Is your volunteer offering attractive?

Just like you, there are thousands of other hosts looking for the best volunteers to contribute to their projects. So it’s important to think about what you can offer to guarantee that exchanges are more than just fair – that they really make people want to volunteer with you.

Take your time with photos

• In your Photo Gallery, communicate comfort to interested travelers by including photos of the facilities where they’ll stay, like bedrooms, bathrooms, and other common areas.
• Choose photos that show a little about your day-to-day life and the spirit of your place: transparency about what you offer is essential for a good exchange!
• Choose a cover photo that illustrates the skills needed for your position: If it’s for animal care, for example, put up a photo of someone caring for an animal at your place.
• Having a picture that shows your face as your profile photo will give travelers more confidence. You do not need to add this to your Photo Gallery, only as your Profile Photo, ok?
  
  

Share everything about your project

1. Description

Filling out all of this information is a great use of your time, because you’re sharing a complete view of your project, informing future volunteers with all of its advantages and everything your volunteer program is about.

• Ask yourself why travelers should choose your project – what makes your place special?
• Mention in your description that you encourage interaction and exchange between volunteers and yourself, other people at your project, and locals. Shared meals, games, walks, and leisure activities will help you to attract even more travelers who are looking for a truly collaborative exchange. Check out these examples of this host in Italy: 

“The travellers would be immersed in the typical Italian atmosphere in one of the best places in this country, discovering our culture, history, traditions, and typical food. We'll be visiting together the best historical places in Verona, a city rich in culture, a mix of Roman 2000 yr old architecture, but also medieval and renaissance. We'll often be travelling during the weekends to the national park, the lake of Garda and the mountains. We'll be happy to help in learn the Italian language, entrepreneurship, economy, politics and design for those interested in these subjects.

We are a Norwegian/Italian couple (Veronica, Massimo) interested in meeting people from different countries, sharing cultures, learning languages, and enjoying outdoor activities during their free time! We live on the hills near Verona, in a beautiful natural place, near a national park and the lake of Garda. We both work in the fields of design, the internet and entrepreneurship. We enjoy spending our free time in the marvellous natural places we are surrounded by, doing several outdoor activities with friends as hiking, running, mountain biking, tennis, and windsurfing. It would be great to improve our English with our guests and to have some help in the house. Our guests are always welcome to join us in our sports, outdoor activities and visit other cities”

2. Tags

Tags indicate what kind of experience you offer. On our search page, travelers have the following filter options:

Because this can help people to find your positions, it’s important to choose the appropriate tags for your project. They will apply to all of your positions, because they describe your project in general.

3. SDGs

The Sustainable Development Goals, created by the UN, are a global action plan to eliminate poverty and hunger, offer quality, lifelong education for all, protect the planet, and enjoy peaceful and inclusive societies by 2030.

Various hosts in our community have projects already based on these goals, so through them, we’re looking to increase the socio-environmental impact of Worldpackers exchanges.

Activity Balance

Now, it’s time to review your position info, remembering the considerations below.

• Is there a balance between the benefits you offer and the amount of time you’re requesting help? Volunteers typically prefer to help for a few hours a day and have more free days, but we know that it’s not always possible to offer exchanges exactly along those lines.
• If you need more than 25 hours per help each week from each volunteer, we recommend offering benefits like three meals per day, language lessons, and even discounts at local businesses. On the other hand, if you’re not able to offer many benefits, it’s a good idea to give your volunteers more free time so they can get to know more about the local culture, connect with people, learn new skills, share experiences, practice languages, make a positive impact, and grow as people.

This host in Portugal has gotten a record number of applications by offering these benefits:

• Lowering your minimum stay length is something else that will help you to attract more applicants for your positions, because it gives volunteers more flexibility – especially for those who are traveling shorter term. Also, consider offering at least 2 days off per week.
• If you have a position that’s already complete, you probably have questions in your Screening Questions. Remember that too many or overly specific questions can discourage good applications. We recommend that your survey only contain the questions necessary to have a good experience. After they apply, you can still ask travelers questions if you feel the need – just send them text or audio messages on our platform.
• Other important factors that can impact how many applications you receive are closed positions and unavailable dates. So make sure that your positions are open and have updated availability. Learn how to update your availability here and how to close a position here.
  

If you still need to find someone quickly even after following our tips, you can use the Last Minute option on your Positions page. This tool will temporarily make your positions appear higher in travelers’ search results, which increases your visibility and chances to attract more applications:

By rethinking your volunteer program, you’ll significantly increase your chances of getting a good amount of applications. This will help you to choose the travelers who are the best fit for your project and organize your volunteer calendar, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what’s most important for your project! 😊