Why Should I Pay to Volunteer?

Having to pay a fee to work as a volunteer at an international animal charity is a controversial topic.

In fact, these days, it can be hard to find volunteering opportunities that don’t involve paying to be there!

When I first started looking for opportunities to volunteer as a wanderlust-filled student, I was outraged by the idea of having to pay for a placement. I would research for hours and find the ideal shelter in an exotic locale. I would reach out to them to offer my time, full of enthusiasm and hope… and then they’d send me through the application fees. At hundreds of dollars a week, it felt like a slap in a face, and was well outside of my budget! I mean, here I was, offering to fly across the world to help them for free, and in return they just wanted my money?!

It made me so mad! And I felt so discouraged that I turned down many trips that I would have loved to have been a part of.

But now, ten years on from my first international volunteering stints, I have a much clearer understanding of why so many charities do ask volunteers to pay- and honestly, its not a negative thing at all!

Stick with me while I explain:

Separating the Charities from the Voluntourism Providers.

Just to be clear, there are two major groups of opportunities that you will see when you type “volunteer with animals” into a search engine- lets call them genuine charities vs volun-tourism providers.

Now there can be a lot of over-lap between the two groups, and it can be really difficult to tell the two apart until you arrive at a project in person. But while these two groups can both charge money to host volunteers, they have very different reasons why they might do so.

Voluntourism Providers

These are third-party companies that connect volunteers to animal projects. They are businesses that aim to make a profit. They cater largely to westerners, and provide a professional experience that is somewhere in between volunteering and having an all-inclusive foreign holiday.

For example, these programs might advertise working in a wildlife shelter every morning, then going zip-lining, and taking a local cooking courses in the afternoons. They are likely to include food, accommodation and airport transfers.

The animals in the shelter that you interact with may be arranged through a genuine animal charity on the ground, or it could be through a zoo or wildlife park. If you can, try to reach out to this group directly so you can learn more about their mode of operations before you support them- the last thing you want is to be financing an operation that trades wild animals for profit. And if they are a genuine animal rescue, you might have the option to visit them directly without the fees!

There is nothing wrong with being involved with voluntourism providers, but keep in mind that the reason that they charge high fees is because they are paying for your accomodation, your adventure sports and classes, and likely making a tidy profit on top of this. Little of your fee is likely to go to the animals themselves.

I’ll be writing an article soon on how to spot a voluntourism program, but in the meantime, try to decide what you’re comfortable supporting, and do plenty of research before you sign up to one of these.

If you choose to participate in volunt-tourism, now you know why the fees may be high!

Genuine charities and shelters.

There are also plenty of reasons why genuine charities and shelters may ask volunteers to pay fees when they visit.

Keep in mind that these groups do not make any private profits- all the money they take will go directly back into the business to support the animals in their care. The majority of these will be registered charities, and should provide proof of this on their website.

The Challenges of Hosting Volunteers

To explain why charities might charge you money to visit, lets step back and consider things from their point of view.

Hosting a volunteer at your charitable organisation comes with a lot of challenges, and puts a significant amount of extra work on your permanent staff. Consider that to host a volunteer, you need to:

• spend time exchanging emails, coordinating time-frames and checking qualifications
• fill in paperwork for visas and insurance
• invest in accomodation and/or meals for them to have a comfortable stay
• organise transport for them, or provide instructions on how to reach you
• take time out from other important jobs to train new people reguarly
• adapt to having new people around all the time, which can be tiring on the other staff and the animals with whom they build relationships
• ensure that volunteers are not causing problems, for example by cutting corners at work, or upsetting the neighbours by being too boisterous on weekends.

Even with this basic list, you can see yourself that there is a lot to be done behind the scenes to host a volunteer. And all these extra tasks are taking time away from the charity’s number one goal, which is to support the animals in their care!

So why would a charity go to so much trouble to bring a stranger into their shelter or clinic?

The Three Things Volunteers Give to Charities

Broadly, there are three things that Volunteer Organisations need, which may be provided by volunteers:

1. Skills
2. Dedication
3. Money

No charity or shelter can run without these, but the model for the charity will determine where each of these come from.

Skills:

All shelters and clinics rely on skilled people to help get work done, whether thats construction skills to build the enclosures, veterinary skills to treat animals, or marketing skills to apply for grants or educate the locals. Some clinics are able to employ local people to fulfill these roles at market rates, which is a great way to ensure a project is sustainable and integrated in the community. Others rely on volunteers with suitable qualifications to take on these tasks, often for short to medium-term periods, or to complete a specific project.

