Normally volunteering involves raising some money in advance of travelling to cover your expenses, and can mean the sacrifice or summer or holiday earnings, which is not always an option of everyone.
However, there are some volunteering programmes where expenses are covered, even travel expenses, so you won’t end up hugely out of pocket for giving up your valuable time.
Always take care to check an organisation out before taking up any volunteering position with them. NUS Scotland advises you check the following things before you go:
- Check if the organisation is not for profit, or a charity
- Try and volunteer ethically with an organisation that wishes to do good in the community
- Search around their name on the internet for reviews and blogs with information about the type of work you are doing
- Meet with representatives from the charity before going abroad to discuss and agree what you are going to be doing
- Get travel insurance
- Have a secure way of returning home in case of an emergency, or if things are not working out somehow.
Check out the volunteering pages of the European Youth Portal page on volunteering before you go.
Short-term volunteering
If you are looking for a more short-term option, you may wish to consider a work camp, which is a two to three-week volunteering option, usually involving one intensive project, such as cleaning up an area of natural interest or digging for archaeological relics. Information can be found here on the European Youth Portal volunteering page.
Great – but now I need to raise the cash!
If you have a great volunteer place organised and now need to raise money for your project, check out Inter-Cultural Youth Exchanges’ A to Z of fundraising tips.