Plans for 2010: Connecting With Small NGOs

The Voluntraveler team has been speaking with a couple of small charity organizations recently that offer volunteer experiences, and we plan to offer their programs as part of our Voluntraveler mission to place excellent volunteers in exceptional programs. Partnerships like these will be our focus moving into 2010.

If you know of a small grassroots charity that is both in need of volunteers and can offer them a meaningful experience that is safe and created with sustainability in mind, please contact us.

The larger volunteer organizations have a very loud "voice" with a huge marketing budget and many staff. One of our goals for 2010 is to help pool the resources and connections of smaller organizations like Para el Mundo to help raise the profile of the little charities running on a shoestring, who need volunteers and funding. In many ways these smaller charities can offer a better, more immersive volunteer experience, especially for volunteers staying longer than a few weeks - something many of the larger adventure travel companies and volunteer organizations don't really focus on.

To keep up with what we are doing, you can follow us on twitter.

You can also find us on facebook.

Seeking Partner Charities

Voluntraveler currently has a close relationship with Para el Mundo, but is seeking to partner with other reputable charities that would accept our volunteers in addition to funds to cover their living expenses and a contribution to their program. Hmmm... free help AND money? That's a pretty good deal.

The catch is, that we have to learn everything about how the charity operates, will want to be able to visit the sites where it operates, speak to past volunteers and current staff, and basically be sure that any money we send will be put to direct use by the charity to run its program. 

We have found that many so-called "charities" in South America (and elsewhere) funnel money out of their programs and into other pockets. Any charity we work with MUST be transparent with us.

What we are looking for ideally are grassroots organizations that have an existing volunteer program with costs in line with what we are familiar with. 

If you know of a charity organization that might like to partner with Voluntraveler, please contact us.