By Jade Floyd

This is the second post in a two-part series by Jade Floyd. Ms. Floyd works in international public affairs in DC and serves on the Board of the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative. Follow her on Twitter: @DcThisWeek. Read the first part of the series here.

Preparing for an international volunteer experience can be daunting. But paying for it is the hardest part — and once you have tackled that, you are well on your way. (And remember: keep all you receipts because many of these expenses can be tax deducible.) My program required nearly $6,000 when you factored in program fees, flights, buses, immuniztions, taxis, supplies, gifts for family and friends, hotels, guest houses, and gifts for myself. Luckily, I had a very good friend who worked for an airline, which made a major difference. You can also consider using your Airline miles or those of a family member or friend if they will donate them to your cause. Read all »

By Jade Floyd

This is the first post in a two-part series by Jade Floyd. Ms. Floyd works in international public affairs in Washington, DC and serves on the Board of CFP non-profit DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, a non-profit devoted to providing free arts education experiences for DC public school students and teachers. Follow her on Twitter: @DcThisWeek.

International Volunteering

My arrival to Bangkok was filled with trepidation and butterflies. I thought to myself on the plane that I was completely nuts and had lost my senses. Had I just flown around the world to a country where I knew no one to volunteer with children for a month teaching them art? Surely they had perfectly good teachers there who could give them instruction. I had spent months planning for this international volunteer program. From the onset, I knew that I wanted to partake in a program that focused on children. And after serving for four years on the board of directors for a DC-based arts education nonprofit, two years volunteer teaching at a children’s art center for two, and countless hours fundraising for similar organizations, I decided it was time to take a plunge and expand my reach outside of the US.

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By Jane Hess Collins:

Volunteering catapults my butt out of the house. Otherwise, as I discovered in the last 18 months since retiring from the United States Air Force, I’ll just sit in the fourth-floor loft of our townhouse, tapping away on the laptop about giving back.

Last month I decided to volunteer at least once a week (it’s now up to two or three times a week) with different nonprofits in the DC area, send out a few tweets while volunteering, write about it on my website then link it to Facebook and Twitter. The response from nonprofits and readers has been incredible, but the most surprising response has been from me. As I hop around the DC metro area, volunteering and tweeting, writing and promoting, I realized quite by accident that I’m not doing this because I love to volunteer.

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