Volunteer in Thailand with Grassroots Organizations

I’m a resident of Bangkok and have lived here for more than 3 years. I have a full-time job and this website is a side-project that I’m starting to help people who would like to do volunteer work in Thailand find an organization that suits them. I aim to provide some practical information about Thailand volunteering and some of the many organizations that operate here. All of the organizations on this site have been recommended to me by friends, friends of friends or that I’m working with on some level.

It’s a grassroots website where people can contribute articles about organizations they are working with and their projects and is run by volunteers in Thailand for volunteers in Thailand. The basic aim is the following:

• 1. Help people find organizations they want to volunteer with.
• 2. Help publicize the projects of smaller organizations in Thailand.
• 3. Raise some money for these organizations by increasing awareness.
• 4. Help organizations find volunteers for their projects.
• 5. Help organizations find out more about what other groups are doing.
• 6. Allow organizations and volunteers to post articles, blogs, and      information to help raise funds, find follow up volunteers, and sponsorship for various projects.

Finding an organization that you want to work with and volunteer your time and energy with requires some due diligence on your part, so that you find out about what the organization does, the project you will be working on, and understand how your contribution helps move the project towards its ultimate goals.

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment once you have decided that you want to volunteer and are feeling like you can conquer the world and naturally you’ll want to start as soon as humanly possible, but it is important to do your homework and manage your expectations about what is possible and how your contribution can help. Volunteering is a truly rewarding and invigorating experience, but finding an organization that suits you and that fits in with your skills and goals is an important step in ensuring that the experience is a positive one.

In Thailand, as in many other countries, volunteering has become big business and there are many organizations that happen to do good work and are making a profit. It is not terribly difficult to register as a charitable organization in Thailand and it is difficult to know for sure how much of that money goes towards the projects themselves.  There are often many smaller organizations that don’t require paying hefty sums of money to volunteer. I am not at all saying that the pay-to-volunteer organizations are  bad, but only that there are very often smaller organizations that don’t require large payment as they have lower overhead and often rely on the support of volunteers, private donations, endowments, and corporate sponsorship to keep their programs going. My aim is to give those with the desire to volunteer more information so that they can weight their options carefully before making any volunteer choices.

If you’d like to submit an article about your volunteer experience or your volunteer organization please send an email with your article to realvolunteerthailand@gmail.com