The i-to-i Story
After many proud and successful years helping people like you go i-to-i with new cultures, communities, friends, mountains and erm... lions, it’s safe to say we're experts in the field of volunteering! As a globally recognised responsible travel organisation, each year we place over 6,000 volunteers on projects to assist in the development of overseas local communities. We provide fulfilling travel experiences to anyone with a desire to get out there and make a difference for the better.
Why i-to-i
When you travel with i-to-i you'll experience a travel adventure which will change your life forever as you’ll gain a deep immersion and understanding into another culture while making a difference.
Our achievements
In the last year alone we have assisted over 5,000 volunteers to have a life-changing travel experience in 24 countries around the world. We are very proud of all the volunteer projects we work with, which are sustainable and produce a positive long-term impact and are equally proud of our volunteers who devote their time and efforts into contributing to the projects which continue to develop communities abroad. Click here to see some of our volunteer achievements.
Our benefits to communities around the world
All of our projects overseas are based in the local community and are local initiatives. When you travel with us, you will stay in locally run accommodation and travel on locally owned transport. In this way we can ensure that the part of your placement fee assigned for transport and accommodation goes directly into the local economy. That means that before you've even lifted a finger on your project, you've already made an important contribution to the local economy.
Our support for our volunteers
We appreciate how special our volunteers are and offer our full support every step of the way. Our in-country coordinators are on-hand for you while you're in-country, providing airport pick-up and arrival orientation while we also provide 24/7 support for all our volunteer travellers.
Against aid reliance
We do not give direct funding to the projects we work with. Many experts believe that the constant flow of financial aid into the developing world causes an over-reliance on foreign aid, which harms the long-term stability of developing economies. It is your time and effort (rather than cold hard cash) that makes a difference. We truly believe that by working together and forging relationships with the developing world, we can make a real and lasting difference.
Our Big Giving programme assisting under-resourced projects focuses on well-managed and tangible items to assist our volunteers make a bigger difference during their time in country. Resources are bought for these projects by our in-country teams based on their needs and the activities of volunteers; this avoids aid reliance whilst providing support at the same time.
Your experience
When you travel with i-to-i, you'll experience a truly unique travel adventure which will change your life forever. We're all different, which is why we'll all experience a unique voyage. In addition to gaining a deep immersion into a new culture, you'll learn valuable skills for life which will open-up your eyes to the world and warm your heart in the knowledge that you're giving something real and lasting back to the places you visit.
Our Philosophy
We do everything we can to be a truly responsible travel business and we believe that everything we do should minimise the negative aspects of foreign travel and make a positive contribution to the places that our travellers visit. We have a set of core values that guide everything we do.
Respectful and informed cultural exchange is at the very heart of what we do. We do everything we can to ensure that everybody who travels with us gets all the information, guidance and support they need to make a positive contribution while they are overseas.
We only work with locally run and locally organised projects. Many commercial volunteer travel companies set up their own projects overseas to meet the demands of international volunteers. This isn't something we'd feel comfortable doing. The projects we work with are organic in the very best sense of the word: they have grown out of the needs and demands of local communities.
When overseas, you may come into contact with social differences that you do not always feel are right or morally agree with. As an organisation we do not accept or condone certain cultural behaviours and work closely with local communities to lead by example and always seek to ensure a caring and safe environment for our volunteers and the people they serve.
When you travel with us you can rest assured that the work you do will help alleviate problems that have been identified by these local communities and the NGO's that work with them.
Supporting local communities
All of our partners overseas are based in the local community. They are in partnership with i-to-i rather than employed by i-to-i. When you travel with us, you will stay in locally run accommodation and travel on locally owned transport. In this way we can ensure that the part of your placement fee assigned for transport and accommodation goes directly into the local economy. That means that before you’ve even lifted a finger on your project, you’ve already made an important contribution to the local economy.
Against aid reliance
We do not give direct funding to the projects we work with. Many experts believe that the constant flow of financial aid into the developing world causes an over-reliance on foreign aid, which harms the long-term stability of developing economies. It is your time and effort (rather than cold hard cash) that makes a difference. We truly believe that by working together and forging relationships with the developing world, we can make a real and lasting difference.
Our Big Giving programme assisting under-resourced projects focuses on well-managed and tangible items to assist our volunteers make a bigger difference during their time in country. Resources are bought for these projects by our in-country teams based on their needs and the activities of volunteers; this avoids aid reliance whilst providing support at the same time.
Cultural exchange
By travelling with i-to-i you will have a unique cultural experience. You'll live and work alongside local people and gain a deeper understanding of their culture and way of life. But this is not a one-way process: by spending time with people from your host country (as opposed to travelling in a package tour bubble) you will give them an insight into your culture. This two-way cultural exchange plays a small, but important part in promoting international understanding. By taking these small steps (and travelling with an open mind), maybe, just maybe, we can all become a little closer and break down the misunderstandings and stereotypes that separate us.
Amazing experiences
We do everything we can to ensure that our trips are truly memorable experiences. We send around 5,000 people a year to some of the most amazing destinations on the planet and with a satisfaction rate of 97%* we think we're doing a pretty good job!
No single supplement
Unlike most travel companies, we don’t think that you should be penalised for choosing to travel by yourself. So we won't impose a single supplement on solo travellers. Travelling alone offers you the chance to reflect upon life, to make new friends and to experience travel in a way that is all too often impossible when travelling with friends or partners.
