Volunteering Global, a Valuable Resource

Today’s Guest Post in our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference comes to us from Sarah Van Auken.

Many people want to volunteer abroad and help communities around the world but they often wonder if the organization that they have chosen is working for the greater good. Why do volunteer projects charge thousands of dollars to have you come out to lend a helping hand?

Volunteering Global is a wonderful site that researches host organizations around the world providing prospective volunteers with up to date information on types of work, openings, accommodations and costs. It is a site that every person interested in volunteering at home and abroad should visit and join. 

Not only does it offer valuable information regarding NGO’s, it also is an informative travel resource that I will be sure to visit regularly in the future.

Is volunteer travel a selfless or a selfish act?

On one hand, you’re serving a community that needs an extra push, but on the other, you’re traveling at your leisure to a destination of your choice.

Type “volunteer vacation” into a search engine and jot down how many hits you get. Now look at the first page of results and note how much those trips cost. Wait – they cost something? You’re willing to give your time and effort to a community project, but you’re expected to pay? And at $1,000 for a week, they’d better give you backrubs and ice cream, because your airfare isn’t even included.

This is what I encountered four years ago as I looked for a summer project. It was confusing and frustrating; these groups assumed volunteers had disposable income.

Accommodations in Costa Rica

After a month of researching, I came across a small group in Costa Rica.

They charged $6.00 per day for housing – not “other fees” that weren’t specified, and expected their volunteers to take their work seriously. They didn’t make turtle monitoring look glamorous; they emphasized that this was tough, physical labor, and we shouldn’t expect an immediate payoff. This was what I wanted: To know that I was giving my time to an organization that depended upon and respected its volunteers, rather than the payments the participants made.

About Volunteering Global

At the encouragement of my parents and friends, I compiled a list of every volunteer vacation I found, and wrote down where they worked, what they did, and how much they charged. Rather than taking a volunteer trip that summer, I built what now is Volunteering Global, a website dedicated to educating people about service opportunities worldwide.

Because I was a full-time college student, a teaching assistant for three classes, and a part-time work study employee off campus, Volunteering Global had a slow start. Research was relegated to the end of my fifteen-hour work day, but you know what? It was relaxing and inspiring to read reports from people in the field, to find another tiny group that taught children learn how to read, and to slowly realize that I wanted to turn volunteer support into my career.

So what’s the status now? Well, I make about 35 cents per day from advertisements, but I am more excited than ever about Volunteering Global. In the past five months, I turned a dreary little HTML site into an interactive one that’s engaging for its visitors. I’ve researched more than 600 international volunteer groups, narrowed the list down to 338, many of which you won’t find on other volunteer sites, and posted individual pages for each one. I created a membership option, where users can create blog entries and post in the forums, and in July, I released my first monthly newsletter. There’s even a general travel advice section to the site, and I post daily educational blog entries about statistics, safety, individual volunteer programs, and more. While it’s not my career yet, I’m confident that I’ll find a way to make this work my life’s focus.

The Volunteers

The best part of Volunteering Global is meeting the world travelers I strive to help. Here’s a story from Allison, who worked with Habitat for Humanity last year.

“…We arrived at a small light blue house owned by a young mother of six. As our group gathered outside to greet our house foreman, we got a sense of what we would be doing this day. Our foreman confirmed that we would be painting the interior of the house and preparing the floors for tiling the next day. After a brief speech, we grabbed our tools, paint and safety glasses and went to work. David, Elio and I started masking off the kitchen area and cabinets so we could paint the walls and windows. Others spread out throughout the home, picking their niche to paint.  Most of the day was spent painting. To pass the time, at one point someone mentioned Broadway tunes. We all started singing songs from our favorite shows. Then it turned into an 80’s one hit wonder name that tune fest. We had such a wonderful time and before we knew it, the interior was complete, the floors were scraped and we had extra time to plant trees in the front and side yards.”

And here are some pictures sent to me from Ruth, who worked with the Earthwatch Institute in Costa Rica and Mongolia – she’s traveling with them again to Kenya this November.

Volunteers working in Costa Rica

Taking a Break in Mongolia

Selfless or Selfish?

Now to come back to the original question. This, above all, has been the determining factor in how I’d like to operate my site. I don’t work on behalf of any group, and I don’t have an ulterior motive – I’m here to educate you, and it’s up to you to decide what to do with it.

I mentioned cutting 270 programs from the original 600. It’s because I want volunteers to see the “little guys.” They’re not popular groups, you won’t find them mentioned in travel articles, and they certainly won’t show up in the first 20 pages of a Google search for “volunteer vacations.” These are the organizations that prove they’re helping their community, and who, like that turtle monitoring group, depend upon and respect their volunteers. Participants’ living expenses are comparable to that of locals, and the establishments are up front about where the money goes.

Giving one’s time to help a community that one has never visited, or even knew existed before, is one of the most selfless acts I can think of. Yes, we start the search for an exciting destination, and even fantasize about being the Superman of an entire community. But when we travel on the project, we find something more. The experience of connecting with others across the world, knowing that we’ve come together to help people we’ve never met – that’s something we’ll forever take with us, and something we’ll always encourage others to experience.

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Sarah Van Auken is the creator of Volunteering Global, a website that teaches individuals about international service and general travel. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she works full time in returned volunteer support.

If you’d like to join as a member of Volunteering Global, please click here — you’ll be able to post in the forums, create your own blog entries on the site, receive the monthly newsletter, and more.

Volunteering Global Scholarship Fund is awarded to a high school senior who demonstrates commitment to community service. To contribute visit  http://www.volunteerglobal.com/node/679

For More information about Sarah and Volunteering Global follow her on

• Twitter: @VolunteerGlobal
• Facebook
• Blog (updated daily)

Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back by Courtney and Tom Marchesani of  Villas Tranquilas
• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference