Volunteering abroad

Remember that the EU considers volunteering the same as working and would require a work permit visa. Very hard to get. Your best bet might be to join a stateside volunteering group that sends people to Europe to volunteer with established agencies. That way all of your required paper work would be handle by the agency. You cannot just show up at a church and say you want to volunteer for a week.

It depends how you go about it. This organization and others like it allow volunteers to take "working vacations" in areas like archeology and eco-research.

http://earthwatch.org/scientific-research

You pay as much as you would for a vacation of comparable length.

I was in my local library and I found a couple of " how to volunteer" books in the travel section. The Lonely Planet has an entire books about how to volunteer, but the print is small. Also National Geographic has a book the covers volunteering (focuses on US i think).
Both go over the ins and outs of the paperwork, issues, safety etc.
I would also look at the travel classes that RS offers in his Edmonds' store, there is a presenter that goes over volunteering (sorry I cant remember her name).
I would also go to Youtube to see if anyone has posted a lecture about travel volunteering. I think there was a TED talk on this subject.
Checking out local branches of international organizations; Red Cross/Red Crescent, World Vision, Peace Corps, Mercy Aide, USAide, etc. could help get contacts/leads in areas you want to travel.
Hope this helps a little
J

The best I've seen is the Lonely Planet resource Janet mentioned. Here it is:
http://media.lonelyplanet.com/pdfs/volunteer-book.pdf

Our few recommended resources are posted on the thread linked above.

You must get advice on this matter from your sending agency or local
grass-roots NGO but, nine times out of ten, you will be asked to
obtain a standard tourist visa. There are a few reasons for this.
Firstly, there’s nothing wrong with doing some volunteering on a
tourist visa. Secondly, you’re not officially working: you’ve not got
a contract of employment and you’re not earning a salary. Thirdly,
volunteer visas are sometimes more difficult to obtain because they
can raise suspicion and lead to all sorts of petty officialdom. As a
result, volunteers tend to travel on tourist visas and can be found at
the weekends popping over to their nearest border post to renew them.

This is a paragraph from the lonely planet book mentioned above and it is extreamly bad advice when it come to Europe and particularly the Schengen Area! Firstly all work regardless of whether it is paid or unpaid requires a permit other than a tourist visa. The consequences of being caught would at a minimum deportation and a ban on reentry for a period 5 years or more, but might also include a fine of up to €10K.

Furthermore, I would not be surprise if your typical travel insurance would be willing to cover any medical costs arising as a result of illegal work activity.

I think it is very unethical for organisations to take advantage well intended people in this way.

Earthwatch has some similar wording on their site, saying that immigration doesn't understand volunteering, keep quiet about it and tourist entry is OK. I personaly think this is disingenuous. If it was fine to do volunteer work on a tourist entry then there ought to be no problem telling immigration.

That is bad advice, at least when it comes to Europe (I won't enter the moral discussions or sneaking in countries with severe violations of human rights and similar instances, which is not the case of Europe).

Now, if you are serious about volunteering, the best way is to arrange it with some NGO where your skills might be helpful. They should know procedures for taking volunteers from abroad.

Another option is to explore a retiree visa or similar provision that allows you to live in the specific country, where you then could probably volunteer your help to local NGOs.