I got back from work late last night, and when I arrived home was very happy to find that Thursday’s article concerning the Questionable Ethics behind the Voluntourism Industry had sparked a little bit of debate. Scott Pralinsky of the Casa Milagro Foundation in Costa Rica, wrote a response on his blog called “Are We Ethical?”. His response was also supported through a comment by his friend Colin of Banana Azul in Costa Rica.

Scott runs a Voluntourism Company in Costa Rica that helps prospective volunteers find compatible local volunteer projects to participate in. Both Scott, Colin, and other advocates for “Voluntourism Broker Companies” contend that their service is a necessary one, to be able to match non-language speaking travelers with responsible, well-coordinated, local volunteer projects. There is a lot of work that goes into analyzing each and every volunteer project, determining which are the most prevalent needs, and assuring that projects are capable of receiving and maintaining volunteers. They have also found that the majority of costumers that participate in their program “could not find their way out of the San Jose airport [on their own]” and thus voluntourism companies are a great way to tap into the market of “less savvy” travelers and provide them with the resources necessary to take advantage of more responsible forms of travel – volunteering.

I do not argue their points. Having worked for a non-profit in Ecuador (that accepts volunteers) for the last two years I understand that, in general the international development community is EXTREMELY unorganized, inefficient, and at times incompetent. I do not disagree that there should be some system in place to evaluate and rate local volunteer projects, to ensure that foreign volunteers and donors alike, invest their time and money to the most needing organizations. Currently, it is the volunteer companies that take on this very important role. What I do NOT like about this system is that whether it’s through profits or just a bad business model, the only way that volunteer companies seem capable of fulfilling this position is by inflating volunteer costs by 2-10 times (see first article). The result of this price inflation (which I have seen first hand) is fewer people volunteer, and even more detrimental to our projects is they volunteer for a significantly shorter period of time.

Gap year students from England are a great example. They usually spend 9-12 months after high school traveling, and do volunteer work during that time. They are not rich, but they do have tons of time which could be devoted to long-term volunteering (extremely valuable). Unfortunately they also usually organize their volunteer experience with a voluntourism company, and consequentially can only afford to volunteer for 4-6 weeks (in my opinion the bare minimum for being effective in any social volunteer project).

Both Scott and Colin point out that the voluntourism business is far from profitable, and Scott’s company is actually still operating at an annual loss. In my opinion, this doesn’t matter. If a voluntourism company has to charge 2-10 times the actual cost of living and volunteering, and still struggles to make a profit, that doesn’t represent righteousness, it represents a bad business model.

Now, I don’t mean to attack voluntourism companies, and as I said in my first article, I DO NOT actually believe them to be unethical. The fact is they arose out of necessity in the international development field. As Scott and Colin have shown, there are thousands of people out there that would like to volunteer their time in developing nations, but if there is no volunteer company to guide them, where would they start?

Well, I believe a new system needs to develop to replace the inefficiency that voluntourism companies currently place on the development community. Scott said that one of the biggest costs facing his company is the annual analysis of Costa Rica’s needs and volunteer projects. However, is his company the only one analyzing Costa Rica’s development and needs? Absolutely not! I can guarantee that there are at least a dozen other surveys completed in the exact same way every year in Costa Rica, each one spending a significant amount of money to do accomplish the exact same task as the others. Why not coordinate with other non-profits working in Costa Rica, pool resources, and create one comprehensive annual analysis of the country’s situation. In fact why can’t we put something like this together on a more global scale. Like a very well funded and resourced Idealist.org. It’s not as if this work isn’t already being done, it is just being done in an extremely disconnected and uncoordinated way. With an internationally published ranking system, prospective volunteers could get online, look up volunteer projects in their country of interest, view international rankings and recommendations for each project, then coordinate with the local institution itself to organize their time in a much less costly manner. For those volunteers that don’t want to do the extra organization, or who want added support both before and during their time in-country, they could choose to pay more and organize their project through a voluntourism company. In this way, prospective volunteers at least have a choice, and are not misled into believing the only way they can volunteer is by paying inflated voluntourism fees.

