Funding Your Trip - Money Matters
So you have decided that you are going to volunteer. Fantastic news! Now you need to work out how you are going to pay for your adventure, unless you are fortunate enough to already have enough savings that will finance all of your expenses. What do you need to pay for? It depends on where you are volunteering and with which organisation you are volunteering with, but generally such expenses can include the following:
- Your Flights (use a price comparison site like Yahoo! flight comparison
to ensure you get the cheapest ones to your destination)
- Your accommodation
- Payment to organisation who arranges and administers your volunteer experience
- Paying for your preparation such as buying necessary travel items if you do not already have them.
- General living expenses abroad (such as food, drink, travel expenses)
- Emergency fund for the unexpected that may occur
It might sound a lot, but volunteering does not have to cost the earth at all and if you are thinking that the costs might be a little too much for you then consider fundraising. REMEMBER - you are going to be a voluntary worker - you are doing something good that will be of benefit in one or many ways. So why not get yourself sponsored or raise money to help fund your trip? Check out our fundraising ideas page for more information.
Research the cost of living
Do some research on the place or places where you will be volunteering to get an idea about cost of living and then work out a basic daily budget for whilst you are away. Make it realistic and it is better to overestimate rather than underestimate as you do not want to run out of money during your trip. Do have a back up plan, whether family, friends, emergency savings, to allow for the unexpected such as medical costs, extra travel costs, or just to cover any situations that may leave you short of money.
Taking money with you?
You will need access to money when you are volunteering and travelling. You have to decide before you go how much you will take with you and in what form. We recommend a mix of cash, travellers cheques and, if you have them, a bank account debit card or a credit card (if you take a credit card make sure someone can pay the bill for you back home). For any credit or debit card you take you should make sure you note any telephone numbers to call in the event of a lost or stolen card. These numbers are sometimes on the back of your cards but the card provider will be able to tell you. In any case you should inform your card provider (VERY important) before you travel that you intend to be travelling abroad so that they authorise any transactions you make whilst abroad.
With travellers cheques you are relatively safe. If they are lost or stolen you can normally get them replaced quickly. You will need to ensure you know the telephone number to ring should you need to report their loss. Our checklists for recording useful numbers may help.
If you decide to take cash in the local currency then we strongly recommend that you do not store it all in the same place. It sounds obvious but it still happens. Be inventive about where you keep it, split it up into several different amounts and put it safe places perhaps on your person and/or in your luggage. If you are then ever in the unfortunate situation of being robbed then at least you should not lose all of your money. Body wallets are good, but almost every traveller has them so don't fall under the misapprehension that you are completely safe putting all your belongings in these! Basically as the saying goes, don't put all you eggs in one basket!
If you have any comments on this volunteer guide, or perhaps have other ideas or advice that could be included here, please contact us so we can pass it on to others.