Cibervoluntarios: the network of technological volunteering that changes the world
Fundación Cibervoluntarios is a Spanish NGO founded in 2001, with the aim of bridging social gaps through the social use of new technologies, with the support of a new type of volunteering: the cybervolunteers. The team is made up of social entrepreneurs, pioneers in technological volunteering and in the social use of ICT as a tool for digital transformation, citizen empowerment and social innovation at an international level.
Get to know the Fundación
The Foundation relies on 21 years of experience in the field of technology and social innovation. It has been awarded several times, with recognitions such as the one received in 2011 by Google Foundation.org as “one of the 50 entities that is changing the world” and was awarded in 2016 by the United Nations and ITU in the category "Ethical Dimensions of the Information Society".
Moreover, the Financial Times in 2018 recognised the foundation as “one of the 100 leading European entities in digital transformation, within its report "Europe's 100 Digital Champions". Some of the projects have obtained prizes, both at a National and a European level.
A work based on collaboration
The work is based on collaboration. We currently have a network of more than 3,000 cybervolunteers, between 16 and 70 years old, from all over Spain, including rural areas. The cybervolunteers generate their own projects, framed by social innovation, from local to global, through the use of new tools to solve old problems in a different way.
Additionally, the Foundation collaborates directly with a network of more than 2,000 entities, and has signed collaboration agreements with 1,399 of them. We are working with both local and regional public institutions, municipalities, NGOs of different groups of people in a situation of digital vulnerability -children (10+)and young people, the elderly, women, people with disabilities, migrants, residents of rural areas, etc.-, and educational centres and universities.
Who are the beneficiaries?
Thanks to the networks of collaboration, we reach around 60.000 people annually, who improve their lives thanks to the use of useful ICT Tools, through bespoke educational resources and projects on digital skills, created by the Foundation, and aimed at different focus: Education, job seeking, social entrepreneurship, fostering STEAM careers among girls, active aging, autonomy, upskilling at work, etc. All training is free for the final beneficiaries. More info on the projects is available at their website, cibervoluntarios.org.
The Foundation is also very strong in communication, dissemination and awareness campaigns. With the social networks, we have around 70,000 followers, and we reach more than 100,000 annually. The project is ongoing, and we expect to continue growing the networks of cybervolunteers and collaborating entities in the coming years, at a national and EU level, reaching still more people in need of learning digital skills that can improve their lives, not leaving anyone behind.
