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Table of Contents
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Total Contribution
The Total Contribution is the contribution needed to brigade. The Total Contribution consists of the Program Contribution and Airfare Contribution. Please view the Travel Section for more information on airfare.
Program Contribution
| Country | Honduras | Panama | Ghana |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | USD 750 (7 days) | USD 820 (8 days) | USD 880 (10 days) |
| Canada | CAD 750 (8 days) | CAD 820 (8 days) | CAD 880 (10 days) |
| UK | £650 (10 days) | £710 (10 days) | £550 (10 days) |
| Euro | €750 (10 days) | €780 (10 days) | €650 (10 days) |
Brigade Logistics
Include all food, lodging, security, water, transportation, translators, and all staff involved in logistics.
Program specific contributions vary based on each program.
• Architecture Brigades allocates a percentage or program contributions for purchasing local materials to build schools.
• Business Brigades allocates a portion of each volunteers’ community investment fund (CIF) towards business growth such as microloans.
• Environmental Brigades uses these contributions to purchase reforestation supplies, trees, and materials to build green houses.
• Law Brigades must compensate in country attorneys that it must hire to travel with students on brigades.
• Medical and Dental Brigades require additional in-country medicines as well as local doctors, pharmacists, and dentists.
• Microfinance Brigades allows volunteers to determine whether $100 is used to invest capital into the Cajas (community banks) or to families in need of microloans or savings accounts.
• Public Health Brigades uses its program contributions to build latrines, concrete floors, eco-stoves, and water storage units.
• Water Brigades utilizes these contributions to purchase supplies for building water systems.
Contributions to community programs, education, and student leadership
Distributed to in country and student programs. The in country programs include Africa Expansion, Community Health Worker Program, Patient Referral System, Data Informatics, and la Clinica Santa Rosa De Lima. The programs focused on education for youth and women are Sociedad Amigos de los Niños, Flor Azul, Reyes Irene, and Nuevo Paraiso Women´s Fund. The student leadership contributions are allocated for the Student Leadership Conference and President Scholarships.
Program sustainability and perpetuation
Includes the funds for all in-country operations involved in preparation before and after brigades. This also includes the cost of training and maintaining student advisors and program developers as well as investments in transportation and maintenance for the compounds where students stay during brigades.
Credit card processing fee, insurance, legal fees, and taxes
Include all fees accumulated in maintaining Empowered.org and international travel accommodations.
Other expenses
Include the amount of additional contributions that can vary based on the size of each brigade.
Not Included in Program Contribution
Airfare Contribution
All Global Brigade chapters are strongly encouraged to book travel through Global Brigades as a group. A group booking ensures that no brigader is denied boarding at the airport, that all volunteers travel together and are seated together when possible, and that donations raised towards airfare are tax deductible. To initiate travel booking, chapter presidents should contact their Program Advisor.
Please note: only ONE airport pick-up and drop-off will be provided. Brigaders arriving after this time will be denied participation in the program, unless otherwise approved or in case of an emergency. Brigaders are not permitted to schedule individual in-country transportation due to strict liability constraints.
Exit & Entrance Fees
Honduras requires a $37.80 exit fee when leaving the country.
Visas
Brigaders that are non-US citizens may have to get a visa in order to enter Honduras or Panama. If you are not a U.S. citizen, please contact your Program Advisor for more information on how to begin the application process for a visa. All costs incurred to procure a visa is in addition to the program donations and to be incurred by the individual requiring the visa.
Vaccinations
It is each Brigader’s responsibility to obtain the necessary vaccinations and refer to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (www.cdc.gov) for information on the latest vaccination recommendations and requirements.
Recommended vaccinations:
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Typhoid
- Tetanus
- Yellow Fever (Panama and Ghana)
Brigaders are also recommended to take anti-malaria pills during the Brigade, which can also be prescribed from a doctor or travel clinic. Many vaccinations and anti-malaria pills may need to be taken up to 4 weeks for effectiveness, so it is recommended that Brigaders contact their physician as soon as possible.
Spending Money
Although the program donations cover all essential costs once in country, Brigaders are encouraged to bring an extra $100-300 for souvenirs and any additional food and beverages outside of included meals. In-country you will have the opportunity to also purchase Global Brigades merchandise (all proceeds support local education initiatives).
Each Brigader will be provided a personal fundraising webpage to fundraise and pay for their program donations, airfare contribution, and travel insurance costs.
Shouldn’t volunteering be free? Are there program expenses?
Volunteering can be free, but sustainable development work is not. Global Brigades’ operations are 100% derived from volunteer contributions. When we first started, the first school club created a goal to raise enough money to not only conduct medical brigades in remote villages, but hire an in-country team to perpetuate health care when they were away. Without the local teams to continue the health and sustainable development projects, Global Brigades would be just another one-week volunteer opportunity abroad. The work of the local staff and our systematic approach of having other groups continue projects while others are away is what makes Global Brigades a recognized sustainable development organization. As such, Global Brigades asks volunteers to contribute between $750-950 USD to support our programs. Some of the funds are used during the 7-10 day volunteer programs to facilitate the projects (for example, salaries for local doctors that students assist, transporting volunteers between communities, housing/feeding volunteers and directors, building supplies for public health infrastructure, or the capital that goes to support the community bank’s loans for our microfinance brigades). Other funds are used to perpetuate the programs while volunteers aren’t there, such as conducting follow-up and monitoring the community progress. Additional funds are used to create supplemental programs, such as our Community Health Worker initiative, where locals are trained on basic public health, provided medicine, and a cell phone to reach out to our full-time doctors for questions while treating patients in remote villages. If there is anything left over at year’s end, our board of directors decides where else to grant the money. Since 2008, Global Brigades has granted more than $100,000 in education for community members that would not have access to scholarships otherwise. Global Brigades Inc, is an audited registered not-for-profit charity, ALL funds go towards perpetuating our mission of sustainable development for the world’s most under-resourced communities. Read our annual report for more information about our student movement’s impact and details of each program.
We delegate all contributions to pursue our mission. Donations support both, the participation of the volunteers and the supplemental health and development programs that we support on an on-going basis. Understanding our mission is important and that is why each volunteer is asked to be supported by donations from friends and family. To make the process as easy as possible, we've gone to great lengths to develop tools and an online fundraising platform (empowered.org) to make receiving contributions for Global Brigades streamlined and to their purpose.
