Volunteer Abroad in 14 Countries.

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Offering Innovations in

Comprehensive Development

Employing the skills and energy of

Volunteers Worldwide

We Catalyze Change Worldwide.

Our volunteers are compassionate, committed individuals – professionals, retirees, students, tradespeople, and others from all backgrounds who know the power of positive, collective action. Working together in teams and under the direction of local leaders abroad or in the US, volunteers nourish children, mentor youth, teach students, support parents, encourage refugees, inspire teachers, care for patients, and span the globe responding to community needs wherever we’re invited to serve.

Join us as a volunteer abroad or donate now, and make real change happen in the world.

We Engage Short-Term Volunteers Worldwide in Long-Term Development.

At Global Volunteers, we take a positive, innovative approach to comprehensive human and economic development. We leverage the world’s endlessly renewable resource – volunteers – to catalyze change while always working under the direction of resourceful local leaders. Our volunteers create, nurture, and sustain the well-being of the world’s children and their families through targeted service in homes, classrooms, clinics, community centers, hospitals, orphanages, childcare centers, libraries, government offices, and farm fields to provide essential services; helping children thrive. We’re invited by community leaders all over the world to serve alongside local people in one-to-three-week service programs; investing in long-term development projects. We support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on safe, meaningful, impactful, service-learning projects, and have earned the highest possible ratings from external nonprofit evaluators, validating that Global Volunteers acts with integrity and transparency, is highly effective, and exceeds industry standards across virtually all areas.

Support genuine, lasting impact as a volunteer abroad or in the US, funding partner, or donor.

“Volunteering abroad holds magic on so many fronts. It’s the springboard for my global explorations. I can’t imagine one without the other anymore.”
-Seija Webb, 8-time Global Volunteer

Volunteer Abroad and in the US. Make Positive Change Happen Here.

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Exceed your Expectations. Be a Catalyst for Change in the World.

“Granddaddy of the volunteer vacation movement.”

“Bud and Michele established Global Volunteers to provide people with an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children around the globe.”

“The work they accomplish meets needs in little-known areas that might not be on the radar of large-scale efforts.”

“Global Volunteers is one of the oldest nonsectarian organizations to offer short-term volunteer vacations.”

“A model that has been replicated worldwide.”

“Global Volunteers has what are regarded as the best programs in the field.”

“Global Volunteers is at the leading edge of the surge in popularity of volunteer vacations.”

“Travel with a conscience and help people on a Global Volunteers journey.”

“In 1979 Michele Gran and Bud Philbrook helped people in a poor mountain village in Guatemala. That lead to Global Volunteers — spiritually fulfilling, intellectually stimulating and incidentally tax-deductible volunteer vacations.”

“Though the volunteers may be vacationers, the aid they bring is real.”

10 Best Volunteer Abroad Organizations: “A pioneer of volunteer vacations organizations, Global Volunteers was founded in 1984 – that is, long before it was a trend.”