A new army of “virtual volunteers” is helping charities reach out to young people to offer advice or persuade others to give their time in a more practical way. Volunteers give their services online in what one charity says is an exciting way forward for organisations that can struggle to find enough people with time to commit.By volunteering online people can help out in their spare time at home, fitting it round their job or college commitments. The new concept is being looked at by other charities as they celebrate Volunteers’ Week this week. YouthNet has been at the forefront of virtual volunteering: they have more than 180 virtual volunteers who work on their two websites, TheSite.org, an guide to life for 16- to 24-year-olds, and Do-it.org.uk, a volunteering site. Among their volunteers are 27 photographers, 11 bloggers, 10 online market researchers and 55 online peer advisers. With the support of professional psychotherapists and agony aunts, the peer advisers answer young people’s relationship questions on TheSite.org’s Ask the Site service. The service receives around 650 questions from young people every month, most of them about sex and relationships. Volunteer peer advisers answer questions on anything from marriage proposals to virginity worries or concerns about sexuality.

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3 June 2008
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