The problems with GIVE

Every year, little green flyers advertising the GIVE Foundation’s volunteering and travel program make their way onto our campus. Hanging on bathroom stalls and lying on empty desks, the fliers advertise trips abroad to locations like Thailand, Hawaii, or Laos that will have a lasting impact on you and the communities visited. GIVE is just one of the opportunities for travel available to FSU students, but it claims to stand apart through its programs focused on English education, eco-friendly infrastructure, and environment and wildlife conservation. The truth behind their picturesque marketing, however, is a little unclear.

Most of the information available regarding these projects comes from the GIVE website itself, which provides plenty of images and blocks of promising text, but very few details. When reached via email for further information on the appropriateness and effectiveness of their programs, GIVE pointed me to volunteer viewers from TourRadar and GoOverseas. Altogether, these websites have around 1,100 reviews from the approximately 7,000 volunteers who have participated in the program since 2012, and the overwhelming majority are positive.