WorldTeach Program Costs & Services
The first question many people ask about the WorldTeach program is: "Why do I have to pay to volunteer?" The reality is that there are significant costs involved in recruiting, preparing, sending, training, and supporting a volunteer to teach in a developing country. Consequently, WorldTeach, the volunteer, and the chosen country's host institution must work in a partnership to meet these costs. Thus, the volunteer commitment raised by the volunteer is part of the volunteer's contribution to the overall cost. Once in country, volunteers typically receive a monthly stipend that is comparable to a public teacher's salary
As an independent non-profit organization, WorldTeach receives no funding from the US government and no significant sustained funding from other sources. WorldTeach has a small permanent staff and consistently aims to keep costs down, while also providing the highest quality service to both our volunteers and the host countries.
Historically, the host school or sponsoring organization's contribution to the overall cost has been to provide room and board and, in the longer-term programs, a monthly living allowance for the volunteer. Most of our programs still follow this original model. In recent years, WorldTeach has been approached by some countries, such as China and Guyana, whose governments or schools are willing to provide additional funding (beyond housing and the monthly stipend) to support volunteer costs, enabling the volunteer program fee to be substantially reduced. Although these countries are now paying much more per volunteer, they are willing to assume this burden, because by lowering the volunteer's personal contribution, we are able to guarantee these host communities a larger number of volunteer teachers each year. In some cases, as with the American Samoa Year, Marshall Islands Year, and Micronesia Year programs, the host country fully and generously funds all costs, thus eliminating the need for volunteers to fundraise.
While we are thrilled to be able to offer some subsidized programs at a substantially reduced cost to volunteers, the truth is that the majority of countries and schools that most need our help cannot afford to cover all of the costs associated with supporting a volunteer teacher overseas. As a result, we must continue to ask our volunteers to contribute a portion of the overall cost of their volunteer experience, which is why some programs (for instance, in Tanzania or Namibia) have a higher volunteer commitment.
In sum, the volunteer commitment is your contribution to the overall costs of preparing and supporting a teacher in a developing country. Because this commitment can be prohibitive for many people, we strongly encourage all of our volunteers to do some fundraising to support the cost of their program. Fundraising invests your home community in your overseas service experience, and increases public awareness of the great need for educational assistance abroad.
Please keep in mind that our older volunteers are required to pay an additional insurance premium that is passed on directly from the insurance company. For volunteers age 50-64 on the day of departure, this charge is $125 per month abroad. For volunteers age 65-74 on the day of departure, this charge is $375 per month abroad. We regret that our insurance carrier will not cover volunteers over the age of 74, so we are unable to accept any applicant who will turn 75 or older before the program start date.
Please note that WorldTeach volunteers, as part of their agreement in entering into service with the organization, are not permitted to engage in outside paid work during the duration of their volunteer term.
WorldTeach Finances
At WorldTeach, 96% of our budget is spent on programmatic expenses, while only 4% is spent on general and administrative expenses. As a non-profit organization, we try to be as cost-conscious as we can be. For the full breakdown of WorldTeach expenditures, click here.
Note on Summer Programs
Our summer programs involve the same level of comprehensive logistical coordination (described above) as our long-term programs, and consequently, despite the shorter time period, the volunteer commitment has to be nearly the same as that of our long-term programs. The main difference in the overall cost of summer programs is a lower expense for room and board while you are in-country (because it is a shorter period); but this part of the cost is generally covered by your host institution, not your volunteer commitment.