Should You Pay to Volunteer Abroad?

The Answer Is a Qualified Yes

By Joanne Fritz, About.com Guide

Many of us, when we first think about volunteering, think that it should be enough that we give our time. Why should we pay for the privilege of volunteering?

The truth is that it is commonplace to pay your own expenses when you volunteer abroad. Those expenses include airfare, meals, and lodging.

This type of volunteering is called "arranged volunteering." It is usually done through an organized program that makes arrangements with nonprofits (usually called NGOs or Non-Governmental Organizations) in the country where you volunteer.

Even though you do pay for your travel, accommodations, and meals, there are a lot of benefits that you receive from the organization you work with. These include orientation, language and technical training, a safe and supportive place to live, a safety net through staff that provide logistical support and even counseling, clear expectations for the work you will do, and affordability. It will be cheaper to travel to a foreign country with an organization that handles most of the details than it would be if you tried to do it on your own.

There are many organizations that arrange these volunteer opportunities. They have developed a network of NGOs to work with and have put support structures into place so that volunteers can do their best work with a minimum of confusion as soon as they arrive at their destination. Often, the costs you pay are packaged into one fee to make it even easier to participate.

Arranged volunteering usually means that you will live under conditions that are common to the people in that country. You may stay with a local family for instance. You are likely to work in some human service capacity or with a humanitarian aid project. You may be required to have some language skills or have an expertise such as economic development or teaching.

How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas

by Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher

published by Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2002

Prospective volunteers are surprised to learn that many programs charge their volunteers a fee to participate. At first, this can seem ridiculous — Why should you pay money to work for free? Aren't you already forgoing income you could be making? Here are a few things to keep in mind while trying to understand why the vast majority of programs charge international volunteers a fee:

The local organizations and projects with which you volunteer overseas have limited resources and are seldom able to subsidize your trip or cover the costs of hosting you. (These costs include housing, feeding and transporting you, among numerous other things.) If they did have the financial resources to pay an international volunteer, it would almost certainly be more beneficial and cost-effective to hire a local person instead, someone who already knows the language and culture and is likely to stick around.

Identifying appropriate host organizations overseas and working with them is time-consuming, takes resources, and requires an experienced and professional staff.

The process of preparing, training, transporting, housing, feeding, and supervising volunteers is not cheap. Additional services such as health care, re-entry assistance, travel medical insurance, and more, all add to the expenses of a program.

The costs of recruiting volunteers, producing literature, answering the phones, sending mailings, developing a website, and interviewing potential volunteers are significant.

Why Pay to Volunteer?

by Le Ann Joy Adam, Overseas Resource Coordinator
Stanford University
Transitions Abroad, July/Aug. 2000, p.83.

“Why pay money to volunteer?” There was a time when I fully shared the thinly veiled suspicion behind this frequently asked question. At a time when many young people have some of the most sought-after skills in a booming job market, it is easy to understand a student’s reluctance to pay to volunteer.

One of the most common requests from my advisees is for assistance finding volunteer opportunities in developing countries, so the issue of why one should pay for placement in a volunteer internship comes up again and again. It would be easy to simply explain that the placement organizations have certain overhead costs. But instead I try to educate them about the realities of short-term volunteer work that I have learned from experience.

Last summer I was a volunteer in Nicaragua for six weeks. The year before that (after Hurricane Mitch), I worked to send medical supplies and other aid to the needy throughout Central America with community groups and Central Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. I found my niche as an organizer, information resource, and fundraiser, and I felt that I was making the best contribution I could. I lacked technical knowledge and experience providing aid to victims of natural disasters and feared I would be more a hindrance than a help if I went to Central America then. I did, however, make plans to spend the summer as a volunteer in Nicaragua, after the worst of the crisis had passed. I wanted to use a Spanish language school as a base so I could improve my Spanish, benefit from a homestay, and also have an established connection with the local community. I felt I was experienced and resourceful enough to arrange a volunteer internship on my own and imagined I could save a lot of money with the extra effort. I also wanted to be completely independent of any political or religious affiliation that might influence my experience. Using the Internet, I searched for nongovernmental development organizations seeking volunteers.

Estelí, the second largest city in Nicaragua, has two Spanish language schools, numerous nongovernmental organizations associated with the women’s movement, and a long history of contribution by international volunteers. The organization seemed to offer the potential to work with a variety of community issues: domestic violence, street children, and hurricane recovery efforts. After one phone call and limited email correspondence with the organization, I committed to spending the summer working with them, hoping to learn and to contribute.
When I arrived in Nicaragua, the organization I had planned to work with had fallen victim to a lack of funding and interference from government bureaucracy. However, determined to make good use of my time in Estelí, I studied Spanish in the mornings and in the afternoons worked with members of the community in development projects and political and social action groups.

The Importance of Continuity

Overall, it was a powerful learning experience. But having learned the hard way that the kind of relationship you envision cannot always be established in a short period of time, I now encourage everyone I talk to about volunteer internships to go through a well-established placement organization. Organizations establish long-term relationships with community groups and help compensate them for the time they spend mentoring volunteers. This is particularly important in poor, grass-roots settings.
In Nicaragua, I often heard the comment that “volunteers come and go” without apparent regard for the importance of long-term, sustainable development. I also learned that volunteers are sometimes “more of a burden than an asset” to many organizations because of their lack of technical knowledge, language skills, and cultural sensitivity. Yet volunteer programs do benefit the host country’s economy, promote positive values, enrich lives, and serve the important purpose of strengthening the people-to-people ties that have proven such a powerful instrument of international mutual understanding. Placement organizations have invested the necessary time, patience, and resources needed to build trust and ensure safe and appropriate placements for volunteers.

