Virtually Together, an online community to connect the most isolated

We’re living in unprecedented times and now more than ever is our time to come together, find our commonalities, and work together to build a more connected world that uplifts all of humanity.

Communiteer is a social enterprise that uses a crowdsourcing platform to connect and mobilise volunteers to tackle the world’s greatest challenges.

As the pandemic progresses and puts more pressure on our community, three issues are emerging:

1. People are becoming more socially isolated, and those who are already isolated become even more so with mental health and wellbeing issues arising;
2. Charities are under immense pressure due to increased demand and disruption to their core services; and
3. Public awareness on social issues will be overshadowed by fear and isolation, decreasing donor contributions and volunteer participation.

Whilst the government and community services are doing what they can in light of the situation, we’re all in this together and it’s up to us to support one another. In particular, we want to connect people who are ‘temporarily’ isolated due to the pandemic with those who are living in long-term isolation. This includes people in aged care facilities, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, and people with mental health issues.

Today, millions of vulnerable people rely on community organisations for vital services and resources.   Due to this crisis, many of these charities are struggling to stay afloat and continue to deliver their core services. Change-makers and corporates have the skills, resources and capacity to make a huge difference in this pivotal time.

As such, Communiteer is launching our Virtually Together campaign to use technology to tackle social isolation.

Using our existing platform and our expertise in virtual volunteering and online community building, this 6-months campaign will drive social connectedness and:

1. Support 300+ community organisations to stay connected with their donors, volunteers and clients, and provide their services remotely where possible;
2. Connect 10,000+ people who are socially isolated with other like-minded people and motivate them to engage in community-based activities;
3. Engage corporates and government agencies and their staff, in particular those with unplanned capacity, to participate in virtual volunteering; and
4. Mobilise resources through virtual volunteering and online activities to assist community organisations, which in turn help those who are the most vulnerable.

To put our best foot forward, we will provide the use of our virtual volunteering platform to all participating community services and their supporters (staff and volunteers) at no cost for the duration of this campaign. We will also be partnering with over 30 other organisations to facilitate regular online events that will support you to engage in online volunteering and community building.

In this time of social distancing, we need to come together virtually to use our skills, resources, spare time and network, to create a positive and lasting impact.

So let’s be virtually together, and build an online community to connect the most isolated.

To express your interest in joining this campaign,  and we’ll be in touch shortly with more information. If you know of any organisations that should be part of this social movement, please kindly forward this email to them.

From Victor Lee, CEO & Co-Founder

Communiteer is a formal partner of the United Nations and has recently won the World Summit Awards as the best digital solution for government and citizen engagement globally.