Become a Volunteer
Help us save climate data and educate people!
Become a Volunteer
Are you passionate about the environment and the future of our planet?
- Build awareness … especially online.
- Contribute financially.
- Contribute your time and skills.
How you can help make a difference
IEDRO is a close-knit family of volunteers that bring widely diverse skillsets to the table. We are based in Deale, MD but have volunteers all over the Unite States and across the globe who work together to rescue and digitize historic weather data before it’s lost.
With regular communication online and by phone, the IEDRO team works to achieve our mission, and, with new projects upcoming, we welcome new volunteers! Help us by
- writing data rescue proposals
- generating requests to charitable organizations to fund projects
- managing Data Rescue projects
- developing data rescue techniques and software
- maintaining software and user support
- maintaining our websites
- providing administrative support
- translating materials (letters, proposals, manuals) into Spanish, French and other languages
- blog to engage others & spread the word on twitter & other social media
- research/locate/share articles, government policies, projects, & examples of how data has been or is or will be used
- facilitating communications with other data rescue organizations
- writing articles for publications; giving media interviews, speaking to interested groups
- contacting college & university professors and students
And much more …
Any help is welcome!
Become part of our team
Help us coordinate projects, create social awareness, and keep the ball running
Are you working with children or young adults and/or do you love to explain and teach people? We're looking for people with a background in (child) education to help us develop engaging educational kits for teachers and educators on the topics of (local) climate, collecting and using climate data, and conservation. You will join a small team of passionate volunteers to develop accessible explanations, image material and hands-on experiences.
Good with software and data? We need volunteers with technical skills to maintain and design new software tools for our citizen science efforts, to help collaborators modernize their climate database management systems, and to transform large datasets to meet international data structure and quality standards.
Are you well-organized and great at multitasking? We need volunteers to coordinate our data rescue projects and outreach efforts. Your responsibilities will include scheduling meetings, reporting progress, managing resources, and ensuring smooth collaboration among team members. Help us stay on track and maximize our impact on climate awareness and data accessibility.
Do you have experience managing Twitter/X, BlueSky, and other social media accounts? We're seeking a volunteer to help spread the word about our activities, communicate our mission, and make our work accessible to people worldwide. Join us in amplifying our message and engaging a global audience in the fight against climate change.
Hear from our volunteers!
What motivates us
Rescuing data can be exciting and it is always worthwhile. The group at IEDRO are dedicated, knowledgeable, and fun-loving. A decade of volunteering with IEDRO has been very rewarding, and I look forward to another decade searching for and saving old records across the world.
Monica Osa Drazba, data rescuer
Data is available, diligently collected to describe the world’s weather and climate.
Our view looks like a delightful jigsaw puzzle but with giant holes. And the storage box is flimsy and torn, the pieces in danger of being scattered by the cats and the puzzle tossed out to reclaim the table space.
I want to save those pieces, complete the puzzle and admire the picture!
Nancy Westcott, data rescuer
Join us
Some of Our Volunteers
Alexander Stoeger
Webmaster - Germany
I am a historian of science working as a Postdoc at Saarland University as well as a web administrator. Working in the history of science, I am aware of the importance of saving historical data to learn for the future. Volunteering my skills in science communication and web design, I am glad to get a chance to make a difference and help save data and educate people on how to use it worldwide.
Nancy Westcott
Volunteer - Illinois
Data is available, diligently collected to describe the world’s weather and climate. Our view looks like a delightful jigsaw puzzle but with giant holes. And the storage box is flimsy and torn, the pieces in danger of being scattered by the cats and the puzzle tossed out to reclaim the table space. I want to save those pieces, complete the puzzle and admire the picture!
Monica Osa Drazba
Volunteer - Nicaragua
Rescuing data can be exciting and it is always worthwhile. The group at IEDRO are dedicated, knowledgeable, and fun-loving. A decade of volunteering with IEDRO has been very rewarding, and I look forward to another decade searching for and saving old records across the world.
Chuck Olessker
Volunteer - Florida
I joined IEDRO because it is imperative to collect, convert and store meteorological data to provide environmental scientists and politicians the ability to make sound policy decisions regarding climate change. Important data is being lost every day from countries across the globe. However, IEDRO has the ability to find, collect and convert data into meaningful information. The best news is that you do not have to have a weather background to help us. You do have to have keen interest in wanting to make a difference for generations to come.
Martin Munkhondya
Volunteer - Malawi
I joined IEDRO in order to continue assisting in locating all environmental data at risk of being lost forever…they are used by scientists and researchers in various fields of sciences.
I am continuing with data rescue activities in my country Malawi with assistance of expertise from IEDRO.
Dona Cuppett
Volunteer - Pennsylvania
Not a meteorologist, scientist, or historian? No worries! You have skills IEDRO can use! The folks at IEDRO have tapped into my teaching and human resource experience for researching topics, editing/proofreading communications, summarizing & sharing training sessions, creating instruction manuals and more. All you need is an inquiring mind, a bit of time, and the desire to volunteer. Check us out!
Not every hero wears a cape
Build awareness
Help us getting people's attention
Do you have a big social network? Or a small network filled with big influencers? Help IEDRO create awareness.
- Share our website, news releases, tweets, and other social media posts.
- Talk to local science educators and governmental officials about the importance of rescuing and digitizing old weather data.
- Tag VIPs in your shares and posts.
- Consider using hashtags such as #ClimateChange and #environment.
Want to work with us?
reach out!
If you are a scientist, journalist, or part of an institution and want to cooperate with us, gain deeper insight , or receive more information – get in touch! We’re always excited to cooperate to see the data that we gathered in use, and to help others to connect with people and institutions.
Get involved!
IEDRO supports free access to the data it helps rescue, typically by collaborating with one of the hydrometeorological data archive organizations like the National Center for Environmental Information. That means we can help locate available data but are also always interested in hearing how these data are being used. Share your stories and successes!
Donations
Contribute to our projects
Help finance future rescue projects
- Digital camera(s) ($90)
- Camera Stand(s) ($165)
- Book Liberator(s) ($450)
- Feeding Scanner ($900)
- Lighting (as needed)
- Internet capability
- Computers for entering data
- Computer storage capacity
- Backup storage capacity (varies by size required)
- Labor … (expert advisors, project managers, data)
- Travel expenses (varies by project)
Our Partners
Over the years, we have cooperated with various research institutions and professionals. Check out our partners page if you want to learn more!