The first step is for you to complete the on-site registration form – as fully and honestly as you can. Your registration doesn’t commit you to anything – any information you provide is treated with respect and held in confidence.Read More.

The more information you provide at this stage, the more efficiently we'll be able to move towards matching you with an appropriate placement.  Your skills and experience are obviously going to be very important in creating the right match for you – and don’t for a moment think that you haven’t got any!

Kate, our placements director, says: “I hear this a lot – people telling me they’ve no skills that could possibly be of use! Often this just means that people have no formal qualifications or that they simply don’t recognise their own very real abilities as skills, but even things that we take for granted – cooking, running a household, understanding a balance-sheet, gardening, DIY – are all skills that are valid and can be used. I know I can find appropriate placements. While there are real needs for qualified professionals, there are also always needs for practical and life skills. It's my job to match skills to needs. So long as volunteers are honest, open-minded and willing to share, I can usually place them.”

So, while you’re browsing through the projects, please don’t give up if you can’t immediately see what you’re looking for – if you’ve told us about your skills and experience, we’ll be able to create an appropriate match for you.

When we receive your registration, we’ll be in touch. We'll want to know ‘what makes you tick’, we'll ask for references and relevant criminal records screening, as well as confirmation that you have adequate travel insurance and of your fitness to work in a project. You will want to know what you’ll be doing, where you'll live, how to behave, what’s included in the price … and no doubt more! Read More. The mutual exchange of information is vital to ensure that we make the right match.

You'll also be encouraged to contact previous volunteers – regardless of how much information we provide and how well we prepare you, there is nothing to compare with the first hand experience of other volunteers …Read More.

… and while you’re accumulating news and views, so is the project. We share relevant information about you and your skills with our local partners as we work towards an appropriate match for you, but rest assured that your information is only shared with relevant people.

When an outline of your placement is agreed, you will then be put in direct contact with the local team.

If you decide not to volunteer with people and places, and to travel with another volunteer organisation, please remember to ask plenty of questions! Making volunteering more ethical, responsible and sustainable will only happen if we all work at it from all sides! Read More.