While there can be in-person activities with local organizations to participate in, sometimes due to personal circumstances, or circumstances beyond your control, the only option can be virtual volunteering.

Virtual volunteering is a great way to connect with organizations and causes that resonate with you.

Volunteering can have many benefits according to Mayo Clinic Health System; from forming connections, increasing mental and physical health, finding a sense of purpose, and learning new skills. On June 26, 2013, Harvard Health’s Stephanie Watson wrote an article about how volunteering, if done to truly help others, can actually improve your heart health.

If you’re like us, you want to give back to the community. Before the pandemic, volunteering was mostly seen as an in-person activity. This made us rethink how to approach volunteering and to see what there can be done virtually.

Here are some ways you can get started with virtual volunteering:

1. Research

You can help with real research projects right now by performing tasks, data basing, and participating in data collection! Connect with some of these organizations below to participate and contribute to research in a variety of fields.

Zooniverse: partake in different research projects analyzing data from space. Our team member Madilyn did some of these activities during her undergrad after she found out about it through her astronomy class. The activities are fun, short, and you get to learn cool things about science and other subjects. The activities you do are collected as part of a massive citizen research project on the topic, and you can even get involved in the forums to make connections. Without massive citizen-based research, some of these projects would not be possible.



Project Gutenberg: A public domain database of books that are in the Canadian public domain. This means the books are available for free to read. This project hopes to preserve the literacy of the world and to make books available to all. You can volunteer here to help turn books in the public domain into ebooks (electronic format books) and help with other projects.



Museums: Places like the Smithsonian offer opportunities to virtually volunteer. You can participate in research, citizen science, and archiving projects that contribute to the museum. You can reach out to museums in Canada like the ROM, or Ingenium to see if they also have virtual volunteering opportunities, as they are not listed on their current website.

2. Crisis Lines

A crisis line is volunteering your time to be there for someone when they are in their time of most need. It is being an empathetic and compassionate listener, and helping connect others to resources when they are overwhelmed. Some organizations let you answer crisis lines from your own home, or some can be in the form of a virtual chat, or texting. These volunteer positions often involve extensive training so that you are prepared for the role. Examples of crisis line organizations include Anova, Crisis Services Canada, Fraser Health, and Kids Help Phone.

3. Pro Bono Skills

Are you a talented artist? Have a way with words? Can you code superfast? Plenty of organizations need help with a lot of skills-based activities. For example, some organizations might need a design, some might need someone to write a blog every now and then, and some might need help with a page on their website. Reach out to organizations you resonate/are currently connected with to see if you can help them with anything. You can check out this handy guide by the RGD regarding design pro bono work and things to consider. Helping others pro bono with a skill can help free up funding for the organization’s main purpose.

4. Community/ Global Networks

There are community and global networks that connect and compile volunteer opportunities into an easily filterable database. If you search for the keyword virtual, or filter by virtual, you will find plenty of opportunities to possibly get involved in. Here are some of the databases you could try; Volunteer London, Pillar Non-Profit Network, Volunteer Canada, Patagonia and Catchafire, Points of Light, and UN Volunteers.

5. Online Volunteering Apps

Just like network databases that connect you to opportunities, online volunteering apps are applications that connect you to cause specific opportunities. An example is the app, Be My Eyes, which connects people who need sight assistance to a volunteer via live video call. Keep an eye out for apps that you can participate in to help others, or if you have the skills maybe you can help invent an app that would help your community!

Are there any virtual volunteering options we have forgotten that you would like us to check out? We would love to hear how you are staying connected to the community and volunteering.