Volunteer travel
Get volunteers to the work, and home again.
Volunteers give their time. They shouldn't spend it on hold with an airline. silentVIP's travel team plans, books and looks after travel for volunteer teams and the organizations that send them, from the first roster to the last flight home.
Team manifest
Coastal rebuild, team 3
Outbound Sat 14 Mar · return Sun 29 Mar · 14 volunteers
Why it is different
Volunteer travel is not business travel
Rosters change late. Projects start where flights don't go. Many travelers have never flown internationally. And when plans fall apart, the people affected are volunteers, not staff with a corporate card.
Rosters that move
Names arrive late and people drop out. We hold group space where we can and change names as your roster settles.
Hard-to-reach places
Routes timed around the project start, the last ferry or the road transfer, not just the cheapest fare.
First-time travelers
Clear itineraries, a named contact and help on the day, for volunteers who have never done this before.
Tight budgets
Every fee itemized. No supplier commissions. We're paid only our published fees.
A duty of care
Your organization is responsible for the people it sends. We help you know where they are and reach them.
Plans that change
Weather, permits and partners shift dates. We rebook, track credits and keep everyone informed.
The program
Everything volunteer travel needs, in one place
Teams and groups
One booking for a whole team, with names changed as the roster moves. Group travel from 10 attendees.
Learn morePreparing volunteers
Travel that fits entry rules, documents and briefings, with official sources for everything else.
Learn moreVolunteer safety
Monitoring, check-ins and a plan for when things go wrong, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Learn moreFor volunteer organizations
For programs that send volunteers every season: cohorts, budgets and reporting.
Learn moreHow it works
From roster to return flight
Tell us the project
Where, when, how many people and where they are coming from. We ask about the project start and any ground transfers.
We plan the routes
Our team sends options for the group and for anyone traveling from elsewhere, with every fee shown.
You approve and confirm names
Your coordinator approves, then adds names as volunteers confirm. Changes go through the same place.
We look after the trip
Delays, missed connections and changes are handled by a person. Urgent help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Everyone gets home
Return travel, refunds and unused credits tracked to the end, and a record of every trip for your reports.
Responsible volunteering
Travel is only one part of a good trip
The best volunteer programs put the community they serve first: projects asked for locally, volunteers matched to real needs, and travel that doesn't take more than it gives.
Your organization chooses the projects and the people. Our part is to make the travel safe, efficient and well documented, so more of your budget and your volunteers' time goes to the work.
Questions
Volunteer travel questions
Who is volunteer travel for?
Nonprofits and volunteer organizations that send people to projects: disaster response, medical and building missions, conservation, community and education work, and skilled volunteers placed with partner organizations. Individual volunteers traveling with an organization can be included in that organization's account.
Do you choose or run volunteer projects?
No. Your organization runs the project and decides who goes. silentVIP plans, books and looks after the travel.
Can volunteers book for themselves?
Travelers request a trip and choose from the options our team sends. Live self-service search across airline and hotel inventory is not available today. Travelers request a trip and choose from the options our team sends.
What does it cost?
No supplier commissions. We're paid only our published fees. Terms for volunteer organizations and nonprofits are set out in writing for each organization before anything starts; silentVIP's published pricing shows how fees work.
What happens if something goes wrong while volunteers are away?
Urgent help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Incident monitoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and when an incident affects your travelers we make a first contact attempt within 30 minutes of an incident being confirmed.
More in Volunteer travel
Plan your next volunteer trip
Tell us about the project and the team. A person reads every enquiry and replies.