Benefits of Organizations

While going through an organised program can also have its pitfalls, the benefits include:
Orientation. This usually includes important pre-departure reading material as well as on-site orientation on local culture, history, and customs.
Language and technical training.
Arranged accommodations. A supportive and caring homestay environment provides an important connection to the culture and a first-hand view of social and political events in country.

A Safety Net

Staff are there to provide logistical and emotional support.

Clear Expectations

The volunteer’s responsibilities are clear and well-defined.

Affordability

When you calculate the difference between travelling to a country on your own and the cost of participating in a program, you might be surprised by how little the difference is.  Of course, many people successfully arrange their own volunteer internships. But in virtually every case, those who come away with a satisfying experience have strong ties in the host country as well as technical experience or specialized skills in areas such as medicine, teaching English, construction, and agriculture.

Even with an organization, there is no guarantee that the experience will be 100 percent trouble-free. Those who want such guarantees should probably consider a vacation on a cruise ship.

My advice to the would-be volunteer with good intentions, great organizational skills, and a real interest in international development and cross-cultural education is to allow an experienced organization to channel that energy, intelligence, good intentions into an established internship program.

Why Pay to Volunteer Abroad?

published by Verge Magazine

If you think you're just paying for the privilege of working for nothing, think again.

Paying to volunteer can seem a strange concept to the uninitiated. Why should someone charge you to work for free? But this is a common misconception about volunteer travel—the volunteer work is not what you are paying for.

If, like thousands of others around the world this year, you decide to do supported volunteer work overseas, you are probably hoping to use your time to make a difference on a project that could use your help.

Chances are, the overseas organization you will be working with has precious few resources, and is not in a position to cover the costs of hosting you. Costs such as feeding, housing and transporting a volunteer can add up quickly—and, if such funds were available, they could likely be better used to create employment for local workers, who have relevant language skills and who are more likely to stay with the project long-term.

So where does your money go? It often pays for the cost of your housing, food and transport, as well as your training, preparation and supervision. It also goes toward the identification of worthy projects and host organizations, as well as the costs of recruiting you and other volunteers.

If all goes according to plan, you may see very little of some other important services that you paid for. Confused? It gets better. This doesn't necessarily mean you didn't get your money's worth. Because one of your biggest investments when paying to volunteer is in your peace of mind—having someone there in case of emergency. A local election raises political tension in the area; an earthquake disrupts the transport system; or you simply fall ill the moment you arrive. These are all things you are better off dealing with when an organization is behind you.

For a company to set up this kind of infrastructure around the world takes a lot of time and money. So at the end of the day, it is fair that they charge for the service.

Not to say that paying to volunteer is for everyone. You might already have the contacts to get worthwhile volunteer work overseas, or simply enough time on your hands to make them as you go. Or perhaps you are just too damn independent to have someone looking out for you all the time.

But for first-timers, people without time, people who want to gain experience in a particular field, or those who want to be part of a community when they travel, supported volunteer work can be just the ticket. Some even say it is life-changing. But that bit is probably up to you.

What everyone gains is an edge in the workplace. Volunteering overseas can be the bridge between your education and a career—even if you volunteer in a completely different field. Because the great thing is, you don't need specific skills to join a project but you can be sure you'll be leaving with some.

Wherever you go, the most important thing is to choose an organization with a sound infrastructure to provide for you before, during and after your placement. Here are some tips on what to look out for.

Staff

It's vital the organization you travel with has a good team both at home and abroad. Find out if their staff have volunteered abroad themselves. If it's a good company, they probably will have. And also ask about their overseas teams. Are they full time members of staff? Will they meet you at the airport? And will they be on hand throughout your placement?

Projects

Paying to volunteer also means knowing you have a project to go to. Your organization should therefore be checking regularly with their projects to ensure they are still functional and, equally vital, in need of volunteers. You might also ask them how the projects were chosen. What makes the project you want to join particularly worthwhile?

Training

Find out what kind of training you will get beforehand. Some projects may not require specific training, but a responsible company should still be doing everything it can to prepare you for your experience overseas. If you are staying with a local family, this may include cultural and language lessons.

Safety Net

This is the biggest difference between paying to volunteer and going it alone. And to make sure you are getting your money's worth, find out how well prepared the organization is for an emergency. Find out what procedures they have in place and even whether they have had experienced emergencies before (this can actually be a good thing). Dig into your insurance policy too. Does it cover things like repatriation and natural disasters?

Cost

Prices and packages vary enormously, so do your research and always have in mind what you want to get out of the experience. For a few hundred dollars, you might get the contacts and someone to call if you get stuck; while a few thousand dollars will get you a fully supported placement in the country and field of your choice. Many larger organizations provide advice on fund-raising towards your costs.

The Project

Perhaps the greatest benefit of paying to volunteer, however, is seen by the projects themselves. Most organizations have large numbers of volunteers joining their placements all-year-round, so their partner projects are always moving forward.

There's nothing worse than a well-meaning volunteer leaving a project without anyone to take up his/her good work. With a consistent supply of volunteers, projects can stop scratching the surface and start planning for the future.

Okay, so you might not have the satisfaction of having organized the whole thing yourself, but you will be part of something that lasts. And if you can afford it, isn't that worth paying for?