The English Volunteering Project
By Claire Thomas — We believe that the feeling that comes from doing something for someone else should be available to everyone. But if you don’t speak Swedish it is difficult to find volunteering opportunities in Sweden. That is why we are setting up The English Volunteering Project - to make it possible for anyone who speaks English (no matter where they come from) to make a difference by volunteering with a non-profit organisation in Sweden.
However, it can be difficult finding volunteering opportunities in a different country where you don't know the names of any non-profit organisations, when everything is in another language and things work differently.
Volontärbyrån (The Volunteer Bureau) is Sweden’s volunteering centre, with a local office in Stockholm, which has been supporting and encouraging volunteering throughout Sweden for 10 years. It is a non-profit organisation, and, until now its services have been offered only in Swedish. This has made it difficult for non-Swedish speakers to use its website to find or publicise volunteering opportunities, www.volontarbyran.org.
This is why Volontärbyrån are setting up The English Volunteering Project.
The English Volunteering Project aims to:
• Adapt Volontärbyrån’s existing services (matching volunteers with non-profit organisations) so that they can be accessed by anyone who understands English.
• Work with and support non-profit organisations in Sweden to make what volunteer opportunities they can accessible to non-Swedish speakers.
• Raise awareness of the value of volunteering, the volunteer opportunities that are available to English speakers and how they can volunteer.
We need 80,000 Swedish Kronor (SEK) to get the project off the ground. These funds will be used to:
• Make the development changes necessary to Volontärbyrån’s existing website to make it and the volunteer search process accessible in English
• Provide translations
• Develop suitable support information for both volunteers and non-profits organisations
• Publicise and promote the project
We would like to raise at least half of this amount online through FundedByMe. We will then look for companies and other organisations who can donate the remaining money needed. However, if we can reach our FundedByMe goal you will make our lives SO much easier.
Please give what you can to help get this project up and running - every krona, pound, euro, dollar or whatever currency you use, will make a difference.
A HUGE thank you in advance to everyone who gives money to the project. You can be sure that your contribution will help very many people from all over the world find interesting and valuable volunteering opportunities in Sweden for many years to come. And of course, each of those volunteering opportunities will help a non-profit organisation to achieve things that can only be done with volunteer support.
A big thank you also to FundedByMe who have agreed to waive their normal administration fee to support The English Volunteering Project.
Follow the project’s progress on our Facebook page – The English Volunteering Project in Stockholm (www.facebook.com/englishvolunteering).
Exchange rate information (as of 12th April 2012)
1€ = 8.9SEK
£1 = 10.8SEK
1US$ = 6.8SEK
Project location: Stockholm, Sweden
Claire Thomas
I’m British, living in Stockholm, learning Swedish, expecting my first child and setting up The English Volunteering Project. I believe volunteering opportunities should be accessible to anyone who's interested, and don't think that language, or lack of language skills should be a barrier to getting involved and making a difference.
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Website: http://www.volontarbyran.org/
Right Now
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80000 kr
raised of 80000 kr goal -
35
backers -
This project has ended
Give 10 or more
- You will get an email thanking you for your donation.
Give 50 or more
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2 backers
- You will get an invitation to Volontärbyrån’s 10th anniversary celebration in Stockholm on 1st September 2012.
Give 100 or more
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20 backers
- Your name will be put into a prize draw. The draw will be made in June when the FundedByMe deadline has passed. What’s the prize? That’s a surprise.
Give 500 or more
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11 backers
- You will receive a handwritten thank you note.
Give 10000 or more
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2 backers
- Your name or company name will be listed on the English section of the Volontärbyrån website as a supporter.
Help in other ways (crowdsourcing)
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We would love as many people as possible to know about The English Volunteering Project and this fundraising campaign, so please tell your friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances about it – the more people who know the better.
If you are from a non-profit organisation in Sweden who can use English speaking volunteers please get in touch to let us know about it.
Need funding yourself?
Submit your project now and start raising funds within a few days.