Dedication:

These roles are filled by people on the ground who are willing to muck in and put in the hours to keep the shelter or clinic running on a daily basis. We all know that working with animals can be a dirty job, so this might involve chopping up food, physical work, scrubbing enclosures, picking up mess, walking dogs and running errands around the town. They might even be promoted to longer-term roles, like shelter manager or volunteer coordinator. People in these roles need to be hard workers who can take initiative to get tasks done, even if it may not always feel like fun. They are most effective when they can commit to staying a significant length of time, usually three to six month minimum, so they know how things run and how to solve problems.

Money:

Even with the best intentions, no charity can survive without a stable source of income. Shelters and clinics have a lot of overhead costs, whether that be for purchasing foods and medicines, paying rent or providing wages to the local people who work there. This money may come from international fundraising, government grants or from visitors, and ensuring a regular cash-flow is one of the biggest challenges faced by many charities. Volunteers who make significant financial contributions can still gain a lot from their experiences, and often stay for shorter term stints.

There will be some over-lap between these three things, but most volunteers will fall mainly into one category or another.

What can you give?

So, with that in mind, what do you provide to the charities that you visit?

For me ten years ago as a high-school student, it was pretty simple. I didn’t have any useful professional skills, and I wasn’t willing to commit three months to running a shelter. So of course, the best way that I could support these charities was financially! I still had a fantastic time visiting shelters for a week or two, and I still mucked in and learned a lot! But looking back, my biggest lasting impact would have been financial. And thats ok!

I’ve also met plenty of long-term dedicated volunteers who provide manpower to the shelters and clinics. These volunteers often take on managerial or internship roles, living on site and organising the shorter-term visitors. They certainly have skills of their own which they contribute, but the largest contribution is their dedication to be there, day in and day out, ensuring everything runs smoothly. They may volunteer at a discount or for free, some even take on paid roles so they can stay on long term.

Today, as a qualified veterinary surgeon, my main contribution when I volunteer is my skills. I perform surgery and give professional advice on animal health that a general person could not do. As such, there are a lot more opportunities out there for me to work at shelters and charities for minimal fees and for short-term periods. But even so, I always try to fundraise before I visit a shelter, and I do my best to collect veterinary supplies to donate when I arrive.

So think about what you can contribute, and how it can be best utilised by the charity you’d like to visit. And if you’re still a student and you don’t have much time, don’t be offended by the cost of volunteering! Your fees allow you to fully support the charity (and your living costs) while you have an incredible international experience, so everyone still benefits from this arrangement!

“But I want to help a charity with my actions, not my money“

There are two things I’d say to this.

One, by fundraising and raising awareness for a charity, you are making a lasting difference! Not only are you funding the purchase of food and life-saving medications, you’re getting the name and logo of that charity out there among your social group, and that awareness can help others to get involved in the future. The charity couldn’t run without people like you!

And two, everyone has skills in something- think outside the box and consider which unusual skills you could use to help your chosen charity out. Are you a socia media whiz? Maybe you can help managing their accounts. Are you a great photographer? Why don’t you offer to take professional photographs of the animals that they can use on their website? Do you work in marketing, art or languages? Maybe you could help them produce educational material for local children! There are so many ways you can make a lasting positive impact. So reach out to the charity with your ideas, and see what opportunities they might have to work together.

And what if you’re thinking- I have skills! I have a biology, or business, or zoology degree, but charities are still asking me to pay. In that case, think about the specific practical skills you could offer a charity that a general person could not do. If you can save a charity money, or help them make money in future, they may not need you to pay your way like a general volunteer. Can you help them complete a study on their animals which will raise awareness? Can you catch and tag a certain wildlife species that most people cannot handle? If you have a good case for why your time is worth more that a volunteer fee, many charities will jump at the opportunity to have you.

A final note

In conclusion, it can be easy to feel taken aback when a charity asks for money.

But remember- real animal charities exist to have the animal’s best interest at heart. Its not about being cheap and easy for the volunteers…its all about the animals, and that’s the way it should be! So whether you can provide professional skills, dedication or financial stability, remember that you are a vital part of the volunteering team, and you’re helping to put the animals first.

Do you disagree that charities should be able to charge volunteers? Go on, leave a comment below or send an email via the contact me page.

Want to check out some great shelters and charities that are looking to take on volunteers (mostly for free)? Check out the Volunteers Page now to get started!