All posts by Genevieve Brown

The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizationsand Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) recently updated their Occasional Paper Series—Emerging Areas of Volunteering.

Voluntourism and international volunteering both received attention. The text made reference to “Cross National Volunteerism” and “VolunToursim”. There is a great summary of the text here.

As the summary text mentions. the main emerging trend in cross national volunteerism is the broadening the accessibility of international volunteer opportunities. While voluntourism is mentioned as a “mass marketing approach to service”.

The previously referenced blogger writes “While the tourism industry serves as the travel specialists, they realize that the overall effectiveness of VolunTourism rest with the nonprofit sector who must effectively engage and manage these traveling volunteers.” I think this is a key point when talking about international volunteering weather it is a  nonprofit or for profit organization placing a volunteer the effectiveness of the volunteer and the project she is working on in the community depends on who is engaging the community and the volunteers.

Some of the other volunteer areas highlighted included in the article compilation include:

• episodic volunteering
• virtual volunteering
• employee volunteer programs.

We often focus on the idea of Americans or Europeans going abroad to volunteer but international volunteerism is happening all over the world. Take for example the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) program. In 2008, Keyna sent 206 volunteers abroad to volunteer with UNV. Another example is Atlas Service Corps. As an innovative nonprofit based in Washington DC, Atlas Service Corps brings mid-level professionals from developing countries to come to the US and serve for a year as a fellow.

While these two examples focus on skilled volunteers, I enjoyed a recent article in Denver newspaper about young volunteers from U.S. and Germany, Sweden, Egypt, Spain, the Netherlands and the Philippines volunteering together at the Denver Indian Center as part of CISV International project.

We might not hear much about international volunteers coming to the US to volunteer but it is exciting that ideas like cross-cultural understanding, cooperation, and voluntourism can be found in our own back yard.

It seems like every day there is a new volunteer-sending organization popping up. Growth in the field is great because it means that more and more people have the chance to volunteer abroad. But the sheer number of opportunities to choose from can make it confusing for someone just starting to think about volunteering internationally. Unfortunately there are some organization out there that misrepresent themselves. One of the most common questions for someone looking to volunteer is “How do I know if an organization is legit?”. This is an important question to ask. People don’t want to be a victim of a scam or fraud nor do they want to throw away their money on an experience they feel does not have value.

The first step in having a great experience and truly make and impact in the communities you plan on visiting is to find the right organization. Below are some steps to guide you to the right organization for you.

1. Know what type of experience you are looking for. Decide the answers to the obvious questions for example:
   • How long do you want to volunteer for?
   • Is there a specific country or region you want to travel to?
   • What type of service or project do you hope to be involved in?
   • Do you want to be with other volunteers or on your own?
   • How much do you plan on spending?
2. Next, start researching. Just because an organization has a great website does not mean that they are reputable. Talk to the organization and ask questions, lots of them. Some questions to consider:
   • Can I talk to a former volunteer?
   • What does my program fee pay for?
   • Will I be interacting with employees from the sending organization when I am on the ground?
   • Will I receive training before I leave?
   • What is your refund policy?
   • How long has the sending organization been operating?
   • Does the sending organization partner with local NGO’s in-country?
   • If there is an emergency how can my family reach me or vice-versa?

This is just a short list of questions you might consider. You can see more here. The important thing is to make an educated decision that you feel good about, then you can move forward and prepare for a great international experience, volunteering and making a difference.