E-Connect: Cuso International’s
E-Volunteering Guide
2016–2017
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Table of Contents
About This Guide........................................................................................................................................... 3
Why E-Volunteering? .................................................................................................................................... 4
Benefits and Advantages of E-Volunteering ............................................................................................. 4
E-Volunteering Opportunities ....................................................................................................................... 5
Peer to Peer & E-Mentoring ..................................................................................................................... 5
Task-Based E-Volunteering ....................................................................................................................... 6
Overcoming Challenges – “Thinking Outside of the Box”......................................................................... 7
What You Need to Know About Becoming an E-Volunteer .......................................................................... 8
E-Volunteer Documents ................................................................................................................................ 9
Successful E-Volunteering Stories............................................................................................................. 9
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About This Guide
This guide outlines the key benefits and advantages of e-volunteering, types of e-volunteer placements,
policies, and procedures. The E-Volunteer Documents section at the end of this guide makes key evolunteer resources available for download and provides an overview of how and when these
documents are to be used to aid you in your e-volunteer work. As the e-volunteer program expands,
new documents will be added so check back from time to time to see what’s new. The current Evolunteer documents included at the end of this guide are:


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E-Placement Description Template
Scope of Work Template
Tips for a Successful E-Placement
Information for Potential E-Volunteers
Please feel free to contact the E-Volunteering Program Coordinator at
[email protected] at any time with your feedback, questions, or training requests.
We wish you all the very best in your e-volunteer placement.
©Cuso International 2016
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Why E-Volunteering?
E-Volunteering, also known as virtual, online, distance, or remote volunteering, has become an
emerging theme in volunteering in the past few years as the availability of innovative, web-based
technologies expand. E-volunteering involves collaborating, mentoring and/or the completion of tasks
off-site from the organization for which you are volunteering, in an online capacity. You can become an
e-volunteer from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. In a recent survey, it was found
that approximately 60% of the Cuso International volunteers who return from their in-country
placements have continued to support their in-country program partners through various online
activities. In fact, e-volunteering would seem to be a natural extension to the in-country volunteer
program as many volunteers and program partners want to retain their relationship and continue to
exchange ideas. Therefore, the E-Connect program is an opportunity to formalize and enhance this
activity that is occurring already and lend further work experience credibility to the distance support
provided by the volunteers.
Benefits and Advantages of E-Volunteering
E-Volunteering offers many of the benefits gained from in-the-field volunteering, such as contributing
and giving back to a community, gaining new skills, and making new connections. The following are
some of the added benefits and advantages that e-volunteering allows:

Flexible schedule– Many people want to contribute to the mission of the organization but are
unable to venture internationally due to work and family commitments. Some have very
limited schedules and may not be able to volunteer in person as they do not have multiple days
or consecutive, multiple hours to give. As e-volunteering can be performed anytime, anywhere,
it can be undertaken by a wider range of people wanting to help out in some way.

Blended service options – Some people may be able to spend a couple of months away from
home but cannot commit to longer periods of time. With blended volunteer service options,
volunteers can spend part of their time working internationally with a partner organization
followed by a pre-established amount of time post-placement working from a distance.

Wider range of expertise – Through e-volunteering, program partners will benefit from a wider
range of expertise generated from being able to tap into a larger volunteer base.

Creative project opportunities – Through the use of technology there are numerous ways that
volunteers can contribute their expertise to a project. Contributions can be peer to peer or ementoring-based, or task-based. Volunteers are encouraged to be creative in their approach in
supporting their program partner.

