How Much Does it Cost to Volunteer in India?

Insulated by the Himalayas to the north and the Indian Ocean around the southern horn, India is a country that boasts a truly autonomous cultural aesthetic—yet one that also couldn’t help but immensely influence the world around it. When you volunteer travel in India, you get a taste of all of it.

Don’t go broke while giving back on your trip abroad—here’s how to volunteer in India for cheap.

India is home of Hinduism, yet it also gave the world Yoga and Buddhism. For thousands of years it was warred over by empire after empire, until becoming integrated into the process of globalization first as a British colony, then as a fully independent nation. Today it is very much inward focused state, configuring how to support a massive population of some 1.3 billion citizens, yet because of that weight it is also a major global player, both in its near abroad and in the greater international community.

It is all of these reasons—culture, spirituality, history, influence—that have brought so many curious travellers to the Indian subcontinent throughout time seeking a vastly new experience to relate from. And it is especially the latter aspect—India’s challenge to support a massive population while managing the burdens of extreme poverty—that has made the opportunity to volunteer travel in India such a popular means of how to do so in our current age.

As a volunteer abroad in India, you can contribute in your own small way—and in your own niche of social interest—to help alleviate this challenge facing Indian society. If that opportunity is appealing to you, then naturally you’ll have some questions at the outset about the requirements and logistics of undertaking it. Beginning, as is necessary for any thrifty traveler, with the price tag.

As a volunteer invested in the local community, you can devise your own ways to make your relative-privilege benefit others.

The good news, upfront, is that volunteering in India is inexpensive. Now onward to the specifics of for what, why, and how much you’ll be spending.

How much does it cost to volunteer in India?

The cost to volunteer in India varies most significantly by two factors: The type of program you go through and the duration of your trip. 

Some programs offer extensive services beyond your core volunteer program, such as additional travel opportunities, housing, meals, or even academic courses. As a rule of thumb, the more loaded a program is with these additional perks and services, the harder it will hit your wallet. Programs in India that offer just the basics—volunteer placement and an on-the-ground support network—will conversely be the cheapest ones.

The duration of time for which you volunteer abroad in India will also determine the cost of the trip. Most programs will offer a bottom-line fee, than add a set dollar amount on top of this for each additional week you choose to volunteer abroad.

[8 FAQs on India Volunteer Opportunities]

Concrete costs beyond these two variations tend to fluctuate in the hundreds of dollars, with some of the most loaded programs venturing into the thousands. For instance IVHQ offers volunteer programs in India for as cheap as $250 and Plan My Gap Year offers a 1.5 month program for $330 weekly. On the other hand, ELI offers social welfare and internship programs beginning at $1,150, and Kaya Responsible Travel runs two-week minimum programs in India that run about $600 per week. Additional weeks stayed typically tack $100-200 onto the initial price tag. And some programs are even more than that! 

The reality is, you can’t really volunteer in India for free—there will always be some cost involved, whether that’s your flights, covering your room and board, etc. And rather than shy away from a program with a higher price tag, it’s up to you, future volunteer, to educate yourself on what’s typically included, where your program fees are going, and what kind of services are non-negotiable for your volunteer travel in India.

Typical costs for volunteering in India

Let’s break down the actual costs of a typical volunteer travel in India experience.

The upfront pricing schemes laid out above are only a part of the bigger picture when accounting for the cost to volunteer in India. Here are some of the other major components of volunteer in India costs:

1. Program fees

The upfront program fees listed by different programs to volunteer abroad in India are often the most sizeable component of the overall costs of the trip. As mentioned, these can vary from as low as just a couple of hundred dollars to as high as thousands, depending on the type of program you choose and the duration of your stay.

2. Visa costs

Some short term volunteer in India programs will grant participants tourist visas, which run from $40 to $60, while longer volunteer programs will require participants to apply for work visas, which run from $80 to $160, depending on your country of origin and the length of your stay.

[8 Ways to Volunteer in India]

3. Flight costs

After program fees, round-trip airfare will be the other major expense to keep in mind while budgeting to volunteer travel to India. It’ll be thriftiest to jump on flights as soon as you have the dates set for your volunteer experience, in order to get the best deal. Costs vary obviously depending on what country you’re travelling from—volunteers from the U.S., for example, can expect to pay between $500 and $1,000 for a round-trip ticket.

4. Room & board

You’re probably going to do a homestay or live with other volunteers, but wouldn’t it be cool if this was your home away from home?!

