Take a Sabbatical... Make a Big Difference

A sabbatical allows a person to temporarily take time off from a job to do something else, such as work on a personal or career goal. In terms of volunteering, a sabbatical makes longer-term, full-time opportunities possible. This chance to take projects through their lifecycle from start to finish offers unparalleled rewards both for you and the community being served.

Depending on circumstance and employer, sabbaticals may be paid or unpaid. Sabbatical length varies but tends to be a year – allowing you the time to take on in-depth volunteer opportunities that would not have been possible while holding a job. Also, the longer-term commitment afforded by a sabbatical encourages non-profit agencies to invest more time in your training. With that training, you can lead teams or provide highly-specialized services, such as on-site disaster relief.

There are two paths available to people who dedicate an entire year to volunteer service.

Independent-minded individualists may prefer the path of doing their own thing, without the need or desire for a lot of structure and advice. If you're like that, just pick your cause and get started. You can do and learn a lot in a year. (In fact, VolunteerGuide.org was started by a single individual who was granted a one-year leave of absence from his employer.)

On the other hand, many people prefer the support, efficiency, and interpersonal contact available by working through an established volunteer agency, such as The Peace Corps or AmeriCorps.

Either way, you can make a big difference in your own life, as well as in the lives of others, by dedicating an entire year to volunteer service.

• The Peace Corps, known for their slogan "the toughest job you'll ever love", offers placements in over 70 countries. Program areas include education, youth and community development, health, business and information and communications technology, agriculture, and environment.
• AmeriCorps, sometimes called the "domestic Peace Corps", offers a variety of programs, some of which help volunteers pay for their education in exchange for one year of service. Either way, representative placements include:

• shelters for abused or battered women
• health clinics for low-income families
• disadvantaged schools
• organizations that help people move from welfare to work
• organizations that introduce technology to underserved neighborhoods

• Institute for International Cooperation and Development trains and sends groups of volunteers to Africa, Central America, and Brazil to work on sustainable community development projects.
• Volunteers for Peace provides a directory of international workcamps, with projects as wide ranging as: archaeology, arts, agriculture, child protection and development, culture, construction, environmental, festivals, maintenance, manual labor, renovation, social work, teaching, and yoga; as well as assisting the elderly, disabled, mentally handicapped, and physically handicapped.
• Catholic Volunteer Network connects full-time volunteers to over 200 Christian member programs in the U.S. and abroad.
• Teach for America is a national teacher corps composed of recent college graduates of all academic majors as well as some graduate students and professionals. Members commit to teach for two years in under-resourced urban and rural public schools. They are given intensive training and support to help them lead their communities.