Hi all,
I started volunteering in Uganda in a few years ago. I've noted recently though a HUGE influx of organizations claiming to help with volunteer placements and then charging exorbitant fees, much of which seems to go to out-of-country administrators or things not needed (like a t-shirt or in-country language training for a few weeks- nice but you can find learn the language prior and bring your own t-shirt). I did some research on organizations that help with volunteer placements in Uganda and their fees. Ironically enough the organization I first volunteered through, Kids worldwide, is the best in terms of fees because they have no overhead- its just past volunteers helping current volunteers and money for paying for housing/food/etc is given directly to the Project Directors and used to help the project. On their website you can see that Kids Worldwide has a 5-year staged plan on helping projects to reach self-sustainability with volunteer's help.
I thought I'd post here the breakdown of fees and organizations I found. You might want to go with projects with larger fees and get the extras. I felt comfortable enough without the extras and liked seeing my money directly go to promote sustainability programs in-country (piggeries, micro-loans, etc, depending on the project). Here's what I found, all based on a 2-week stay at the volunteer project:
First Fee listed is TOTAL or Program Fee, then comes any Administration Fee I could find. I posted the website where I found the information.
Kids WorldWide, Uganda $280 (Program) $30 (Adminstrative) http://www.kidsworldwide.org/ugandaanotherhope.htm
Rustic Volunteer & Travel, Uganda $570 $250 (does not incl the 1st day $120 ‘airport pick-up’ fee) http://www.rustic-volunteer-travel.com/uganda/work_orphanage_fees_dates.php
Advance-Africa.com $500 $100 (incl airport collection) http://www.advance-africa.com/Volunteer-in-Uganda.html
Global Volunteer Network $847 $350 http://ww.globalvolunteernetwork.org/uganda/
ELI (Experiential Learning International) $885 $100 (incl airport collection) http://www.eliabroad.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=192&Itemid=316
i-to-i $1299, $220/wk after initial 2 wks (Admin fees included in total ‘project costs’) at left http://www.i-to-i.com/volunteer-projects/voluntary-work-with-children-in-uganda.html?source=goabroad
A Broader View $880 $120 nonrefundable deposit, applied to program fees http://www.abroaderview.org/application_process.php
*Includes Program and Administrative Fees. “Program Fee” is defined here as any monies given to the charitable project which they are free to manage to the benefit of the project. ”Administrative Fee” refers to any monies that support staff, people, or programs that are not controlled or hired by the charitable project. For example, fees for a volunteer t-shirt, the salary for the Volunteer Coordinator, or for an introductory language course for the volunteer. Program fees do include on-site direct-care of volunteers, such as food and accommodation for the volunteers.
Hoping this helps some of you. It seems from the above figures for many organizations this has become a big business.