Kristina Roe is guest blogging here on behalf of responsibletravel.com. After my largely uninformed posts about volunteer travel I reached out to responsibletravel.com to see if they could offer some advise on having an impact with a volunteer trip. Here’s the result. – Weldon

There are more and more organisations that are beginning to offer volunteering trips and for this reason, we at www.responsibletravel.com feel it’s more important than ever that people take the time to research the different options, choose a trip that best suits their needs / ages / skills sets and take steps to ensure that the company they are traveling with, offers ‘responsible’ volunteering options. We believe that all volunteer projects should be based on a real local need and work in partnership with local people. We always encourage travellers to ask plenty of questions of companies before making any decisions. Here’s our ten-point checklist of questions to ask companies that they are speaking with:

1. Is the project based on a real local need? If so, what?
2. Was the project suggested by local people rather than invented by a marketing department?
3. Is the project run jointly with local people? (this transfers skills and ensures longevity)
4. Can you see an independent report on the benefits (both short-term and long-term) of the project to local people/environment?
5. Can you speak to a previous volunteer?
6. What pre-trip briefing and training is needed or available?
7. Can you see their policy for responsible tourism?
8. Do they offset the Co2 from the flights of all personnel?
9. Is there transparent information around cost and where the money goes?
10. Does the organization take steps to match your skills to the needs of the project?

For more check out these two articles: Change your life and take a career break and A taste of volunteering

- Kristina Roe

I felt a little guilty that I ended my short look on volunteering holidays advising against them. I feel a bit more validated in this ad on Facebook. Is that seriously the picture they meant to have with that ad? That’s not volunteering, that’s dancing in a club. Obviously I love meeting new folks and going nuts in a cheap club. But call the trip what it is. if you’re there to party, then don’t call it a volunteer trip.

Hopefully we all want to have a net positive impact on this world. However, in the hustle and bustle of life, it can be easy to put good works on a back burner, or forget to do them entirely. That’s where charity traveling comes in.

I started this post because I stumbled across Classic Tours, which combines the popularity of charity fundraising challenges and adventure travel. At first I thought this was a novel approach as I was only familiar with volunteer travel programs. As it turns out, there is a massive charity travel industry catering to that need to have a positive impact. Google can give you a large menu of noble and valuable volunteer travel options, so I’ll point out a couple I found different and interesting.

Classic Tours runs some real adventures, like biking in Vietnam and Cambodia raising money for great charities here in the UK. If the charity marathon is a little bit to cliché for you, check out what they have to offer.

Earth Watch Institute offers a range of trips where you’re supposed helping with research projects. While I have my doubts that you’ll actually get to be a substantive help on an archeological dig, it is a cool idea.

Eco Volunteer runs programs to preserve endangered species. You pick what species you want to help, including what I would imagine to be less popular options like Wild African Hunting Dogs, and work protecting with local communities on preservation.

Finally, this might be a bit of a bastard thing to say on a travel blog, but consider volunteering locally too. In fact, consider that first. Traveling somewhere to volunteer for a week or two is a good thing. But dedicating yourself to local volunteer service allows you to remain well involved for the long haul, introduces you to a new side of your community, and gives you a chance to involve your broader social network in your volunteer efforts over time.

Look into refugee settlement programs, affordable housing construction, neighborhood clean up, or tutoring at risk kids. The overhead for getting involved is almost normally just your time, and you can see your work go beyond the few days that you have to give to a vacation.