The young, working, professional crowd is mostly time-strapped. They are so engrossed with a handful of things in their lives and they are mostly afraid that if they do add giving back to their busy schedules, they will hardly even manage it.
Well, good news! Even the busiest individuals could make a difference in small, efficient bursts. That’s what microvolunteering is all about. It has started in the United Kingdom and is now making a difference globally, a little act of kindness at a time.
The Early Beginning
It was the United Nations Volunteers that started the idea of launching an online volunteering program in 2000 to get people across the globe involved in sustainable human development. In 2006, the term microvolunteering first appeared within a blog post response on mySociety.org. Afterward, it became even more prevalent, with other nations across the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the rest of the world starting to pick up the concept and applied it to their causes.
Microvolunteering refers to a type of volunteering that does not require a big and long commitment. Supporting activities for good causes does not need you to enter a formal agreement with the organization you are working with. That’s the principle behind the concept.
Lack of free time has been found as the most significant barrier that keeps people from volunteering. That is exactly what microvolunteering is here for. It seeks to increase engagement without having to force volunteers into a regular or long-term commitment. It does not only make them feel less discouraged but also keeps them confident that they can support causes, make a change, little by little.
Microvolunteering vs Adhoc Volunteering
Microvolunteering is by principle, no different from Adhoc volunteering, which is the advocacy of The One Hour Project. We believe people only need to spare at least an hour of their time and devote it to social causes closest to their heart to make a difference. It does not matter if it is only about befriending the elderly or providing tutoring assistance to foreign workers.
The One Hour Project is proof of how microvolunteering continues to rise and how it is starting to bloom in Asia. We are matching volunteers to simple, conscious actions they can make for a good cause, whether online or offline. We are actively promoting bite-size opportunities that will inspire everyone, especially the young crowd with unpredictable lifestyles to get involved, no matter how busy their life could be.
Microvolunteering or Adhoc volunteering is a whole new way to get involved. It is by far so effective at attracting a wider diversity of volunteers from different parts of the world.
