BeachCorps trips in nice hotels actually cost LESS than nearly all existing volunteer vacations in the Dominican Republic that put you up in so-so hotels, but they still cost a little more than just staying at your hotel or a typical excursion like zip-lining. Some people ask a very good question: why do many volunteer vacation firms (both for-profit and nonprofit) make people pay extra to volunteer their hard-earned time? The truth is nearly all good volunteer vacation firms provide financial support to the causes they support, though most cannot tell you how much of your vacation expense went to the cause. BeachCorps volunteers pay a regular vacation, excursion fees plus a modest, completely separate donation to a great cause. Why?
People Who are Ready to Volunteer are More Willing to Donate: A few people out there will say “If I’m going to volunteer my time, that organization should be grateful and I’m not going to give them any money.” More than likely, such a person doesn’t donate much to nonprofits in general. According to a study by Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, “Americans who volunteer their time and skills to nonprofit organizations also donate an average of 10 times more money to charity than people who don’t volunteer.” A 2018 study by Survata on key aspects of the BeachCorps model showed that 84.2% would be willing to donate extra to a nonprofit cause in addition to paying for their excursion and vacation. Sorry to those 15.8% who said no, but you can’t please everybody!
The Power of Volunteer Work vs. the Power of Money: Most volunteer vacation firms don’t like to admit this, but unless you have specialized skills, then many experts agree that the money you give a worthy nonprofit generally has greater impact than work. It’s the same reason why giving money during disasters is better than sending food or clothes; while it may feel good to give food and clothes, the equivalent value in money has a greater impact, going more efficiently to urgent needs. Great care is needed to make sure that volunteer work, whether skilled or unskilled, supports and doesn’t detract from local employment. The truth is that most great charities can maximize benefits from a combination of volunteer work and financial donation.
One-Off Projects vs. Sustainability: Volunteer tourism projects that are not sustained by funds from volunteers have a far greater chance of being one-off projects or unsustainable and thus will have less impact. The BeachCorps motto “A little grain of sand” focuses on the cumulative impact of many acts of simple, meaningful work and people-to-people engagement.
Nonprofits Need Resources to Hire Local Labor or You are Killing Jobs: If you bring a whole lot of rich people into a country to build a school or a home, are you taking jobs away from local poor people? The reason that volunteer projects abroad for outstanding nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity are successful isn’t because countries like the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala and Honduras lack willing manual laborers. It’s because the volunteers who go abroad for Habitat do MUCH more than just work. They contribute with their time, their funding, and their 500 Facebook friends to show the cause was worth it. By providing resources for projects that otherwise don’t exist, you are helping to create jobs, not take them away. And yes, the manual labor is fun, hard work, but the best part of all is getting to know the local people whose lives you are empowering.
Volunteers Aren’t Free! Many people think that the simple willingness to show up and help means that you are an asset to an organization. They are wrong. Developing an effective program for unskilled volunteers is difficult and takes time and resources, even more so when the volunteer time is short-term. A visit to a nonprofit can generate significant financial, social and organizational costs which, if not carefully controlled and offset by donations, can ultimately harm the work of the nonprofit and its beneficiaries. Too many volunteer vacation firms focus on trips that please the volunteer, but don’t focus on helping the cause the work supports. Voluntourism expert Daniela Papi explains this phenomenon well in her many blogs and other articles. For example, some volutourism programs with orphanages aim more to please the volunteers than to really help the orphanage and the kids.
Empowering People with the Win-Win Attitude: Volunteers who see their work less as “doing good” and more as a win-win where they learn and grow as they help ultimately have more impact. Volunteers have more impact when they seek to connect with beneficiaries and empower them, not look down on them. Volunteers with the right win-win attitude also tend to enjoy their experience more.
Doing Due Diligence: You already donate money to great causes, right? Why not donate to a great cause where you also want to help out with your work? You can then be the judge of whether your donation is going to the right place–or not!
Promoting Good NonProfit Work Via Social Media: With the power of social media, more happy voluntourists also means more money for great causes as people share their stories. Some of the most important work you can do for a great nonprofit is to check it out in person, make sure it’s doing great work, and then tell your friends about it! Great 501c3 charities get a lot of their donations from people who hear about their work through others they are close to–friends and family. That is why BeachCorps social media will focus on the great work of our nonprofit and private sector partners, not BeachCorps. Pay to volunteer