The liquidity question, part one
One place to start gauging the supply for our skills exchange – meaning volunteers who offer services – is to look at offline volunteering. In recent years, particularly in the US and the UK, this has reached record levels. In both countries, nearly 30% of adults volunteer. In the US, this represents an increase of almost 10% since the late 1980s, bringing the number of volunteers in 2006 to 61.2m, according to a recent volunteering study by the Corporation of National and Community Service. Across the world, the average volunteer rate is at 10%, according to the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies (see table below).
With some back-of-the-envelope calculations, one should be able to estimate Lughenjo’s potential market. If the share of volunteers is the same online as offline, there are 40m potential online volunteers in the US alone (in 2005, the country’s internet population reached 140m). Globally, if indeed more than one billion people worldwide now use the internet, the number of potential online volunteers should be around 100m. If only 1% became regular Lughenjo users, we’d be set.
Of course, things are not that simple. For one, many people still see the internet as a medium to consume information rather than a new way to get involved. Also, volunteers may be more hesitant do give time online because they cherish being among people and want direct feedback. And only a small minority of those volunteering offline do so for organisations that focus on development issues.
Yet we see even more (and better) reasons to be optimistic:
- As people get used to doing more and more things on the internet, volunteering will not remain an offline phenomenon. VolunteerMatch, the biggest volunteer-matching site, lists more than 5,000 virtual volunteering jobs - about 13% of all opportunities. What is more, the generation that has grown up with the internet, those 20-somethings known as “digital natives”, will find it perfectly normal to help others online.
- The internet makes it easier to volunteer. One can do it from home, the office (many companies encourage volunteering) and whenever one has a few minutes, for instance during a lunch break. In fact, a majority of those in the UK who do not volunteer said that it isn’t compatible with work commitments, according to a study by the Home Office.
- The internet also allows people to pick the volunteering opportunity best suited to them. What keeps many professionals from donating their time is the fact that they are rarely given the opportunity to use their workplace skills to help charities to tackle business issues, according to 2006 study by Deloitte, an accountancy firm.
- Baby boomers, many of whom will retire in the next few years, want to do something meaningful in the next stage of their lives, according to a study by Denver-based The Rose Community Foundation. More than half already volunteer and nearly as many intend to do so in the future.
- There is a growing awareness that the world’s challenges – infectious disease, international terrorism and environmental degradation, for example – are indeed global. Experts are already talking of a “globalisation of philanthropy”.
- Last but not least, people already spend an amazing amount of time online participating in projects without pay. One example is Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, another TripAdvisor, the largest travel review site. In fact, one might even describe much of user-generated content as a form of online volunteerism (off which a lot of money is made, for instance on social networks such as and MySpace).
To jump-start Lughenjo, we will try to get readers of the Economist, Economist.com and other Economist Group publications to sign up. Whether they and others will stick around, of course, depends on how compelling an experience the site that we build will be. It also depends on us attracting enough charities, NGOs and other organisations who ask for help - the topic of the next post.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
A brief comment on the following points:
- “digital natives” will find it perfectly normal to help others online.
>> True and they already do it mostly through online forum helping people to sort out a range of issues from IT to travel! But these are very punctual, un-committing actions.
- The internet makes it easier to volunteer.
>> Because it is easier, it is also easier to forget about it. The incentive is very different when you have to give one hour of your time tutoring a child after school than when you have to give one hour of your time searching information online or writing a project plan. The connected reward and the level of interaction are also very different.
- Last but not least, people already spend an amazing amount of time online participating in projects without pay.
>> Being paid is no the issue. The issue is to be able to see the results of your effort.
And last but not least… There are two ends to online volunteerism. If one end (us the developed world) is computer savvy, has a lot of time to spend online, can afford to be online, this is not the case of the other end where communities in need will rarely have access to a computer, where computer cost a lot of “mangoes and bananas”, where people won’t know much about computer and where access to the internet is rather random.
These points are very important for you when setting up the goals of your project. With who are you going to work and how?
Regards
~R
July 12th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Roger ’s points are rather pertinent. Let me comment on a couple, from the perspective of my experience in launching and managing the UN Online Volunteering service during its initial years.
>> Because it is easier, it is also easier to forget about it. The incentive is very different when you have to give one hour of your time tutoring a child after school than when you have to give one hour of your time searching information online or writing a project plan. The connected reward and the level of interaction are also very different.
—– it´s true that it´s easier to forget about it, thus it becomes essential to manage online volunteers properly, making them feel that their contributions are meaningful and with timely responses and periodic communications. As far as the reward being very different, I´d say some the testimonies we heard from some OVs were quite touching, like persons with disabilities able to volunteer for the first time or people able to do things for others across the world (eg. dealing with HIV/AIDS victims or children leaving schools at 8 or 10 yrs. of age…). It is empowering to realize that you can become involved directly in international issues, whether on education, health, disasters, human rights, etc.
>> …And last but not least… There are two ends to online volunteerism. If one end (us the developed world) is computer savvy, has a lot of time to spend online, can afford to be online, this is not the case of the other end where communities in need will rarely have access to a computer, where computer cost a lot of “mangoes and bananas”, where people won’t know much about computer and where access to the internet is rather random.
—- Surely access to computers and the Internet in the developing world is much lower than in the rich North, but that doesn´t mean that many developing actors don´t have it. Many local NGOs and other actors use Internet on a regular basis, and the proliferation of community telecenters and cibercafes around the world makes this possible without having to enjoy having a computer and connectivity at your office. It´s important to realize that the list mile of connectivity could be at a specific development actor’s, and not necessarily with a poor farmer or with an HIV/AIDS affected family member.
— Perhaps a bigger challenge for the Lughenjo project will be to obtain a sizable level of well-articulated demand, my impression is that you´ll find many people willing to volunteer online. Development orgs are not used to OVing, and it takes some time and effort to get used to.
— Lastly, have you considered other names than ‘Lughenjo’…?
I´m thinking of marketing, and the name is hard to remember or pronounce! 
Manuel
July 12th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Manuel,
Lughenjo is a code-name; happy to listen to any suggestions for alternatives you have.
Mike