WEB REVIEW

Web Review: Motivation and Personal Growth
Find the Right Volunteer Opportunity

An online database matches your interests and schedule with the right volunteer organization.

REVIEWED BY CHRISTOPHER M. LEPORINI

Web Site: VolunteerMatch
URL: www.volunteermatch.org

What the Site Offers

If you’re interested in volunteering and giving back to your community, VolunteerMatch is a good place to start to look for opportunities in your area that match your schedule and interests. VolunteerMatch claims to be the Web’s largest database of volunteer opportunities. It is a non-profit online service that helps interested volunteers get involved with community service organizations across the country that are looking for recruits. The site is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporate sponsors. As of late October 2003, the site claims to have almost 30,000 volunteer opportunities from more than 25,000 organizations, serving more than 330 metro areas in the United States.

You can search for all the volunteer opportunities that service organizations have posted from your area, and refine the search by proximity, type of organization, date the volunteer opportunity was posted, and the duration of the assignment. The volunteer opportunities encompass a range of civic, social, educational, governmental, religious, and political organizations.

The site also allows any tax-exempt organization to post its volunteer positions, after registering the organization on the site. Depending on the level of services needed by the listing organization, the registration may be free or involve a fee.

Valuable Site Features for Real Estate Professionals

• Search VolunteerMatch. Search through VolunteerMatch’s database of almost 30,000 volunteer opportunities using criteria such as zip code, the proximity you’re willing to travel, and the type of volunteer organization you are interested in. Additionally, you have the option to put in city and state, a keyword, whether you want to work with certain demographic groups (such as teens or seniors), or look for the listings from a specific nonprofit organization. When you see a listing you’re interested in, you can click on the name of the listing to read a more detailed description of the volunteer opportunity. If you like the opportunity, you can click the “I like this opportunity!” link to access a form that you fill out with your contact information. The site sends this information to the organization, which will follow up with you directly. You also can e-mail a listing to a friend.
  
• Virtual Volunteering. For those of you who want to volunteer, but don’t want to show up in person, the site offers a list of volunteer opportunities that can be done remotely, by e-mail, phone, or fax.
  
• Become a VolunteerMatch Member. You can use the site without registering. However, you’ll miss out on member-only tools, such as automatic weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly e-mails containing listings for upcoming volunteer opportunities based on your search criteria. Another exclusive tool for members is the “volunteer resume,” which allows you to upload information on your previous volunteer experience and send it as an attachment when responding to a volunteer listing.
  
• Post Volunteer Opportunities. If you belong to a tax-exempt organization or lead a charity that is looking for volunteers, VolunteerMatch offers two options to solicit new recruits. You can register for a free "Guest Account" and enjoy basic recruiting privileges, such as posting and managing your organization’s volunteer opportunities. This option is recommended for organizations that are just starting out or need only one or two volunteers a year. Posting a listing in one zip code is free, but listing in multiple zip codes costs 50 cents per zip code, or $2,850 for a national listing.
  
  Or you can register as a "Community Leader" and receive additional benefits. For $11.95 a month, you get unlimited recruiting privileges, a 15 percent discount on multi-zip code listings, and a suite of other support services. This option also allows you to create customized e-mails containing a registration form, waiver, or special instructions that are sent automatically to applicants.
  
• For Corporations. If your brokerage would like to become a good corporate citizen, you can opt for this program, which provides an easy way for all employees within your company to give back to the community. VolunteerMatch customizes a tool that will appear on your company’s intranet that can feature volunteer opportunities in your area that complement your corporate mission.
  
  
• Add VolunteerMatch’s Search Tool to Your Site. If you want to promote volunteerism to your clients and customers, you can download VolunteerMatch’s search tool right onto your own Web site. The site offers you the source code that you can simply cut and paste into any part of your Web site where you want the search tool to appear.
  
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  More Articles
  Good Neighbor Awards Home Page
  Good Neighbor Tool Kit: Leading a Charity
  Good Neighbor Tool Kit: Volunteering
  Web Review: Network for Good , Chris Leporini, January 2003.
  
  Suggest a Site For Review
  Every week, REALTOR® Magazine Online's Web review editor surfs the Internet to find sites useful to your business and off-hours lives. Have a favorite real estate Web site that you would like to see reviewed? Send your suggestions to Chris Leporini at mediatech@realtors.org. All decisions on which sites will be reviewed are completely at the discretion of REALTOR® Magazine Online's editorial staff. Please note: this column does not review individual practitioner or brokerage sites.
  
  The column's focus includes free sites, as well as sites that charge for goods and services, but which still offer a free component of practical, sustained value to real estate practitioners, such as a free newsletter or regular news information.
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  REALTOR® Magazine Online's "Web Review" summarizes the content of Web sites that may be of interest to members. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online are not responsible for, and nothing in the Web site profile shall constitute NAR's or REALTOR® Magazine Online's endorsement of, the web site, its content, products and services, or its provider. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online believe the information contained in this profile was correct and accurate as of the time it was prepared, but do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information and are not responsible for changes in the Web site. Members should conduct their own independent review of the Web site prior to any use of Web site, its content, products, or services to determine their suitability for the member's intended purpose.
  
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