Please feel free to add your comments and thoughts to this debate

More on this debate:

• My first article questioning the ethics behind the Voluntourism Industry
• Scott Pralinsky’s response

Voluntourism has exploded recently as a niche within the international travel industry. It has even been featured in mainstream press like MSNBC - Want to help? Go on a trip. It’s great that so many people today are interested in devoting vacation time to helping out their neighbors in developing countries around the world. However, what’s not so great is the questionable business ethics behind the voluntourism industry, in which 50-90% of volunteer fees paid by “do-gooder” travelers go to the multinational companies that are currently running and perhaps even exploiting the industry.

These multinational companies work with local organizations around the world to match volunteers with locally run volunteer projects. There are a number of these MNC’s, but one of the bigger and more well-known companies is i-to-i. I will focus on i-to-i for the rest of this post.

Can’t afford to volunteer?

A little over 6 years ago I looked into volunteering before a study abroad program I had scheduled in Brazil. I did a search on the internet of volunteer projects throughout Brazil, but was discouraged and surprised to find that I just couldn’t afford any of them. All of the projects I found seemed to be managed by “volunteer sending companies” like i-to-i. And they all cost between $500-$800 per week of service, a price I just couldn’t afford at the time. I was very surprised to see such high costs for volunteering, but I simply accepted them as the norm and moved on, unable to volunteer my time because it was too expensive.

That’s because volunteer fees are extremely inflated!

About 4 years later, I graduated college and started working as a volunteer coordinator in Quito, Ecuador. At my volunteer organization we were often supplied with volunteers from “volunteer sending companies” such as i-to-i. I was surprised to learn that the fees charged by companies like i-to-i, the same fees I couldn’t afford in Brazil, are radically higher than the actual cost of living and volunteering. I found out that in general, only between 10-50% of i-to-i fees actually go to the local institutions. The rest simply goes to pay i-to-i’s expenses, and ultimately back into their pockets.

The following are two organizations that work directly with i-to-i. The way their program works, is they simply match these local organizations with interested volunteers. Therefore a potential volunteer could organize their volunteer service with either i-to-i, or the local organization itself, and the actual work and living conditions would be exactly the same. However, what would NOT be the same is the cost:

CENIT – Centro de la Niña Trabajadora (Quito, Ecuador)

i-to-i (8 weeks volunteer service) - includes volunteer work, program fee, homestay with Ecuadorian family, 3 meals/day, in-country support personnel, for $3270.

Organized directly with CENIT (8 weeks volunteer service) – includes volunteer work, program fee, homestay with Ecuadorian family, 3 meals/day, for $850.

i-to-i charges close to 4x what the local organization does, or $2420 more.

ASVO – Asociación de Voluntarios para el Servicio en las Areas Protegidas (Costa Rica)

i-to-i (4 weeks volunteer service) – includes volunteer work, program fee, accommodations, 3 meals/day, in-country support personnel, for $2245.

Organized directly with ASVO (4 weeks volunteer service) – includes volunteer work, program fee, accommodations, 3 meals/day, for $450.

i-to-i charges close to 5x what the local organization does, or $1795 more.

Unethical?

I am not prepared to accuse companies like i-to-i of being unethical. They do provide an added service of organizing the entire trip as well as providing in-country personnel for general support. These two services, I’m sure, account for a significant portion of the added fees charged.

I do, however, think it’s unfortunate that the vast majority of travelers don’t realize that only 10-50% of the fees they pay actually go to the cost of living and volunteering. That if they don’t mind doing a little work on their own, they can organize the exact same volunteer project for a fraction of the cost. They could then use the money they save to volunteer longer or invest into the local economy by traveling more.

Even if you have the money to blow on the i-to-i service, why not save it to donate directly into the local communities you will be working with!? Imagine if every i-to-i volunteer donated $1000-$2000 to their local volunteer project instead of giving it to i-to-i. The local impact of that money would be monumental!

