LA JOLLA, Calif.—Volunteer vacations are becoming a growing trend among Americans, according to a new survey by the University of California San Diego Extension. Similar to catching up on a fashion trend, the younger generations are engaging in this new form of volunteerism.
Two-thirds of high school students and around half of the college students surveyed said that they have discussed traveling to other parts of the world to offer volunteer services in the past year, while only less than half of the adults and one-quarter of retirees said that they have done so.
Nevertheless, over 69 percent of Americans have donated money or time to an international cause on the whole, which is an increase from 48 percent in a spring 2008 poll conducted by the same organization.
“More and more people in all stages of life are thinking of becoming global ‘voluntourists,’” said Bob Benson, director of the Center for Global Volunteer Service at the University of California (UC) San Diego Extension, in a press release.
“People are looking to volunteer their time in meaningful ways that make contributions to people in regions other than their own, and younger people are especially eager to make ‘voluntourism’ part of their lifestyle.”
According to the poll, 30 percent of the respondents chose to volunteer in order to pursue a cause or purpose that they believe in. Twenty-three percent of the people simply wanted to feel needed and helpful.
The 2009 poll, which was conducted by Caravan Opinion Research Corporation in March by interviewing 1,000 adults on the phone, and enriched through an online survey of over 300 adults in May by UC San Diego Extension, also revealed people’s preferences and destinations of volunteer assignments with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Although fewer than 7 percent of all respondents chose to make global service a career, many were willing to make at least one trip.
Sixty-three percent of Americans wanted to volunteer outside of the country, with Africa as the top choice at 14 percent, followed by Australia tied with Europe at 11 percent, and South America at 8 percent.
The top five desired assignments are educational or artistic and cultural development at 23 percent, provision of spiritual or emotional assistance at 19 percent, health and nutrition improvement at 18 percent, roads, homes and technology infrastructure construction at 14 percent and environmental cleanup or agriculture assistance at 12 percent.
The UC San Diego Extension has created self-paced online courses to help potential volunteers prepare for their volunteer trips. For more information, please visit www.extension.ucsd.edu/cgvs .