Opportunity to engage more people in our work – E-Volunteering provides an opportunity to
engage a greater and more diverse population who are not able to commit to an international
placement. Alumni, youth, corporate and institutional volunteers, work with partners where
security situations prohibit the placement of on-site volunteers. Persons with disabilities may
also be more willing to e-volunteer.
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E-Volunteering Opportunities
There are numerous ways that you can contribute to Cuso International and our partners’ work. Cuso
International has identified the following three types of placements that a volunteer can perform online:
1. Peer to Peer. Mutual professional growth through sharing and consultations (ideas exchanges,
discussion forums).
2. E-Mentoring. Knowledge exchange between a skilled and experienced mentor and a less-skilled
mentee.
3. Task-Based Technical Assistance. Specific tasks which produce tangible results (website
development, research, fundraising proposal review).
All three types of placements help aid the program partner in capacity building; strengthening skills and
competencies to help them achieve sustainable results. Some of the task-based placements depending
on their scope, may be considered service-based placements whereby you will perform a necessary
service that the organization does not have the required staff skills to perform, such as developing a
web site or conducting research.
When thinking about ways to help your partner organization, based on your assessment of their key
priority areas of need and the essential issues, important aspects to consider would be how can your evolunteer work have the greatest impact, what are the types of products you can create that will be of
the most value, and whether these products will be sustainable. Having these points in mind will help
you to develop a placement that is both high quality and viable.
As you read through, note that these are just some samples and you are welcome and encouraged to
take a creative approach in coming up with other ideas. If you think of additional examples of online
work opportunities that you would like to share with us, please feel free to contact the E-Volunteering
Program Coordinator at [email protected].
Peer to Peer & E-Mentoring
Knowledge sharing between the volunteer and various members of the program partner
can be conducted online using various free, web-based tools or if available, using more
formal collaborative software tools.
Some of the easiest ways to conduct peer-to-peer support include email or Skype. If you
have the available resources, you may be able to build discussion forums or Wikis.
For both peer-to-peer and e-mentoring opportunities, the e-volunteer are encouraged to build and
facilitate an online community of learners. For more information about building positive online working
environments, see the supplement document: Tips for a Successful E-Placement.
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Task-Based E-Volunteering
For international volunteers seeking to develop an e-placement to support their work or planning to
continue supporting their partner after ending their international placement, the following table
provides some task-based support ideas to help you get started in thinking about opportunities you can
complete from a distance.
Business Development
Communications
Accounting (financial review, best-practice advice)
Audit and financial statement preparation
Brand development (mission statement, image)
Business plan development
Data analysis and mining
Documenting success stories, testimonials
Excel template design
Google web analytics, metrics, reporting
Human resources forms, checklists
Marketing strategies (e-commerce website,
company brand and messaging)
Monitoring and evaluation (impact indicators,
revising reports)
Project management, planning, scoping
Blogging
Editing, proofreading support
Magazine articles, freelance writing
Photography
Presentation design, editing
Policy and guidelines
Proposal or report development
Research
Social media strategy and management
Template design
Translation services
Webinar, webcast management
Wiki developer, editor
Design
Fundraising
Animation or Flash design
Artwork or illustrations
Audio design
Brand and logo design
Podcasts
Video production
Online fundraising campaign
Creating a donors list
Grant writing
Concept notes
Newsletter design and development
IT Support
Education
Develop new web templates
Google web analytics support and reporting
Curriculum design
Online course development, training modules
Mobile app development
Moodle learning platform design
Web site design (WordPress, Wix, Weebly)
Online teaching, tutoring
Teaching ESL online
Webinar development, presentations
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During the in-country placement, volunteers are able to identify key areas in which the work of the evolunteer would be most beneficial to the partner organization and would make for the greatest impact.
Keep these priority areas in mind when thinking about ways to help remotely. For example, building a
website for an organization that does not have one may sound like a good idea at first, but if the
organization does not have the capacity to update it, or even a dedicated Internet connection for which
to access it, the development of a website may not be the best activity for this organization.
Overcoming Challenges – “Thinking Outside of the Box”
A Cuso International volunteer recently encountered an e-volunteering challenge in being able to
complete any of these types of support. The e-volunteer’s program partners were located in a very
remote location of their country where Internet access did not exist, most had not even used
computers, and the nearest computer location with Internet access was located a long distance away
which was too costly to travel regularly. How would this e-volunteer then be able to support her partner
program remotely?
Scenarios such as this are indeed a challenge, and possibly quite common to e-volunteering, but not one
which cannot be overcome through some creative and out-of-the-box thinking. Here are some
suggestions given to this e-volunteer.
Individual Task-Based Projects
It may not be entirely necessary that your program partners require regular Internet access to benefit