Follow-up:

Voluntourism Industry Unethical? more thoughts…

Further Reading:

1. How to Volunteer Abroad for Less
2. How to Save Thousands by Organizing your Volunteer Trip on your own
3. 6 Steps to Organizing your own Volunteer Trip

In this series:

1. How to Volunteer Abroad for Less
2. How to Save Thousands by Organizing your Volunteer Trip on your own
3. 6 Steps to Organizing your own Volunteer Trip

Organizing our own volunteer trip isn’t difficult, but it does take time. You’ll need to do a fair amount of researching and contacting people, to figure out what all is out there. You will likely be volunteering in some part of the developing world, where, unfortunately, things are much less organized than many of us Westerners are accustomed to. Finding a volunteer abroad position WILL NOT be as easy as just looking up some websites and deciding on a project that interests you. 90% of these organizations just don’t have the man-power, experience, and/or resources to maintain an informative, up-to-date website. You will need to contact these organizations by email, and ask them tons of questions to figure out exactly what they do. The following 6-steps should help get you on track when organizing your own volunteer abroad experience.

1. Figure out what you want to do, and where you want to go: Before you do anything else, you should think about what you would like do and where you want to volunteer. Volunteers commonly work in educational, ecological, health, business, administrative, and technological fields, so it is just a matter of deciding what you are most interested in. When deciding WHERE you want to volunteer, the world is your playground, where do you really want to go?

2. Find local volunteer organizations that sound interesting to you: Once you have decided on a country or region, and the type of work you would like to do, begin searching for local organizations that offering volunteer positions in the areas that interest you. As I said above, this can be quite difficult. Many of these organizations do not operate websites, and even if they do, they are not well maintained. Your best bet will be to search the internet relentlessly, and to talk to people who have experience volunteering in that part of the world.
3. Contact all local volunteer organizations, and ask them every question you can think of: Once you have a list of local organizations that sound interesting, contact them and ask them every question you can think of. This will probably be a slow and drawn out process, but is absolutely necessary in assuring you know EXACTLY what you are getting yourself into. Do not assume anything, ASK! The following is a sample of questions to get you started:
   • What is the overall goal of your organization?
   • Can you describe the type of communities that volunteers work in?
   • What is an average volunteer’s day like
   • How many foreign volunteers work in your projects?
   • Will I be the only foreign volunteer in my project, or will there be others?
   • What kind of resources are available to volunteers and workers in your organization
   • What kind of responsibilities will I have as a volunteer?
   • Will I be able to make changes within the program, or will I just fit in with a predefined system or work?
   • How much time will I have for vacation/travel
   • How safe is it for volunteers in the communities your organization works in
4. Decide on the one volunteer project that most interests you, but don’t over commit: Once you have contacted every organization that interests you, it is time to make a decision, but don’t over commit. Many projects only accept volunteers that make an extended time commitment. This is fine, but make sure anything that you pay will be refundable if you decide you do not like the program, or even better do not pay everything up front. Instead work with the organization to setup a 2 week trial period, where you feel out the program and promise to extend if it meets your expectations. Be sure you protect yourself and do not end up in a program you hate simply because you already paid for it.
5. Ask your volunteer organization for help finding accommodation: Once you have committed to one volunteer organization, they should be able to help you set up accommodation. Ask them what other volunteers have done in the past, who you can contact, and how much it should cost. Most volunteer organizations will be able to put you in contact with people offering a variety of different accommodation options such as homestays, private apartments, shared apartments, or hotels/hostels.
6. Go with an open-mind, and have a great time: You volunteer experience will be what you make of it. Think of it as an adventure, and enjoy yourself!

In this series:

1. How to Volunteer Abroad for Less
2. How to Save Thousands by Organizing your Volunteer Trip on your own
3. 6 Steps to Organizing your own Volunteer Trip

If you are interested in volunteering abroad, usually the first thing you do in researching the possibilities is to search the internet for “volunteer abroad” or “volunteering in country X”. However, if you do this, the majority of your results will be 3rd party booking companies that organize volunteer projects for travelers. Normally they do not actually run any of the volunteer programs, they simply work with various local institutions in a number of countries around the world to organize volunteer trips for their clients. The problem is that they charge a pretty hefty sum for this organizational service.

