In this blog, we hear from Isha, who studied Economic History with Economics and graduated in the class of 2023. She was also an Student Volunteer Ambassador. Upon graduating, Isha has embarked upon two major volunteering trips in Fiji and Brazil where she spent a month in each place volunteering within the local communities. She tells us about her experience with securing funding for her overseas volunteering, and provides some great funding opportunities.
Having always wanted to volunteer abroad, the high costs of these projects was always something putting me off. Fortunately, there are many places out there that offer grants for people who want to pursue volunteering trips. I was lucky enough to benefit from such grants which without, my volunteering trips would not have been possible. In this blog, I will share with you the places I applied to for grants. Some I was successful in receiving funding from, others I was not awarded funding but are still worth applying for!
The Lord Mayor’s 800th Anniversary Awards Trust:
The Lord Mayor of the City of London offer funding for young people aged 17-24 who are looking to embark upon projects abroad. They can offer up to £1000 in funding for such projects and they accept applications twice a year. The application process for this funding is split into 2 parts. The first part is a quiz related to the City of London and your individual connection to the City. As an LSE student finding a connection to the City to talk about in your application is not too difficult. The second part of the application is to answer questions on what your project is about and why it should be funded. Further information on applying can be found from the following link: https://lordmayor800anniversary.wordpress.com/contact/
Jack Petchey Foundation Bursary:
The Jack Petchey Foundation offer grants for people ages 11-25 who wish to volunteer abroad. The amount awarded is up to £400 and the main eligibility criteria is that you must live in London or Essex (which again is ideal for LSE students who at the minimum have a London term time address that can be used). However, with this bursary, if successful, the funds are paid directly to the organisation you volunteer with and must be applied for between 3-9 months of your project starting. Like the Lord Mayor’s application form, the application for this bursary requires you to answer questions about your volunteering project, why it is impactful, how you will personally benefit from it and why you believe the cause to be important. The application link is as follows: https://www.jackpetcheyfoundation.org.uk/opportunities/grant-programmes/individual-grants-for-volunteering/
LSE Student Union Fund:
The LSESU, under their Participation Fund, can help to fund such projects. While the LSESU do not directly state that volunteering abroad opportunities is something that they fund, with the right justification, these are projects that they have funded in the past. The application form for this is quite long but the main aspect to emphasise is how the project you are undertaking is unique to LSE and hence, how it could benefit more students in the future. Whilst volunteering abroad projects are individual initiatives, the LSESU want to see that funding your project will have positive spill over effects for other students too!
https://www.lsesu.com/support/funding/union/participationfund/
The above 3 places are all places I applied to for funding and was successful in being awarded grant money. Below I will link more places that offer funding that I was either unsuccessful with or was not eligible to apply to:
A final piece of advice is to email foundations and trusts that may not directly advertise funding for volunteering abroad opportunities but may have the capacity to help fund. There’s never any harm in simply asking!
If Isha has inspired you to volunteer, check out one of our other ongoing opportunities or book a one-to-one with David Coles, the Volunteer Centre Manager if you have more questions. And why not follow us on Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with our events and opportunities and read our blog for more volunteering tips and stories.