Many programs will include housing in the upfront fees, so these are not always an additional cost to volunteer abroad in India. If housing isn’t included in those fees, then you should look into short-term leases or even hostels around the location where you’ll be volunteering, depending on the length of your stay. Some hostels in India are as inexpensive as just a few dollars a night, and short-term housing can be found very affordably in many places too—it’s all about where you live, and how much luxury you tack on.

Food won’t be a major expense to concern yourself with, either. Street food (which is some of the best food you can get) sometimes will cost less than $1 for a meal, while at higher end restaurants a full meal out often won’t exceed $10-$15. Your program is also liable to cover for some meals during your volunteer projects, as well.

5. Transportation

Rickshaws are the fastest, most convenient, and most affordable transportation option in most Indian cities (some cities have fairly comprehensive bus and/or metro systems as well). While many rickshaw drivers will give you a higher rate as a foreigner, this never usually amounts to more than a few dollars per ride, door-to-door, anywhere in the city.

6. Spending money

Beyond a roof over your head and food in your belly, the rest of the on-the-ground costs to volunteer in India will be left up to your lifestyle. It’s certainly possible to live a Western lifestyle in many cities across India, shopping at air-conditioned megamalls for example, and you’ll wind up paying significantly more to take advantage of these amenities. If you live and shop locally, your dollars will take you much further—and you’ll get pretty good at bartering no less.

More tips to help you volunteer in India on a budget

Follow these thrifty India travel tips to find cheap curry and affordable adventures.

Now that you have an idea of some of the overarching volunteer in India costs, it’s time to start budgeting. India is a very affordable place to live while on the ground, but obviously these other program and flight fees can stack up to be a considerable expense. That’s why we’ve outlined here some of the best ways you can save money on all fronts to help cover your bases. Who knows, if you’re savvy about it, volunteer travel to India could end up costing you next to nothing! Here’s how to volunteer in India on a budget and fund your volunteer adventure overseas.

• Scholarships. First and foremost, there are tons of great scholarship and grant opportunities out there just waiting for volunteers to apply for free money. Some offer a few hundred dollars while others offer several thousand—depending on the seriousness of your intent with the trip. If you’re prepared to delve through the qualification procedures and handle the applications, this opportunity can pay off big time. Read this article for more information on some of the best volunteer grants out there.
• Fundraisers. If you want to go about raising the money by yourself to cover the costs of volunteering abroad in India, fundraisers are the classic way to go about doing so. This is your opportunity to get creative, generating buzz about a worthy cause among your schoolmates, family, and friends, to help contribute money towards your adventure.
• Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding has become the 21st century’s favorite form of fundraiser as the internet and social media have risen to international super-eminence. Websites like FundMyTravel are a very popular option for individuals looking to raise money for all different sorts of worthy causes—i.e. volunteering in India. If you’re serious about raising revenue to cover volunteer in India costs, then dust off your keyboard, find your voice, and get cracking on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all things social media to crowdfund your trip.
• Summer job. Going back to another classic—why not get a job between semesters (that is, if you’re still in school) to raise the costs to volunteer abroad in India through your own means? Better yet, find work in a relevant field to your volunteering trip to build out that resume some more. Even if you don’t raise all the costs of the trip, having a job will show other sources of revenue (like the previous three outlined) that you’re serious about making this trip happen by all avenues necessary.
• Freelance. This is a bit of a niche option for those that are in fields which will allow them to take their work abroad with them. However, in the current state of the interconnected, digital economy, this is becoming increasingly common for aspirants in all industries. Writing and editing? Film? Education? Consulting? There’s opportunities to freelancing in all these fields and more while volunteering abroad in India, even if just at home from your computer, and your part-time money will take you long way on the ground.
• Live locally. Lastly, while on the subject of on-the-ground thriftiness (even when figuring out what to wear), a great way to save money while in India is simply to surpass the temptation of seeking out luxury. In many places you’ll have the opportunity to do a lot with your money—more than you ever could in the West—because the dollar is so strong in India. If you really embrace your surroundings and immerse, though, you can wind up saving a bunch of money while you’re overseas volunteering abroad in India—and you’ll return a more humbled person for it.

You’re ready to cover the cost to volunteer in India!

Give thanks that you can afford this type of experience, then get to work finding your perfect program!

Since you can’t volunteer in India for free, we’ve done our best to help you figure out how to volunteer in India for cheap! We’ve covered in this article all (or close to all) the costs you’ll have to worry about in order to volunteer abroad in India, and the best ways to go about meeting them head on. If this is a serious ambition of yours—for whatever reasons, personal, social, or professional—then there are a ton of different ways to go about making it happen, regardless of your financial situation. The only person capable of seizing the initiative is you—now go forth and make it happen!

Use MyGoAbroad to Find Affordable Volunteer Programs in India