Tomorrow, Tuesday 15th April, is International Microvolunteering Day. The main message is ‘Small Actions, Big Impact’. Every year on April 15th, the world comes together to celebrate International Microvolunteering Day — a reminder that even the smallest acts of kindness can ripple out to create lasting change. So let’s find out a little more about it. 

How did International Microvolunteering Day begin? 

International Micro-volunteering Day started as an initiative from Help From Home who have been leading the promotion of micro-actions since 2008. 

The first Micro-volunteering Day was held in 2014, which attracted attention from many charitable organisations, resulting in thousands of people dedicating some of their spare time to good causes. 

The main aim of International Micro-volunteering Day is to encourage people to get involved with volunteering through microvolunteering tasks and to encourage organisations that can benefit to support the idea of microvolunteering. 

The term microvolunteering first became popular in 2008 and has since grown to become a prevalent concept in the charity sector. It has the power to become a global force to connect charitable organisations with people who want tp spend their time on impactful volunteering tasks (no matter how small). 

Why is International Microvolunteering Day so important?

Volunteering is an important aspect of any charitable cause. Starting to volunteer somewhere and offering your precious time can feel like a daunting task, which is why having a go on International Microvolunteering Day is a great way to start. 

• Microvolunteering is convenient – It helps people be a bit more willing to participate in volunteering opportunities as they seem more doable in micro moments. 
• Initiating a volunteering opportunity on International Microvolunteering Day can help more people get involved, which benefits good causes and charitable organisations in the long run. 
• Microvolunteering and volunteering in general can help give people a real sense of purpose. By spending our time engaged in meaningful activities and actions, we are actively contributing to good causes that help other people and our communities. 

The great thing about microvolunteering is that it’s ‘bite-sized’ which means people can get involved with little commitment and a small amount of time – From as short as an hour!

Typically, there are two types of microvolunteering – Skilled one-off tasks and unskilled repeatable tasks. Microvolunteering can be done anyway using online means – During your commute to work, during the adverts between a favourite show, even tucked up in bed! This is perhaps the best bit of microvolunteering. 

Tasks can also be offline – Things like litter picking, collecting food donations, taking elderly people shopping etc. There are so many ways you can get involved with your local good causes by donating very little of your time. 

How can you get involved in International Microvolunteering Day? 

If microvolunteering appeals, there are a few different ways you can get involved.

As a volunteer yourself, you can participate in Microvolunteering Day by:

• Getting in touch with a local charity or good cause and asking if there is a microvolunteering task you could undertake for them. It could be as simple as lending your expertise to write a blog article for their website, creating an infographic, or sharing information on social media.
  
• Once you’ve done a microvolunteering task, spread the word! That in itself can be a form of microvolunteering itself. Help raise awareness and get the information to a wider audience to help make an impact and difference to those who need it most. You can spread the word on social media by using the hashtag #microvolunteering
  
• Use this day of International Microvolunteering to get involved with a charity or good cause near you by offering your time. It could be a food bank, a school PTA or a community initiative like Round Table. Your help is needed and by volunteering, you could be making a huge difference. 

As a charitable organisation, you can get involved with Microvolunteering Day by:

• Creating a list of Microvolunteering tasks to provide to any willing volunteers. This could be anything from using their precise skill set (e.g. digital marketing – Designing a poster for one of your fundraising events or helping with a social media campaign), or helping at an in-person event like a community litter pick etc. Identify where you could use a bit of help and then assign a microvolunteering activity that can be completed in as little as an hour.
  
• Make it easy for microvolunteers to spread the word about your charity and what they’ve done to help. You could start a hashtag to use on social media, accompanied by relevant imagery and content, making it easy for volunteers to share with their own followers, increasing charity exposure and awareness.
  
• Reach out to local organisations and businesses, letting them know all about International Microvolunteering Day and garnering interest of potential volunteers.

The Benefits of Volunteering 

Aside from the obvious benefits of volunteering to the charity itself, there are also many benefits to the volunteers. Here are some of our favourite ways volunteers can benefit from joining in with International MicroVolunteering Day:

• Most volunteers enjoy doing it – 93% of people enjoy the experience of volunteering.
• Volunteering can improve wellbeing – It gives people that ‘feel good’ factor, satisfied knowing that they are doing something for the good of their community and others.
• People are more likely to volunteer if a trusted friend already does volunteering and encourages them to join them – Word of mouth is a powerful tool in the charity sector. Social media can play a big part in this too.
• Volunteering can give a person extra experience which could inspire a change of career or even help them find a new job!

How Can Donater Help Your Charity this International Volunteering Day and beyond?

Our suite of online fundraising tools include:

A dedicated online fundraising page, personalised to your charity or good cause. Supporters will immediately recognise your branding and thus, trust that they are in the right place to make a donation. Online fundraising pages are easy to share online via a handy link, and can be easily linked to your website with a ‘Donate Now’ button.

QR codes. We’ve all become more accustomed to QR codes with the NHS Covid app, so you’ll know how quick and easy it is to scan one with your smartphone. QR codes can be just as handy for taking donations. All your supporter has to do is scan the QR code with their smartphone, and it will take them to an online donation page. Once there, they can choose to donate with a tap via Google Pay or Apple Pay, or pay with their bank details. QR codes are a great addition to any physical marketing about your event, such as posters or newsletters as well as transforming a traditional donation box into a mobile way of taking digital donations.

NFC Tags. Our NFC tags take the above QR code concept a step further, and enable any supporter of yours with an NFC enabled smartphone to merely tap the tag or sticker. They will then be taken to an online donation page where they can make their donation quickly and simply. These work better with in-person events, but could easily be placed at the entrance to your charity or on collection boxes so visitors can donate to your cause if they wish.

Get in touch

If you would like to discuss how Donater could help your charitable cause to raise money digitally, contact us.

How will you be fundraising this Microvolunteering Day? We’d love to hear your ideas too! You can tag us on Instagram or Facebook.