set up a central clearinghouse for background checks. The pass will allow one volunteer to work for multiple charities, while going through just a single background check. Other government entities, including the state of California, are looking to copy the idea.
Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, says the idea is still in development but that the cost of the clearinghouse will be borne by the charities that participate in it. “Nonprofit groups have told us that they would be very happy to have this burden taken away from them so that they can focus on their mission of improving the communities they serve,” he says.
Web Searching for Solutions: Ifwerantheworld.com
Cindy Gallop has a pet peeve: people who whine about major problems but take no action themselves.
Ms. Gallop, a veteran marketing executive, thinks she has found a solution with her latest project, ifwerantheworld.com. The Web site, expected to be available in test form by January, will allow people to type in a major problem they would like to solve, and in return receive specific actions they can take to help pull off their goal. People who participate in the site will also have a profile page that lists each specific action they have completed.
She plans to pay for the site — and even turn a profit — by allowing corporations to support causes, and offer promotions to members, in exchange for an annual fee.
The goal is to galvanize people who shake their head at problems they read about in the newspaper, but lose their zeal to find solutions as soon as they turn the page.
“If you could take all those good intentions and find a way to turn them at the moment of intention into action, you would unleash amazing power,” Ms. Gallop says.
Training for Catastrophe: The CaliforniaVolunteers Disaster Corps
When hundreds of volunteers tried to help clean up beaches after a big oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 2007, government officials told them to stay home.
Nothing rouses a volunteer like a natural disaster, but all too often volunteers are turned away when they seek to help out. Officials at the oil spill initially insisted that volunteers receive 20 hours of training in handling hazardous materials before pitching in.
Later this year, the state will unveil its plan for cutting through such red tape: the CaliforniaVolunteers Disaster Corps. Those interested in joining the corps will go through a training program in advance to become a member. When a disaster hits, the corps can be deployed immediately.
Generalists will tackle basic tasks like sandbagging or answering phones. Those who have gone through additional training will be certified to oversee needs like traffic control and providing food and shelter to disaster victims. A Web-based tool will keep track of corps members’ skills, such as finance and administration, public affairs, animal rescue and care, and language translation.
“When something like Katrina happens, everyone wants to give back,” says Evan Hochberg, national director of community involvement at Deloitte, which contributed more than $745,000 worth of pro bono consulting to help create the Disaster Corps. “But at a certain point, you don’t just need more people showing up. You need the right skilled volunteer to meet whatever the need is.”
