Donate Your Brain! (DYB)

TechSoup's Donate Your Brain (DYB) is a microvolunteering initiative. It allows anyone, anywhere, to help nonprofits and other community organizations with quick answers and suggestions for their Internet, software, and other tech needs.

How Donate Your Brain (DYB) works for organizations:

1. Representatives from nonprofits, NGOs, libraries government agencies and other mission-based organizations post questions to the TechSoup Community Forum. For any question that can be answered with just a few words or sentences, they tag that message on the TechSoup Community Forum with DYB.

TechSoup staff also regularly go through the forum and tag appropriate questions with DYB.

2. TechSoup staff post to Twitter directing people to Donate Your Brain questions; posts are tagged with #TechSoupDYB. TechSoup staff will also post selected messages from the TechSoup Community Forum that have been tagged as DYB to the TechSoup Global LinkedIn group.

Nonprofits, NGOs, libraries government agencies and other mission-based organizations can post questions to Twitter on their own tagged with #TechSoupDYB as well.

3. TechSoup staff will ensure answers to Donate Your Brain questions get posted to the appropriate thread of the TechSoup Community Forum.

What DYB questions could look like on Twitter:

Environmental org developing social media policy. Where to find samples? http://bit.ly/iKkNbq #TechSoupDYB

How to recruit a great volunteer to manage social media? http://bit.ly/dMlp5U #TechSoupDYB

Your fav web site to learn web design accessibility for section 508 compliance? #TechSoupDYB

How Donate Your Brain (DYB) works for volunteers:

• If you have a Twitter account, create and save a search for #TechSoupDYB. When you see a question you can answer, you can tweet your answer (tagged with #TechSoupDYB), or click on the link and go to the TechSoup forum to answer the question. You choose which questions you want to answer, whenever you want to answer them!

• If you have a LinkedIn account, join the TechSoup Global LinkedIn group. When you see a question you can answer, you can offer your suggestions in the comments section, or click on the link and go to the TechSoup forum to answer the question.

• You can also use GoogleAlerts or a similar service to let you know about any new forum posts, blogs or tweets that have been tagged with TechSoupDYB

Other ways to volunteer with TechSoup

Microvolunteering not enough for you? Do you need even more outlets for your desire to help nonprofits, NGOs, libraries, schools, government agencies and other mission-based organizations with their tech-related needs? Then:

• Visit the TechSoup Community Forum regularly, subscribe to your favorite forum categories or threads, and answer questions and offer advice anytime you have expertise to share.

• Regularly answer questions on the TechSoup Community Forum with credible, helpful information and you may become a TechSoup Star, Gem, and Forum Moderator (TechSoup Royalty)