idealist.org

Grants for Skilled International Volunteers

To help address the financial challenges facing a number of skilled Americans interested in short-term international service, USAID's Office of Volunteers for Prosperity and the Global Giving Foundation, an Internet-based service for international philanthropy, have teamed to create the Volunteers for Prosperity Service Incentive Program or VFPServ.


Photo by peiqianlong on Flickr As a public-private partnership, "VfPServ will provide matching grants ranging from $500 to $1000 to volunteers who demonstrate the need for support. The grant will be used to offset travel, insurance and local living expenses associated with donating their time and talent overseas," said Henrietta Fore, USAID administrator.

The program works by allowing Americans with at least 3 years of professional experience to select an NGO from a list of partners (which includes groups like United Planet, Cross-Cultural Solutions, and Globe Aware, and to which the VFPServe is regularly adding new organizations), submit their skills and interests, work out a project with their host NGO, fundraise on their own behalf, and then get up to $1000 matched.

It’s that simple and they’re trying to give grants away as fast as they can. (There's a sentence we wish we could write more often!)

Where would you go? How would you serve? Start the process today: http://www.globalgiving.com/cb/vfpserv.