can tech help ease volunteers' pocketbook shock w/ gas prices?

Volunteer management expert Susan Ellis has a great hot topic this month on her web site, both as text and a podcast: Is the Rising Cost of Gas a Crisis or an Opportunity for Volunteering? She talks about, among other things, ways that volunteer managers could (and should) be using networking tech to meet and interact with volunteers so they don't have to come onsite for all meetings. One of the great things about this article is that it's reaching traditional volunteer managers -- a group that is still reluctant to embrace computer tech, for the most part.

Are any of you using more tech to work with volunteers (or, in the case of volunteers, to work with the agency you support) in place of always going onsite for a meeting?

Many people are using the virtual world of Second Life as a means to collaborating with others across the globe without the cost of flying or driving! TechSoup's Nonprofits in Second Life project has weekly virtual meetings where volunteers from around the world participate. We frequently have smaller virtual meetings of volunteers who are working on event planning, mentoring, workshops, and other kinds of collaborative projects--all for little to no cost to volunteers.

OneWorld's OneClimate project put on a Virtual Bali conference in Second Life this past Dec. as a way for people to participate in the UN Summit on Climate Change without the monetary or carbon cost of flying. Just another example of how folks are using alternative ways of organizing and mobilizing volunteers.

Best,

Megan