How should I verify that a given volunteer program is legitimate?
The best way to find out about the work a volunteer program does is to contact one or more ex-volunteers and learn about their experience with the organisation. A good starting point is to search for volunteer Blogs on Google, or search/ask on internet travel forums for information about the organisation. The Lonely Planet Thorntree forum is probably your best bet for this (see also the forums at: bootsnall.com, travellerspoint.com, tripadvisor.com plus Facebook groups). Failing that, ask the program itself if they can give you the contact details of any former volunteers. When you do get in touch with a former vol, be sure to ask what the best and worst points about working with the organisation were. I would suggest that there is a greater need to ‘verify’ volunteer programs where you pay a Fee (i.e. those in the Low-Cost section of this website) compared to the Free to participate programs. If an organisation is going to rip-off its gringo volunteers, charging high volunteer Fees is
