"Utilizing Technology for Volunteer - Involving Organizations", paper by Mark Gannon - March 2001

The Context

This paper is set within a context of advances in technology, an increase in the use of ICT and changes in volunteering. Recent changes in the UK volunteering landscape have meant that organisations are now facing competitive pressure in volunteer recruitment. The move towards the professionalisation of volunteer management in the UK has also meant that volunteer managers are now actively seeking volunteers with specific skills rather than adopting a generalist approach to volunteer recruitment.

Demographic shifts have also meant that those looking to recruit volunteers have had to begin to think of slightly more innovative ways to do so in an attempt to attract those from underrepresented groups. The main demographic changes in UK volunteering identified by the 1997 National Survey of Volunteering (Davis-Smith, J. 1998) included the following:

A drop in the total proportion of people volunteering between 1991 and 1997 from 51% to 48%.

A decline in the rate of volunteering by those aged 18 to 24 from 55% to 43%.

The 18-24 age group also experienced a dramatic decrease in the average weekly hours volunteered; down from 2.7 to 0.7 hours per week.

An increase in the participation of those aged 65 and over from 30% to 40%.

The diverse nature of the UK volunteering population, coupled with growing recruitment problems and the more focused approach of 'professional' volunteer managers has meant that more and more of the UK's volunteer-involvers are beginning to think how technology can assist them. Research by the Institute for Volunteering Research (1999), however, shows that some work may still be necessary before UK volunteer-involvers can get to a position where they can fully embrace the potential of ICT.

A survey of over 400 volunteer-involving organisations showed that many lacked even the most basic ICT. Over half of organisations did not have email (52%) although anecdotal evidence and recent research by Burt and Taylor (2000) suggests that this is changing. Only 28% of organisations surveyed had a web site, although these consisted mostly of simple 'presence' sites and didn't interactive with the user to any great degree which can be a turn-off. "Having a web site can bring you results, but only if it properly designed and managed" (Graven et al 1998, p39).

In terms of hardware, the majority (66%) had less than 10 PCs in their whole organisation with only 18% of respondents having more than 50 PCs. Less than half of the organisations (44%) had their PCs networked and of those that did, only 53% had all their PCs networked. ICT was not particularly well resourced in the organisations surveyed, with only 1/3rd of them employing specific IT staff. Almost 60% of organisations had an expenditure on ICT in the previous year of under £10,000 (around US$14,650).

These findings show that despite the huge advances in available technology and the range of innovative things that are being done in volunteering globally, there is still some way to go for UK volunteer-involving organisations so they can be at a stage to fully explore the bounds of ICT in their work. The 'unconnectedness' of some UK voluntary organisations was also identified by Burt and Taylor (2000) in their research. Some of the examples in this paper, however, show that innovative practice is achievable within the bounds of current ICT infrastructure and resources.

ICT can be utilised by volunteer-involving organisations in a number of ways, ranging from simple desktop publishing or word processing to online activity. Of all the ICT available, email and the Internet probably provide volunteer-involvers with some of the most exciting opportunities. Email technology in particular has the potential to be the most powerful of all ICT in volunteering due to it's nature as a 'push' technology.

Of the ways that ICT can be utilised in volunteering, this paper identifies four main ones. These are:

ICT as Resource: This involves ways that technology can assist with information gathering or sharing;

ICT as Visibility: This is about the ways that technology can be utilised to 'get the message' out and have a 'cyber-presence';

ICT as Accessibility: This is about how a) organisations can use technology to create an environment where they are attracting more and diverse volunteers and b) individuals have greater choice in the type and form of their volunteering;

ICT as Assistant: This is simply the ways that ICT can make the job of a volunteer manager easier, in terms of day-to-day tasks.

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