Buenas Cosas thinks it can be done better

The majority of programs that charge for volunteer participation are camouflaged for-profit, marketing/sales machines. While this sort of approach has realized lots of good things, Buenas Cosas thinks it can be done better. We think it’s time for a new, more credible/direct/honest/efficient approach to sustainable development.

Yes, volunteers pay their travel expenses. In fact, some volunteers pay lots to get to Guatemala. Whatever the volunteer’s travel investment, it pales in comparison to what we’ve personally invested in Buenas Cosas. We have no issue putting our money, time and love into Buenas Cosas. We’re all working towards a better world and a better way of life. We all need to make sacrifices. We feel our volunteers should do the same.

But volunteers contribute their experience, skills and sweat. Why should they pay? Our volunteers pay because the positive energy and good work they provide is not enough to offset the costs associated with growing or maintaining a development program. We need our volunteers to pay something – even if it’s just a little.
 

Buenas Cosas charges a few dollars per day for our Poco Participation. Why

1 – This helps cover the cost of seeds, broken shovels, nails, cement, hiring local community participants who need the money/work, electricity, water and lots more. Please don’t kid yourself, there are real costs associated with growing and managing a development program.

2 – We also offer two other levels of participation that cost more than a few dollars a day. But it is our volunteers who decide at what level they participate, not us. Some volunteers are happy to contribute more than just time and effort; and we gratefully accept their modest contributions to benefit and grow our development programs and projects. This, in turn, subsidizes the volunteers who participate for just a few dollars per day.

3 – Buenas Cosas is not-for-profit and privately funded. We do not accept any type of government support. Buenas Cosa is not a bloated bureaucracy that exists to suck grant money and government subsidies. Buenas Cosas is socially responsible capitalism, with a focus on direct voluntourism that empowers eco-friendly community development.

4 – Buenas Cosas is not some sales-marketing-machine charging excessive fees to volunteers while we build a multi-gillion dollar ‘doing-good’ empire with huge expense accounts, owners with homes all over the world, jetting all over the world. We own no vehicles. We ride bikes and use public transportation. We work on 10 year old laptops. We do not use air-conditioning. Buenas Cosas is real, sustainable, credible community development – direct voluntourism.

5 – The world is not a utopia, yet. Someday it may be and we truly hope and pray that day will come soon. In the meantime, we have seeds, shovels, concrete and fencing to buy, water and power bills that need to be paid and lots more. To assume we can provide all of this without charging some sort of meager volunteer fee, while receiving no public funds of any kind, is simply not realistic. The money has to come from somewhere or the bills will not be paid and there will be no more Buenas Cosas.

6 – Buenas Cosas is new and not even 9 months old yet. Response to Buenas Cosas programs and projects from our partner communities, community participants, guest, volunteers, participants and visitors has been overwhelmingly positive. All indications are we will be fully self-sufficient in the very near future. We’re aggressively growing our social entrepreneurial income base. All is going quite well!

Perhaps there will come a day when we can remove the few dollars per day fee from our Poco Offering. But, maybe not. At the end of the day we’re still not living in a utopian society, we’re still in-the-business of doing good things, Buenas Cosas. And, we cannot do Buenas Cosas if the bills are not paid.

We do not understand why there is reluctance by some volunteers to pay anything at all; especially after an out-of-country volunteer has paid vast amounts of money sit in an aluminum tube and dump jet fuel all over the sky in order to get to their target volunteer country.

We do not understand why the in-country organization enabling the doing of good things is not entitled to even partial compensation for the dedication, funding, love, tools, supplies and infra-stucture required to enable the volunteer to do Good Things. We’re talking about a few dollars per day, not hundreds or thousands of dollars a week. We feel as though there are credible volunteer fees and incredible volunteer fees. Buenas Cosas requests credible participation fees at every level. Buenas Cosas does not run around in Landcruisers. Buenas Cosas is not some huge ‘marketing machine’ with college campus recruiters earning $50k a year and air-conditioned offices. We ride bikes. We don’t use air-conditioning. Our office is a desk that sits next to Angelica’s bed. Our ‘marketing machine’ is this website, that we made ourselves, and the references and referrals we receive from the good people who’ve participated with Buenas Cosas.

Given all the above, if you still feel that paying a few dollars per day is an excessive and unjustifiable amount to charge our volunteers, please submit the contact form below and explain why. We would seriously like to know your reasoning on this subject.

Seems there is little room for a middle-road. If you charge anything, it’s too much. If you charge more than you need (hundreds of dollars per week, for example), you’re just another carpet-bagging volunteer organization.

We feel that paying anything less than $10US per day to volunteer with any program, anywhere in the world, is more than justified. In fact, it is required for the long term survival of programs and projects that are making our world a better place.

Additionally, offering richer volunteer experiences to participants who are willing and able to to pay more, is a great way for credible development programs to generate more revenue, grow and do more good things.

Is there another way that works better? Perhaps. We’re open to discussing it all. But, for the time being, this is our best foot forward and we cannot see a better way to place or position our volunteer offerings. Especially, given the fact we receive no government funds of any kind and are entirely privately funded.

Peace, Love and Buenas Cosas,

Buenas Cosas
Serving Community & Nature©
http://www.BuenasCosas.org
Language Study & Volunteer Opportunities
Registered Guatemalan Non-Profit
501(c)3 Non-Profit in-process