Responsible Volunteering

Ecoteer prides itself on being a truly responsible volunteering company.

But what does responsible volunteering mean and how is Ecoteer being responsible?

Responsible volunteering has three aspects social awareness, fair economic benefits and environmental protection. In order for a company to be considered responsible all three aspects have to be addressed.

Social Awareness

Ecoteer volunteer placements are not your run of the mill volunteer projects. On many you will not volunteer with lots of other western volunteers but will become one of the local community as you will be working with local employees. This cultural immersion helps you to think like a local, learn their ways and ultimately respect them in a way they would like to be respected not using stereotypes.

Ecoteer in partnership with World Nomads gives its members a downloadable language guide for more than 50 languages. This will further help our volunteers to immerse themselves in the local culture.

Ecoteer projects are helping the local people through teaching and health issues. If you would like to help at one of our teaching English or humanitarian projects click on the one you would like to join.

Fair Economic Benefits

Ecoteer projects are cheap and cheap for one reason, we do not take any commission when you pay for your project. The majority of volunteer companies charge a commission of 33% we do not charge anything and we do not charge projects to be listed on our site. The only money Ecoteer makes is through the volunteer membership fees. Therefore 100% of the money a volunteer pays for volunteering goes towards the project they join.

Environmental Responsibility

Environmental responsibility is probably the biggest part in being responsible. Ecoteer has conservation projects and ecotourism placements that all have to show true environmental stewardship before they are allowed to be placed on the Ecoteer site

When you visit the Ecoteer site your computer and several servers around the world are working while you search our site. Ecoteer pays into a carbon offsetting program which reduces the equilivant of the CO2 given off as a result of the power used by all the computers and the servers keeping the Ecoteer site online. Click on the logo below to find out more

Travel is a big factor and Ecoteer would like to promote local volunteering. Air travel to placements around the world releases alot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. There are hundreds of volunteer opportunities that can be found in the UK, Australia and the USA. Click below for Ecoteers partners in these countries.

If you want to volunteer in a foreign country then you have two options - either you can travel via land or sea (using trains, buses and boats) - for more information please visit our
Green travel section and follow our tips below.

Tips to reduce carbon emissions while volunteering

1. Volunteer close to home;
2. Use trains or boats to travel to destinations;
3. Buy direct flights as take-off and landing releases most carbon emissions;
4. Pay into a carbon off-setting scheme.