Volunteer Travel

Volunteer travel can be rewarding and exciting. We've identified some organizations that have trips available now. Come back frequently, as we add new sources and trips around the world.

Global Village
http://www.habitat.org/gv/
Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Village trips give participants a unique opportunity to become active partners with people of another culture. Team members work alongside members of the host community, raising awareness of the burden of poverty housing and building decent, affordable housing worldwide. As partners, team members help build a true “global village” of love, homes, communities and hope. Check out their trips by country today.

Travel for Good
http://www.travelocity.com/travelforgood
As a promoter and aggregator of information about voluntourism (volunteer vacations), Travel For Good’s Change Ambassadors program aims to make it easy for travelers to access volunteer opportunities around the world. They list a variety of volunteer tourism links, stories, blogs and videos.

Global Vision International
http://www.gviusa.com
Global Vision offers volunteers opportunities to work on critical humanitarian initiatives as well as conservation projects and around the world. GVI works with local charities, government bodies and community organizations across the world, helping them to find volunteers to work on a wide range of worthwhile and vitally important projects. They have many projects working with children, and have several family oriented projects.

Globe Aware
www.globeaware.org
Globe Aware, a nonprofit organization, currently offers volunteer vacations in Peru, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cuba, Nepal, Brazil, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Jamaica, Romania, Ghana, Mexico and China. These short-term (one week) adventures in service focus on cultural-awareness and sustainability, and are often compared to a "mini peace corps". All program costs, including the cost of airfare, are tax-deductible. Globe Aware is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity.

Idea List
www.idealist.org
Find volunteer opportunities around the world. A project of non-profit Action Without Borders, Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters and take steps so that all people can lead free and dignified lives. This is one of the best and most robust volunteer lists we've found. Using a searchable database, you can find volunteer opportunities in countries around the world. Search for opportunites outside of the U.S. here. IdeaList is used on the Clinton Global Initiative website extensively.

United Nations Volunteers
http://www.unv.org/
United Nations Volunteers is the United Nations focal point for promoting and harnessing volunteerism for effective development. UNV is a strategic source of knowledge and advice about the role and contribution of volunteerism and the benefits of civic engagement in development programs.

Cross Cultural Solutions
http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/
A leader in volunteer travel, CCS has been operating international volunteer programs for over 10 years, with over 4,000 volunteers participating each year, and has been profiled by over 500 news organizations. Their 2-12 week programs are wide and varied: caring for the elderly, caring for people with HIV/AIDS, teaching English, women's empowerment, and more. If you would like to volunteer for one week, look at their Insights Abroad program.

i-to-i Travel
www.i-to-i.com
Meaningful travel with locally run projects and in-country personnel. Projects range from building projects to teaching and community development in countries around the world.