WOULD YOU PAY TO VOLUNTEER?
As you know, my dear reader, a big part of my adventure this year is volunteering with various organizations around the globe. This gives me the opportunity to engage with communities, as well as to do a task that I might not have ever had the opportunity of doing.
In my research I’ve come across some really expensive volunteer “opportunities.” I’m left questioning who is benefiting most from these supposed community-minded projects. And I wanted to get a sense of what other people are thinking…
What’s your policy on paying to volunteer?
Leave a comment and explain.
I think that if the project demonstrates what your money is going towards, and you are comfortable that this is indeed the use for of your money, then its fine.
Its also a fact of whether you are willing to pay the price for volunteering, but I think some projects need it and are sometimes so worthwhile that you don’t mind paying.
So I would, as long as I felt strongly about the organisation and where my money was going.
If I was organizing a volunteer-run project, I might consider asking participants to pay at least a nominal sum. Why? Because time and energy (i.e. money) is needed to organize and fund projects. And also – equally importantly – it’s a way of weeding out lame drifters who have little to contribute and are just looking for a place to crash and associate themselves with something meaningful without actually contributing much.
I haven’t done too much research into it, but I would rather see some sort of “generosity policy” rather than a set fixed amount that you need to pay in order to volunteer. How many people are shut out of these opportunities, who would love nothing more than to volunteer their time and labour, because they can’t afford it? They could have a recommended “donation” where you pay what you can afford. And if you can afford more, then pay more. This could balance out for those who can only afford to pay less. But overall, paying to volunteer just seems offside to me. Surely there are other ways to raise funds?
Hi Daniel,
The whole concept of paying 4000$ to go do work is a little iffy to me. Personally, I think that organizations that charge a large fee pocket most of the money and that the experience itself is not so much contributing to the community as to the volunteer’s personal quest to experience poverty.
When I was looking for a place to spend my summer volunteering in South America, that was one of my main concerns and that’s why I ended up choosing Horizon Peru. I felt that their contribution fees were reasonable and felt that my money would be going where it should be.
I think that the organizations that charge thousands of dollars for 3 week volunteer stints are more aimed at people with limited travel experience who are reluctant to go off on their own and are therefore willing to pay large sums of money to make sure that they will have people to rely on, etc. That kind of voluntourism makes sense if it’s your first travel adventure, but otherwise…I don’t know.
In 11th grade, I went on a two week humanitarian trip to Honduras with a group from school. I believe the whole trip cost each of us about 1800$ which really isn’t that bad compared to other programs I’ve come across during my obsessive googling of everything travel related. It made sense at the time. I was 16 years old and this was an introduction to volunteering abroad, but I don’t think it is something I would repeat.
The other thing is most of the organizations who charge a lot of money are also really only the middle men who have contact organizations abroad. I have four friends who went on trips with Global Youth Network (sorry to anyone who may like GYN, I am about to bash this organization). Two of the four have been completely brainwashed and the two others have sworn to never go on a GYN trip again. Coincidentally, the two who have joined the GYN cult are those who did not have travel experience prior to GYN, while the other two have backpacked extensively.
The trips go to countries like Tanzania or Cambodia and involve one or two volunteer opportunities that last the length of the trip. The cost of a 4 week sting with GYN is about 4000$ depending on the location. Whatever money does not end up being spent on the trip goes straight into GYN’s pockets. No, they don’t give it to the volunteer projects you have contributed to, but keep it for themselves. Obviously, they try to save every penny they can and so for the cost of the trip, the accommodation and food is quite unsatisfactory. Nothing horrible, it would all be fine if you were paying the actual costs of the services you are receiving, except that you have contributed significantly more. I have other complaints to make about this particular organization, but I will keep them for myself because I’m not sure that they are applicable to other organizations.
You mentioned in one of your blog posts how you liked the fact that Horizon Peru was owned by Manuel who grew up in La Esperanza. That was also an important part of my decision. From what I have been able to tell from researching different programs, the most expensive programs are often run by North American organizations. They have made a business out of volunteering and I find this incredibly unfortunate.
Anyway, the point I really want to make is that reasonable contribution fees that go straight towards the needs of the community (or whomever the program is aimed at helping) are good, registration fees and thousands of dollars for which the distribution is unclear are not. Volunteers will always be needed and I believe that anywhere you go in the world, you will find someone who needs your help (just like you did in Buenos Aires!). The voluntourism industry is ironically turning selflessness into selfishness and I refuse to support that.
-S
If I were to pay to be part of voluntourism, or a volunteer-run project, I would feel I would need accountability. How much is that money going to administrative costs and organization. How is this money being used to benefit the region I am trying to help? If it is going to materials (books, lumber, etc,) and reasonable administration costs, I would be fine with paying,
However, when it comes to volunteering, I think a person should do due diligence to make sure their efforts are best facilitating a community. If teaching/speaking English is a benefit to a community, perhaps your time would best spent teaching adult teachers how to speak and teach English. As adorable and fun as children can be, teaching an adult to teach English will have more of a long term effect on the region. That adult could use those tools to teach entire classrooms full of childroom. Also, we must be careful when we’re volunteering that we don’t undermind the structure/values that exist in a community.
