How to Organize Group Volunteer Work for an Environmental Organization

Planning group volunteer work can be an enormous task. There are so many choices of where to go and what to do that it is no wonder why so many leaders find themselves at a loss of direction. The purpose of this article is to provide leaders of environmental organization with some direction in their decision making process.

What kind of work? This is the primary question that needs to be answered. Every organization needs to come to a consensus of what kind of work they want to take part in. The group could organize a beach clean up, help save endangered turtles, aide in restoring the rainforest, or assist in maintaining the pristine beauty of a nature reserve. All of these ideas come with their own characteristics that can either work very well for the group, or make the trip extremely difficult to plan. Each work type also comes with its own price range, so it's important to consider all of the details for each idea.

What is the budget? Environmental groups come in many sizes ranging from a few to hundreds of members. The size of the organization usually has a lot to do with the budget. You need to decide if the money will be coming from the treasury or if members will be raising funds for the trip. For tips on how to raise money for trips, see my published articles.

If you are working with a small budget, there will be some limitations. This doesn't mean that you are limited to staying local for your volunteer work, though. However, usually a small budget means that you will have to be more creative about where you go if you plan on traveling. One idea would be to volunteer at a nature reserve. You can visit The Nature Conservancy at http://www.nature.org. From there, click the "volunteer" tab. You can look up all of the nature reserves in your state and also find events that are specifically geared toward volunteering. Since your donation of time won't cost you any money, all you have to worry about is transportation (which could be driving or inexpensive air fare) and a place to stay. If you are limited in the amount of money you can spend on a hotel, you could consider making the volunteer work a day-trip. You could organize beach clean-ups and river clean-ups, or even participate in the adopt-a-highway program.

If you are working with a larger budget, you may want to look into an i-to-i trip. These are volunteer trips that can jet set your group to locations such as Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. The great thing about these trips is that there are many activities targeted toward wildlife and environmental conservation. A typical conservation trip like the Sea turtle conservation in Costa Rica trip can cost around $900.00 for one week. This includes a place to stay, all meals, airport pickup, training, and support while the group is in Costa Rica. There are many other travel companies that offer similar packages and group rates may apply.