Go further this Christmas

Christmas Volunteering

You spend time sharing good food and great laughs over the holidays. You make treasured memories with family and friends and dive into the carols and Christmas cheer. But you want others to have those same experiences and often wonder, “how can I give back over Christmas?” Join us for a bucket list adventure as you volunteer abroad over the Christmas break.

Volunteering at Christmas doesn’t just give you an escape from jam packed malls and the chance to have adventures in destinations across the world. It also allows you to become a part of a greater cause – something bigger than yourself that fulfils your urge to help people over the holidays.

Fortunately, there are plenty of Christmas volunteer opportunities available these days. You can contribute towards international sustainable development initiatives aimed at protecting and supporting our most underserved communities. You can teach, support women’s empowerment initiatives, assist with global public health programs, or join a variety of other community development projects.

Our projects are driven by a core mission: positive impact. GVI is committed to sustainable, meaningful change alongside our local partners. With us, you’ll find volunteering at Christmas makes both a direct and indirect impact, meaning we believe in taking lasting action. Your adventure may unfold in a spectacular location abroad this Christmas, but the projects you contribute to are built to empower people long after you depart. This is how we’re supporting a sustainable future worth celebrating.

Give something back over the holidays and check out your options for volunteering at Christmas.

Positive
impact

Build a better world by contributing to vital, locally-led project work that strives for a more just and equitable future.

Ethical
work

In line with the UN’s SDGs, we are committed to ethical and sustainable engagement with our local partners and communities.

Beautiful
community

Learn from the world’s most unique and significant cultures, in breathtaking remote locations.

Christmas volunteer opportunities

Overview

Why volunteer at Christmas?

Ethics

Volunteering at Christmas with GVI

The holidays are really festive at GVI! We often have participants with us to volunteer at Christmas and each base creates a unique blend of global festive traditions and local customs to celebrate.

Whether it’s a responsibly sourced Christmas tree twinkling through the forest on Nosy Be island, Madagascar, or a traditional Cambodian dish prepared together for holiday dinner in Siem Reap, these Christmas volunteer opportunities offer you epic experiences.

The best locations for volunteering at Christmas

Our community program bases open for Christmas volunteer opportunities are:

Our locations that are closed use the time to conduct maintenance – servicing vehicles and equipment and giving the bases a refresh. Our teams celebrate Christmas as “base families” and then get stuck into work again as new groups of participants arrive early in the new year.

Expert guidance

Joining one of these holiday volunteer opportunities gives you a unique way to contribute to those who have been historically underserved. With GVI, you are guided by teams who have expertise in ethical and sustainable development. We help ensure your presence in each community is responsible by collaborating with our local project partners and focusing on making a positive impact for the lasting empowerment of the community.

Early childhood education

If you’ve got a passion for supporting children, you could assist in early childhood development education programs. It’s safe to say there’s nothing better than seeing children caught up in Christmas excitement, and leading festive games and activities with these young students means you’re helping to grow happy, enduring memories.

Women’s empowerment

You could also join us in partnering with incredible community organisations to work on women’s empowerment while volunteering at Christmas. Join entrepreneurs, students and other women actively pursuing their independence and futures. On our women’s empowerment programs, you could put your efforts towards teaching, micro-enterprise and public health projects among others. You’ll also connect with incredible women while you work.

Why is volunteering at Christmas a good idea?

For many, the true value of the holiday season is the chance to share their good fortune, and volunteering at Christmas time has become a beloved holiday tradition.

You can help others through the winter holidays

Humanitarian groups in the Northern Hemisphere often find an increase in people looking for Christmas volunteering opportunities as the cold weather sets in. There’s usually a rush of holiday volunteers every year from Thanksgiving in the US, through to Christmas and New Year’s globally. Christmas volunteering is often most needed by shelters and feeding schemes as the weather causes threatening conditions for many people.

Volunteering at Christmas can be life-changing

If you’re based in the Northern Hemisphere yourself, choosing to volunteer abroad over Christmas means swapping the cold weather for warmth, and rather than spending Christmas indoors, you get out there for adventures in a totally new place!

What about joining GVI’s base on Nosy Be island in Madagascar? Here, you’ll live in one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, where rare and exquisite animals live nearby our base.

And because Christmas is nothing without connections, you could have a profound positive impact on the community living around Lokobe National Park as you assist with English teaching. On our volunteer or teaching internships programs, you’ll support Lokobe park rangers, primary school teachers and adults throughout the community as they develop their English literacy skills.

There are few New Year’s experiences that beat entering the new year with a sense of accomplishment. And while you commit to empowering others through your Christmas volunteering efforts, the people you meet will help to empower you, too.

Volunteering around Christmas can relieve loneliness

Some of the most urgent need for volunteering at Christmas is felt by elderly care groups, assisted living centres, and mental health and companionship support lines.

As the absence of friends and family members and lack of support fulfilling basic daily needs feels particularly heightened around Christmas, these organisations find themselves under immense pressure.

Animal rescue and conservation groups also rely on donations and volunteering at Christmas, when many animals are at risk from the cold and abandonment surges.

Responsible volunteering at Christmas

It’s so important to remember that while an influx of people are volunteering at Christmas, these efforts have to be sustained. The need doesn’t fall away after people have stopped searching for Christmas volunteer opportunities, so choosing a Christmas volunteer program that focuses on making a measurable long-term positive impact through its efforts is essential.

With GVI, you’re joining our renowned team and trusted local partner organisations on data-backed and ethics-focused initiatives that are internationally award-winning.

Go ahead and chat with an enrolment expert in the GVI family about how to volunteer at Christmas with us. We’d love to help create your unique experience to make an impact long past 25 December.