I have indeed paid to “volunteer” over the past couple of months. But, in general, these costs were attributed to living expenses with the various organizations with whom I’ve partnered.
From an organizational standpoint, I understand the need to charge people for the administrative/training burden it costs to have “drifters” come and go from the organization. A wise move is to taper volunteering costs, reducing monthly fees the longer that the volunteer stays. A short term volunteer (2-6 weeks), once trained and accustomed to organization realities, is barely there long enough to make a real impact. It’s the long term volunteers that really make a difference by towing the line and developing meaningful relationships with community. These people should not have to pay.
One also has to consider what type of skills one is offering. Are you able to peel potatoes or are you able to rewire an electrical system? Trades folk are worth much more than a fresh faced gap-year kid who has fewer skills. And in the case of the gap year kid, paying for an experience is sometimes beneficial to obtain those skills. It’s a form of schooling.
Ultimately it’s all about how much you desire an experience (or not).
People that volunteer pay all the time, with their energy and often frustration. Many people do not respect their own time let alone a volunteers. Volunteers deserve information on what they will be doing and how long the task might take just like an employee.
@Carlos……………DITTO! I do like all of your answers. It is a “buyer beware” situation.
A friend of the families daughter trained to be a Doctor and after qualifying and working in a hospital she wanted a new challenge and decided to work for a medical charity abroad. She planned to go for one year to Bangladesh to work in maternity in a hospital there. She loves it a lot and its so challenging she basically helps births with no equipment or monitors. Its quite third world! She is with a Christian charity and they pay for her to have basic accommodation and expenses like food. There is no wages or anything like that. It doesn’t cost her anything and she doesn’t earn anything. She loves it so much though she has been there years! like about 5 years now. The problem is by doing that she has no savings whatsoever. If she ever comes back to here in the UK she could have problems buying a house or getting anything expensive because she has had years or really no income. I am not sure if she will come back though to be honest, she loves it there! the challenge and the rewards! The charity really pays for her basic living from donations in first world countries.
Paying to volunteer seems wrong somehow, not like massively morally wrong but makes me feel a little uncomfortable. But I think in my head its acceptable if you are paying for like food or board or travel, like helping out the place financially. If you are doing some sort of work and “pitching in” then its wrong to be like a yoga type course where you pay $$$$thousands for a 3 week “course”. its not the same as that type of thing. in that you are being instructed, getting food and a place to sleep. its a one way process. Volunteering is two ways, you are giving something and getting back.
It does make me feel more comfortable to “give a donation of the amount you think”. although putting on my devil’s advocate hat maybe its a western thing where people want to go somewhere and give their services in some righteous way. if they want to do that then they should pay for it? no I really don’t buy it! Don’t forget by volunteering you are promoting the organisation you are working at. even without the internet and social networking, you might have a tshirt with a logo on or talk to friends / family “I spent some weeks doing this, it was amazing”. I think I agree that if you have to pay a nominal amount/ donation! not you must raise $$$$$ to work here (btw charities in things like marathons do that all the time now! if you want to run for this charity you must raise a min amount first, kindda scary! I guess they want a guarantee!) xx
are we being serious? asking people to donate money would never work. volunteer organizations that charge a fee have a budget by which they operate and which these funds go towards. leaving it up to the discretion of the volunteer to decide what they think is an appropriate amount of money to contribute would ultimately result in the organization being unable to run itself.
paying to volunteer serves several purposes: it funds the basic operations of a very low cost organization (room and board, meals, supplies – obviously these things vary depending on the type of organization). second it helps to identify the people that are serious from volunteering from those that aren’t (which Maya mentioned) i’m a volunteer coordinator at a non-profit organization and you see a lot of e-mails come through from people that are essentially looking for you to help them extend their travels without doing any legitimate work for the organization. if an organization charges a fee, it requires the volunteer to think more seriously about the commitment and consider if it’s something they want to do. obviously this is not everyone, and there are a lot of people who truly want to help but can’t afford it. there are no-fee volunteer options available too. volunteering is not easy. especially if you’re volunteering abroad, I think you need to have a few solid years of work experience, travel experience, and savings under your belt to do it.
obviously – there are scam organizations out there that charge ridiculous fees and you have to be careful of those. You should not have to pay a lot of money to volunteer, since the funds are going towards basic things to run the organization – not in the pockets of the people running the organization.
as for getting the funds from external sources like fundraising – i don’t see anything wrong with that as an additional means to pay for the things listed above, but keep in mind ….. running fundraising activities requires MORE resources and we are talking about low-cost/low-run organizations. who is going to do this??
i’ve paid to volunteer in the past and I got a lot of questions from friends and family about it. I think it boils down to conventional modes of thinking, what we are used to, and our motives. What would we pay for and what would not pay for that we consider to be a positive experience? If volunteering is something that you truly want to do, then you will get something positive out of the experience and it will be money well spent.