Support your favorite cause from the comfort of your own home office by offering volunteer translation. Or get a change of pace and work on desktop publishing, web design, or fundraising for an organization. There are several websites that connect volunteers with groups that need help. On some of them you can specifically search for “virtual” or “translation” volunteer opportunities.
Here are a few that I check periodically:
And here are a couple in Spanish:
- Haces Falta
- ONGinfo (Although not a site meant for linking volunteers to tasks, perhaps you can find a nonprofit that you really like and contact them directly.)
Do you know of others?
Some sites are available in languages besides English. Try typing your language’s abbreviation after the .org/ in the web address. For example, I like to look at the Idealist opportunities in Spanish since those listings are more likely to show opportunities for translation into my native language, so I go to idealist.org/es.
I have a very nice relationship with an environmental organization in Argentina. I have translated key portions of their website into English so they can attract broader interest. In addition to the warm-fuzzy feeling I get by helping them out, I now know some people in Argentina. If I ever get the chance to travel there, I’ll already have a group of people that I can connect with.
So do you have a favorite cause, or are you particularly fond of a certain region? Maybe they could use the help of a volunteer translator.