Eve Smith explains how even the busiest people can fit in a five-minute micro-volunteering stint
Are you one of those people who has always wanted to volunteer but never has the time? More and more of us feel too busy to help out and do those good deeds, but the pattern of volunteering is beginning to change as we spend more of our time online and on smartphones. This is good news for you if you’re struggling to fit volunteering around your busy week.
As a digital charity, it’s easy for Euan’s Guide to offer micro-volunteering opportunities. You can think of micro-volunteering as bitesize volunteering – giving five minutes here or there to contribute to a charity. There are lots of ways to help, but some tasks are particularly good for micro-volunteers to chip in a few minutes.
Think of micro-volunteering as bitesize volunteering – giving five minutes here or there to contribute to a charity
Eve Smith
For example, almost everybody has their phone close by in their pocket. It can take less than a minute to take a quick picture as you’re walking by somewhere and send it to a friend. This is one way you can micro-volunteer for Euan’s Guide.
We need photographs of towns and cities all over the UK to create our town pages that are packed full of disabled access reviews from locals and visitors. It could be a quick snap of a famous monument, or your favourite view from a bridge or street corner that you pass every day. Once you’ve taken it, you’d only have to email it to us the next time you open up your inbox. Easy!
>Micro-volunteering can sometimes also be thought of as a bit like citizen science, where lots of people contribute a small part to a bigger project. It could be making a note of any birds you spot in your garden for a wildlife charity, or maybe photographing house spiders – if you’re brave enough.
For Euan’s Guide, you could rate the disabled access of a coffee shop, cinema, museum or anywhere else. By doing so, you’d be helping to build the collection of disabled access reviews that continues to grow on the website. Together, these reviews help to remove the fear of the unknown and give disabled people the information they need to visit different places and try new things.
Another small but meaningful way you can help Euan’s Guide, or any charity you support, is to support us on social media. It might not sound like micro-volunteering, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult for charities to be heard or seen on social media platforms as more and more content is added every day. Simply sharing a post or a call for a donation can help to spread the word about charities a little further.
Eve Smith is communications manager at Euan's Guide
