Why pay to volunteer?

 

 

WLS International does not receive any government financial support or funding of any kind, and of course we don’t request money from charities and our partner organizations in the developing countries. That is why volunteers need to pay a fee. The money you pay allows us to provide you with the support and service and all the costs associated with organizing your program and also allows us to support organizations and projects around Asia in different ways such as as donating school materials, helping project fundraising, building schools and facilities in villages and giving donations to organizations.

 

Where does the money go?

We understand you've worked hard to raise the funds for your volunteer program and we think you're entitled to know how we spend it. Whilst it's impossible to give you an exact breakdown in each individual case, we can give you an idea about the type of things your contribution goes towards.

The program fees allow us to organize and fund your program and to set up projects wherever we think it may be useful and in all domains where we think that our volunteers can make a valuable contribution. Your program fee not only covers the costs that are directly linked to your presence on the ground, but also a share of all the other costs that setting up, researching and maintaining our quality volunteering programs requires.

The precise use of your particular fees you personally made to WLS International cannot be accounted for specifically but we want to be open and clear about where your money goes. Therefore we have set out here the average percentages of the program fees and expenditure. The percentages represent the average of all our projects. Depending on your volunteer destination, the type of project and other factors, these figures will vary from project to project.

Accommodation and Meals: 15%
This includes the costs of your accommodation in a guesthouse, a home stay or a volunteer house. We commit staff time to identifying suitable accommodation for our volunteers in suitable areas. For some programs meals are also included.

Volunteer Management: 20%
On the ground at your volunteer location coordinating staff are responsible for all volunteer arrangements for your project, accommodation and orientations as well as offering support during your placement. The administration of this as well as pick-ups from the airports is included with any transportation costs incurred in these transfers.

Bank and other Financial Costs 10%
Dealing with international placements we have bank charges, international transfer charges, credit card processing charges and currency exchange charges.

Project Set-up and Management: 10%
Our local teams and our coordinators in Asia are always on the lookout for new worthwhile projects and for new partners to facilitate them. The set-up of new projects and programs requires significant investment before the first volunteer arrives. We also monitor all our projects constantly. We are always looking for ways to improve what we are doing, to achieve more, and to make a difference.

Staff, Marketing, Communication and Admin: 25%
Our staff work hard online, and on the phone to recruit volunteers across the world and work with them to find the perfect placement for their skills and preferences. Also the set up and maintenance of our website ensure you always have access to the most current information you need to choose and prepare for a project. We also need to advertise and promote our program online.

Supporting Local Projects 20%
Across Asia we support various projects in different ways such as helping project fundraising, advising organizations in properly managing their projects, building schools and facilities in villages and giving donations to organizations. We focus these efforts on the projects that need the most help, not necessarily to the project where you will work. Below are some examples of how we support projects.

We hope that by now you'll have a better idea of how we use your hard-earned money and we hope that you'll approve of the decisions we've made to make our expenditure more efficient and environmentally and socially sustainable.

 

For pictures of projects we supported in Asia :

Click here to see the pictures on Flickr

 

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