Volunteering as a community manager for an online meeting place

Would you like to become a moderator of an online Red Cross meeting place? You can do this meaningful voluntary work from your own living room!

Online Red Cross meeting places are low-threshold discussion platforms open to everyone who needs a chat. Discussions can be held on a chat platform or as video meetings. The discussions are supported and moderated by at least two volunteers per meeting. The most important task of the volunteers is to ensure that the principles of safer spaces are applied to the discussions. The volunteers encourage the participants to join the shared discussion. 

The online meeting venue is currently open once a week. However, our objective is to extend the opening hours of group chats and to establish new group chats for different age and target groups – including in different languages. We would like to receive input from the volunteers on these plans.

How can I become a volunteer community manager?

You can become a volunteer community manager or host by signing up as a volunteer for an online meeting place. We require that meeting place moderators complete the friend course as well as the Online helper at the Finnish Red Cross self-study course. 
The duration of the friend course is three hours, and you can take part in the course either online or in person. The friend course gives you basic information about volunteering as a friend. You will also gain insight into loneliness and how friend visitor activities can help alleviate loneliness. 

The Online helper at the Finnish Red Cross self-study course provides tools for interacting with people online. The course will also present various forms of online help at the Red Cross and discuss challenging situations from the perspective of online helping.

Who can become a volunteer community manager?

Online community managers need to be volunteers with situational awareness, technical skills and the ability to create a safe discussion atmosphere when necessary. We are building a reserve of volunteers, allowing for volunteers to book shifts at times suitable for them. We hope that volunteers commit to at least one shift a month for six months.