Let me shed a little light with an example from Ecuador, a country where I worked as a volunteer coordinator for 2 years. We regularly received volunteers through 3rd party organizations such as i-to-i and Outreach International, as well as individuals who simply contacted us on their own. The volunteers that came with 3rd party organizations had everything set up for them before they ever arrived, but in general paid around $2800 for 2 months of accommodation, food, and volunteer work. Volunteers who came on their own had to organize their accommodation and volunteer work on their own, but on average paid around $950 for 2 months of accommodation, food, and volunteer work. See the chart below comparing volunteer costs for 2 months of volunteer service, accommodation, and food.

With an international organization:

• All inclusive program fee: $2800
• Accommodation: included, homestay with an Ecuadorian family
• Food: 3 meals/day included with homestay
• Volunteer Work: registration is included in program fee
• Total (2 months): $2800

On your own:

• All inclusive program fee: N/A as everything was organized by the individual

• Accommodation: many options ranging from $70-$450/month. A comparable homestay with an Ecuadorian family runs around $450/month.
• Food: 3 meals/day included with homestay
• Volunteer Work: $50 one time fee
• Total (2 months): $950, this is including the homestay option (which is one of the most expensive accommodation options). If the volunteer chose a simple shared apartment, and cooked their own food, accommodation/food could drop to as low as $200/month, resulting in just $450 for 2 months.

Obviously, volunteer work organized by an 3rd party organization is significantly more expensive than one organized on your own. However, I wouldn’t necessarily say that setting up your volunteer project with an international organization is a waste of money. If you have the funds, it is definitely easier to just contract someone to organize everything for you so that you can get right to work the minute you step off the plane. Setting things up on your own, requires a lot of time spent researching and contacting different local organizations to figure out exactly what your options are. Additionally, you will likely have to spend at least a couple of days upon arrival sorting it all out, making sure everything is what you thought it was, etc. 3rd party organizations also provide you with a network of people in country to basically paid make sure you are happy, and that you stay happy with all aspects of their service. If you organize everything on your own, you don’t have this network of people working for you. If you arrive on your first day of volunteer work and find out that it’s not at all what you thought it was, it will be up to you to fix the situation. That said, if you would rather not blow thousands of dollars on what can be done with hundreds, and don’t mind organizing your trip by yourself, then setting up your volunteer trip on your own is probably the way to go. Continue on to part 3 of this series: 6 Steps to Organizing your own Volunteer Trip.

In this series:

1. How to Volunteer Abroad for Less
2. How to Save Thousands by Organizing your Volunteer Trip on your own
3. 6 Steps to Organizing your own Volunteer Trip

Volunteering abroad is becoming a very popular way to travel the world. It gives you a great opportunity to get to know the people on a more personal level, while also giving something back to the country that so graciously hosts you. By volunteering, you work face to face with the people, and are given the opportunity to learn, first-hand, about the problems that they face. As a result you end your trip with real hands-on knowledge of what life is like in that small region of the world. It’s a kind of enlightenment that just doesn’t come from a 2 week vacation spent rushing around a country seeing all the “sites”.

Volunteering abroad is a relatively new idea that’s become more popular as tourists become more interesting in responsible tourism alternatives. Unfortunately, however, many first time volunteers are under the impression that volunteer work abroad is expensive. If you look up “volunteering abroad” or “volunteer in country X” on the internet, you come across a number of 3rd party booking organizations that set interested travelers up with different volunteer projects around the globe. They offer a service that basically does all the work for you, finding a volunteer project, setting you up with somewhere to live, providing you with language lessons if you desire, etc. The problem is that they also charge you 2-5 times what you would pay if you just organized the trip on your own. Read part 2 of this series for more information on How to Save Thousands by Organizing your Volunteer Trip on your own.