Volunteer in just your pyjamas

Mike Bright's website offers 'micro volunteering' opportunities

A man from Cardiff has been honoured for spotting a gap in the market when it came to finding information on volunteering opportunities online.

Mike Bright from Pontprennau wanted to be able to support a charity or green cause online from the comfort of home with minimal commitment.

He set up a website, Help from Home, which he says gives you the chance to 'Change the world in just your pyjamas'

The website was runner up in a national competition for community projects.

Mike set up the website in 2008 hoping to appeal to people who wanted to do something productive with their spare time at home but didn't necessarily have a lot of time to commit to a project.

He collated information on hundreds of easy and no-commitment volunteering opportunities.

People can choose from charity, green or advocacy based actions - there's even a section listing volunteering opportunities according to time commitment.

Mike came up with the tagline 'Change the world in just your pyjamas' to encourage people to realise that they can take a small amount of time out of their busy lives and do something worthwhile without leaving the house.

For example, if you've only a minute or two to spare you can leave a message on a virtual tree which helps to plant a real tree, or you can click through a website which generates advertising revenue to be donated to charity.

If you have more time to spare you can write a card or send an email to a sick child and help to brighten up their day.

Many causes can be supported with little more than the click of a mouse

In October 2009 Mike's website was runner-up in a competition called 'How to Make a Difference' run by the Community Channel and Media Trust.

The awards were for 'small ground breaking projects that are making a big difference in society'.

Mike admits that he entered the competition on the spur of the moment and then forgot about it.

When he saw the calibre of the other projects shortlisted alongside him he said he was 'gobsmacked'.

"Most of them had been sponsored or had thousands of pounds of grant money or had many people working for them... then there was little old me," he said.

"I don't think I'd have entered if I'd have known those people were there."

Mike hopes to grow and develop his website over the next couple of years.

He hopes to promote the website and volunteering opportunities to schools and businesses, and is looking to get his website included on volunteer databases across Wales.