Are you looking for an activity that can help you make new friends and improve your mental health? No, it isn’t a new exercise fad. Volunteering is good for you and great for your community, and virtual volunteering opportunities let you participate from the comfort of your home.
Virtual Volunteering Opportunities
Seniors are known for giving back. Believe it or not, one in three volunteers in the United States is a senior! Aside from the clear benefits to the community, volunteering can have a huge positive impact on a senior’s mental and physical health. Seniors who volunteer regularly report higher levels of social connection and happiness than those who don’t. However, volunteering can also be difficult and physically draining. If you want to experience the benefits of volunteering, but traditional volunteering feels too challenging, what can you do?
Good news! Virtual volunteering, or volunteer opportunities that can be done from home, are becoming more and more common. If you want to get involved with a cause you care about, there’s no better time to learn about virtual volunteering opportunities.
How Does Virtual Volunteering Work?
The idea of volunteering from home might feel strange, but don’t worry. The vast majority of virtual volunteering opportunities don’t involve any complex computer skills and are typically completed over email or within a web browser. If you have the skills to look up a blog post or answer an email, you have the skills you need to virtually volunteer. There are a variety of interesting virtual volunteering opportunities:
- Administrative Work: Do you have experience with common administrative tasks, such as data entry or balancing a budget? Nonprofits are often so busy with their community missions that day-to-day administrative work can fall by the wayside. They may welcome your assistance.
- Client Support: If you love talking to people, a nonprofit can put you to work. Answering simple client questions, screening people for services, or even helping to staff a crisis hotline like Crisis Text Line are all things you can do from home.
- Tutoring and Mentoring: Kids that need extra help in school are increasingly turning to the internet. Organizations like Learn to Be connect kids to virtual tutors, free of charge. If you love helping people learn, you can contribute hours of teaching and tutoring from home.
- Special Skills: Nonprofits with special needs are always looking for people with special skills. For example, the Smithsonian Institute welcomes virtual volunteers with strong gardening knowledge to help identify plants and gardens in archived materials.
How Can I Find Virtual Volunteering Opportunities?
Before you start looking for an opportunity, be sure you know what you’re looking for. What kind of work do you want to do? How many hours a week can you commit? The better you can answer these questions, the better you can narrow down your opportunities.
Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s easy to find virtual volunteering opportunities on the internet:
- Websites like Points of Light list virtual volunteer opportunities by impact area. If you’re looking to support a specific cause, such as cancer awareness or education, this can be helpful.
- Websites like VolunteerMatch or Idealist are search engines that help volunteers find specific virtual opportunities they are interested in. You can search by impact area, zip code, or other criteria to find the opportunity that is perfect for you.
- If there’s a specific organization you want to work with, reach out to them directly. Let them know that you have a skill you’d like to contribute from home, and ask if they’re able to accommodate a virtual volunteer.
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Virtual volunteering opportunities can have a real impact on the causes you care about. Why not reach out to a nonprofit today? You might be surprised by how happy they are to hear from you.
The Shores of Lake Phalen is an assisted living community in a quiet, peaceful environment in Maplewood, Minnesota. We offer numerous health and safety amenities, fun events and activities, a friendly and accommodating staff, and so much more. Schedule a tour of the community to explore our spacious apartments, elegant dining room, and more. We look forward to hearing from you!