In less than 100 words, what is your idea?:
A one stop shop for non-profit organizations to create a ‘badge’ celebrating the achievements of their volunteers which then allows volunteers to ‘wear their badges’ on their blogs, websites, facebook pages, to tweet it and use it as an email signature. This one stop shop site can also provide a map (and iphone app) on an opt-in basis, showing the location of volunteer orgs currently recruiting and the number/type of volunteers nearby or in a given neighbourhood. This site could be supported by sponsorship.
What is the social need or challenge your idea could address?:
The primary purpose of a non-profit is not creating social media, recruiting volunteers or rewarding them. The lack of funding for ngos and non-profit organizations stretches their ability to deliver on the ground services while searching for volunteers, coordinating and fundraising.
Imagine your organization being able to visit a web page, answer a couple of short questions, upload an image, and then all of your volunteers would be able to receive the recognition of their hard work by accessing a badge like:
MyAnimalOrg - In 2010, I helped raise 330 kittens, clean 50,000 litter trays, raise $15,000 and rehouse 150 adult cats.
Volunteers are a great source of good will and publicity via social media IF the barriers are removed. Kiva and various facebook apps are great examples of this. New volunteers would be driven to your organization with a clearer understanding of your needs and location, freeing you to train, coordinate and deliver more of your core business.
What’s really new about your idea?:
This idea harnesses the great good will of existing volunteers to spread the word in the simplest possible fashion, using social media techniques and crowd sourcing to promote volunteer roles in non-profit organizations and recognize the contributions volunteers make.
Although several beta attempts to provide a similar service exist overseas, they place too much emphasis on central registers and waiting for volunteers to come to the central volunteer site. My idea focuses primarily on the creation of badges which provide direct click through to the parent organization and would be disseminated by willing volunteers while providing a succinct recognition of the valuable contributions made by the volunteer workforce.
Improvements in locative technologies could enhance this idea but the key strength is in understanding the needs and pressures on small ngo/non profit organizations based on 30 years experience in the field.
Comments
Re: iVolunteer@
Hi Andrew, that sounds wonderful and I'm looking forward to a closer read of the Two Bob's worth project. I had pictured primarily a collection of badges unique to each organisation with click through directly rather than a central iVolunteer@ page for individuals, however I think that it would be a bonus to be able to do both, if it's technologically feasible. regards, Andra
Re: iVolunteer@
I agree that it would also be good to have buttons for organisations that its volunteers can use to promote the specific cause - as an alternative to the range of causes they volunteer to. It could also have an optional "feed" of the organisation's projects on Two Bobs Worth as part of the button, so that under the button it displays a project which people can click on to find out more and volunteer for it through Two Bobs Worth. If the organisation had lots of projects a different one may appear each time the page is refreshed - or they could "scroll through" under the button (that could be a user configurable option as it will be their web page it is appearing on).
It could also include a donations element as proposed by Online Donation Widget for Not-For-Profit Organisations
I suggest doing these things through Two Bobs Worth as it can provide a platform that enables organisations and individuals to do this simply without having to have their own technologies in place to handle the volunteering requests etc. If it doesn't have some kind of "feed" like you suggest of "In 2010, I helped raise 330 kittens, clean 50,000 litter trays, raise $15,000 and rehouse 150 adult cats", it is just a button linking through to an organisation's website - which they could easily provide now but doesn't necessarily have that added factor to make it really become more "viral"/powerful.
Re: iVolunteer@
I think that the iVolunteer badge would be an excellent addition to an online platform that can help individuals and organisations connect for volunteering projects - like Two Bob's Worth
That way when people click on your iVolunteer badge, they can be taken to a page that the volunteer can customise - eg they can choose whether they display the number of hours and projects they have worked on or just the projects they have worked on - together with an automated feed of similar volunteering opportunities that the person visiting the page could volunteer for.
I would be keen to work with you on developing it!