from your work. Some additional, standalone task-based e-volunteering projects may include an online
fundraising campaign, a crowdsourcing project which may get locals and non-locals active in helping in
some way. You could also create videos or some training materials using your own online resources and
then mail them the results. Although projects such as these do not involve ongoing peer to peer
engagement or mentoring, you are sharing valuable knowledge through tangible products.
Indirect E-Volunteer Projects
If it is not at all possible to connect with your international colleagues after your return, you can think of
ways that your e-volunteer work can impact them indirectly, such as working on projects for one of the
country partner organizations or funding organizations.
Train the Trainer Mentoring
This idea is a possibility if at least one of your colleagues could get Internet access at least once a week.
Through a train-the-trainer type of mentoring system, you could keep in contact with this individual by
email or Skype. After their sessions with you, they could then communicate their learning with the
remainder of program partner colleagues. It will be a slow process if a communication session is only
established once a week, if not every second week but you could combine this with another task-based
project to fulfill your e-volunteer time commitment.
Overall, you need to be creative in your approach. If you have first-hand knowledge of the needs and
priorities of the program partner you will have a better idea of how to develop an e-volunteering
strategy that is most beneficial to all.
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What You Need to Know About Becoming an E-Volunteer
The following are the general expectations and requirements for an e-volunteer placement.
E-Placement Descriptions (for blended service)
For volunteers undertaking a blended service option (an in-country placement followed by an eplacement), begin to identify additional task(s) that an e-volunteer can perform for the program partner
from a distance at least 1 or 2 months before the end of your placement. While in-country, you will want
to collaborate with your program partner to determine the objective, expected outcomes, and timeline
for your e-placement.
Reporting
Volunteers complete a Scope of Work document for each placement at the beginning of the
assignment. This document outlines the overall project goals, planned tasks, and deliverables associated
with the volunteer assignment. Both the volunteer and the program partner must agree to the tasks
described in the Scope of Work before signing off on this and the E-Volunteering Terms and Conditions.
The Scope of Work is also a living document and the e-volunteer is expected to update it with the actual
tasks performed, outcomes, and results as the placements progresses. At the end of the placement, the
final results, impact, and conclusions must be clearly documented.
Volunteers must also keep a log of the hours spent on their e-placement, which is to be submitted at the
end of their placement. E-volunteers may also be invited to complete a post-placement report and/or
will be asked to participate in a debriefing session via Skype.
Note: All final and complete documents are due no later than one month after the end date of their evolunteering placement.
Quality of Work
The number of hours dedicated to the e-placement each week must correspond to the quality and
substance of the task. Also, the creation of a proposal template may be one of a series of projects
completed for the partner organization but it shouldn’t be the only task. The e-placement is meant to
achieve measurable and sustainable impact in the agreed timeline.
E-Placement Deadlines and Management
The e-placement will be on average three to six (3-6) months in duration with an option to extend and
volunteers will spend an average of two to seven (2-7) hours per week supporting the project. The
estimated duration and amount of time per week for the project will be agreed upon between the evolunteer and the program partner before the work commences. It will be documented in the EVolunteer Placement Description and Scope of Work documents.
Note: For volunteers completing a blended service option, their e-placements should begin within one
month after the date of their return home.
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E-Volunteer Documents
E-Volunteers complete different reporting documents at varying times during their e-placement to
measure their project’s impact on their program partner over time as well as to monitor their own
experience throughout their journey. The following table provides an overview of the timing of the
volunteer-based monitoring and evaluation process.
Period of Volunteer
Placement
Beginning of InCountry Placement
Beginning of EPlacement
Mid-way through EPlacement
End of E-Placement
Time Lapse
(Months)
0
Name of Document Used
0.5
Scope of Work
3
End of E-Placement
(optional)
6
Scope of Work –Monitoring
Section
Scope of Work – Evaluation
Section
End of E-Placement Report
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E-Placement Description
Who Needs to
Complete Document
Only Blended1
Placement Volunteers
Blended and EPlacement
Blended and EPlacement
Blended and EPlacement
Blended and EPlacement
Additional documents:
 Tips for a Successful E-Placement
 Information for Potential E-Volunteers
Successful E-Volunteering Stories

E-volunteering: virtual teams making a real difference
Creating online support teams to support emerging social entrepreneurs

E-Mentoring: International development one email at a time
Direct e-mentoring - mobilizing Canadian interns, supported by seasoned e-mentors
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Online crowd sourcing: Good Globalization
Mobilising classrooms to produce valuable market research data - Cuso alumnus leads
students at one BC college in helping rice farmers in Laos
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Volunteers undertaking a blended service option spend part of their time overseas working with a program
partner followed by a pre-established amount of time post-placement working from a distance. Those volunteers
undertaking an e-placement service option work with the program partner remotely.
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