Most short-term international volunteer programs have a program fee which covers the expenses of operating the program. Like most not-for-profit organizations that operate international volunteer programs, CCS' programs are financed by volunteer contributions.
Cross-Cultural Solutions is an independent, international not-for-profit with no governmental or religious affiliations. Learn about how CCS applies the volunteer's program fee towards its operations and what the fee covers.
Below is an excerpt from a book on international volunteering that helps to explain the necessity of this fee.
How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas
Authors Joseph Collins, Stefano DeZerega, and Zahara Heckscher. ©Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2002.
Prospective volunteers are surprised to learn that many programs charge their volunteers a fee to participate. At first, this can seem ridiculous —Why should you pay money to work for free? Aren't you already forgoing income you could be making? Here are a few things to keep in mind while trying to understand why the vast majority of programs charge international volunteers a fee:
- The local organizations and projects with which you volunteer overseas have limited resources and are seldom able to subsidize your trip or cover the costs of hosting you. (These costs include housing, feeding and transporting you, among numerous other things.) [...]
- Identifying appropriate host organizations overseas and working with them is time-consuming, takes resources, and requires an experienced and professional staff.
- The process of preparing, training, transporting, housing, feeding, and supervising volunteers is not cheap. Additional services such as health care, re-entry assistance, travel medical insurance, and more, all add to the expenses of a program.
- The costs of recruiting volunteers, producing literature, answering the phones, sending mailings, developing a website, and interviewing potential volunteers are significant.
