Transparency is a vital component of today's international volunteer community. This is why we created the following article to inform you in more detail about the deposit.
After you have received an offer from your volunteer organization and accepted it, you have to pay the deposit (which is usually approximately 20% of the volunteer program fee). The deposit exists in order to reserve your spot at the social project.
Typically, you have one week to make this payment; otherwise, your spot may be offered to another applicant. Upon successfully paying the deposit, you will receive a confirmation email.
Volunteer World is a search and booking platform for humanitarian mission programs. By offering their programs and promoting their activities, our role is to actively support our partner organizations by helping them to find volunteers, accompanying them in this process, and acting as a mediator. We offer them our marketing and communication services, as well as the use of our application and booking system to facilitate the whole process. In exchange for all our support, the organizations pay us a commission on each booking.
To facilitate the payment and booking process, this commission is directly deducted from the total program fee indicated on the program page and acts as a deposit paid by the volunteer to confirm their booking. This deposit, which covers approximately 20% of the total program cost, already includes any service charges that may be incurred. An invoice documenting this transaction will be provided, reflecting Volunteer World’s commission for facilitating the booking process. The remaining program fee represents the "net payout" due to the hosting organization, as per their instructions.
Payment of the remaining amount will be arranged by the host organization.
This payment is typically made before your arrival, with methods like bank transfers or cash payments based on the host organization’s instructions. It’s recommended to secure travel insurance, as the remaining balance payment often isn’t covered under Volunteer World’s Flex Option.