General Tips And Advice

Combine Travel and Volunteering with a Voluntourism Trip

Date: July 1st, 2010 |

Travel, it could be argued, is a selfish act. We want to see the world, experience something outside of our culture, taste foreign flavors, see historic sights, broaden our horizons and enrich our own lives. And so even the most budget-conscious among us spend a fair bit of cash to do so. There’s nothing wrong [read more]

Geekcorps: Bringing YouTube to developing villages

Date: October 22nd, 2007 |

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The One Laptop Per Child folks may be hogging the press in the push to jump-start technology in developing countries, but their lesser known cousin Geekcorps was there first. Started in 1999 by Ethan Zuckerman, Geekcorps takes trained Information Technology personnel and places them in villages across the world to set up a technology [read more]

Featured Volunteer resource: Ecovolunteer

Date: October 17th, 2007 |

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Looking for a volunteer travel opportunity of a greener sort? Ecovolunteer allows you to travel for a cause and help out some of the world’s endangered animals.
With its easy to navigate and fun to use site, Ecovolunteer puts the causes front and center, allowing interested travelers to sort through their trips, both by destination and [read more]

Volunteer Breakdown

Date: October 10th, 2007 |

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There’s no question that volunteer travel has seen a recent surge in popularity, but just how many people are spending their vacation days building schools in developing nations? And who are these volunteers? Do men or women spend donate more time? Is a 54 year-old unmarried doctor more likely to volunteer than a 22 year-old [read more]

You can represent 5% of your Nation’s GDP

Date: October 1st, 2007 |

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Empirical data ruled last week as the United Nations, with Johns Hopkins University, took a close look at volunteerism and volunteer-travel at a conference in Bonn, Germany.
The meeting saw the release of the long-titled but relatively succinct document, “Measuring Civil Society and Volunteering: Initial Findings from Implementation of the UN Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions,” [read more]

Holiday Party

Date: October 25th, 2007 |

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It won’t do any good for anyone but yourself, but you’re invited to the 2007 Bootsnall Holiday Party on December 1st. It’s a real party, at a real venue (none of this online party stuff) and there’ll be chances to win prizes, meet the staff of this travel blog network and enjoy the company of [read more]

Senior friendly volunteer trips

Date: October 17th, 2007 |

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Long-term volunteer travel is typically a young-person’s game. Spending 12 months in India or rural Mexico can be hard on the body and the immune system and the elderly generally steer clear.
But if you’re in good shape and fit in mind, there are many volunteer companies that would love to have your time and [read more]

Five places you can volunteer during (an extended) Thanksgiving

Date: October 10th, 2007 |

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The stores may still be stocked for Halloween, but now is the time to start planning that Thanksgiving volunteer trip. You still have time to book most of these trips for the long holiday weekend, but not much.
5 places you can volunteer during (an extended) Thanksgiving
1. Pennsylvania
Make up for some of those Thanksgiving Turkeys that [read more]

Is my Volunteer trip tax-deductible?

Date: October 8th, 2007 |

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Donate your car, your old clothes, even your stereo and, in America, the government lets you write it off and deduct it from your annual contribution to the country. But does your time earn you the same earn you the same leeway? Is a trip to build houses in Mexico a deductible donation?
The short answer [read more]

21 “Tips” from Safe Traveler

Date: September 25th, 2007 |

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The folks over at Safe Traveler today provide us today with 21 ways to make our volunteer travel experiences safer.
After sorting through the generic travel advice and the tips designed to scare us into buying a spy report on the area, the list turns into more like six pieces of advice that apply to us [read more]