Volunteer Forum

Hello All.

With the growing of Internet there is even more opportunities to go volunteering and easier ways to find them... however I feel this makes me a bit iffy seeing as I've heard some bad stories about people being unhappy with the agencies and such. I was thinking this thread could be a sort of "I went with these people, they are legit" kinda thread cos I haven't yet been and am very interested in knowing whom I should go with... other than Project-abroad and habitat.

The ones I have been looking at so far is:
Hostel Hoff- http://www.hostelhoff.com/index.htm
I to I - http://www.i-to-i.com/
VolunteerHQ- http://www.volunteerhq.org/programme-cost.html
Global Vonluteer Network - http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/
Wava - http://www.workandvolunteer.com/
Work for Piece - http://www.vfp.org/index.html

Any tips of good solid people to go with would be realllly appreciated as I feel like I'm trapped in the jungle here. I'm currently going towards projects that are aiming towards women or children and possibly a 2 week animal program as well.. I'm pretty set o going to Ecuador and Tanzania but am planning on visiting atleast 2 more countries during 2011 and would be very grateful for any help there is!

Hi,

I seem to have a similar problem.

There are a number of volunteer agencies out there, many of which provide similar services in very similar locations, I think being certain on where your money goes is one of the most important factors and finding an agency that knows their projects through and through is key. Other than the other one's you've already mentioned, I personally like http://www.kayavolunteer.com, they seem to have a good share of opportunities to volunteer in south america, africa and asia. Although I haven't actually booked my program yet,they've been very useful in answering my inquiries.

i used http://www.volunteercapitalcentre.org they were good, had no problems at all

Hi,

All of the agencies in your list, TravelingV, are legit - I've been in touch with all of the orgs you've mentioned on behalf of VolunteeringInfo. I was quite surprised to see Hostel Hoff in there, though, as they are much smaller than the other organisations listed - surprised, but glad, that is! So far as I've heard they are a great org to work with.

As for the idea behind this thread, that's pretty much exactly what we hope to do with http://www.volunteeringinfo.org. We've got a database of organisations - they've all added themselves, which is free - that our visitors can browse/search through and we give the option to leave a review of the organisation. Reviews come in two forms, one is standard 'comment-style' reviews which anyone can come on and post for any organisation (though they are regularly read through to ensure legitimacy) and the second is what we call "certified reviews" which must be sent to us per e-mail and which are verified to make sure that the person has indeed volunteered for the organisation they are reviewing, prior to being posted.

Anyone who has been, is or will volunteer would be more than welcome to get in touch and leave a review for the organisation they went with, or even write a blog for us. If you'd be interested, please do get in touch!

Martin,

VolunteeringInfo.org

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VolunteeringInfo.org is an online resource for volunteers, with over 100 worldwide volunteer organisations listed, including 30+ organisations offering free opportunities! You can also check us out on Facebook

I think the European Voluntary Service is the best place to do projects, its handled by the EU so all the projects are fairly well checked out and worthwhile. Also you don't pay for anything, flights, food, nothing, in fact they give you pocket money, yeah I know, nice isn't it. More details:
http://www.suite101.com/content/paid-vo ... ad-a316046