Unveiling a new look for InterVol

As we enter the 2024-2025 academic year, we’re excited to unveil a fresh new look for InterVol to reflect our focus on student-led volunteering both at home and abroad.

When InterVol was founded in 2003, our primary focus was on connecting UK-based students with international NGOs to take part in ethical volunteering initiatives abroad. Finding ethical international volunteering opportunities which have a positive impact on local communities can be challenging. This is particularly true with the recent growth in unethical ‘voluntourism’ companies, making genuine charities more difficult to identify.

InterVol existed – and continues to exist – to help remove these barriers to ethical volunteering abroad, whilst also supporting volunteers with important preparation for their summer projects such as training and fundraising. Although our projects have always had a fundraising aspect which takes place in the UK during the academic year, volunteering directly for UK-based NGOs has not always been a primary focus.

In the last several years, InterVol has shifted away from a dominant focus on international volunteering and now connects UK-based students with volunteering opportunities both at home and abroad. The goal has always been to give students the opportunity to develop and enhance their skills and experience new cultures whilst, most importantly, having a positive impact for communities in need. The Covid-19 pandemic, and the hold this put on international travel, served to emphasise that we do not need to go far to make a difference.

As InterVol increasingly supports students to connect directly with UK-based NGOs, our refreshed look – including our new logo and colour scheme – aims to recognise this more distinctively, while also giving our website a modern refresh. Although InterVol was originally an abbreviation for ‘International Volunteering’, the name has now formed a broader meaning in its own right and reflects the charity’s role as an ‘interconnector’ between students and NGOs.

If you’re already familiar with InterVol, or have previously been involved in volunteering through us, thank you and welcome back. If you’re new to the charity, please take a moment to browse our website and learn more about our approach to ethical volunteering and the opportunities available to UK-based students. We look forward to meeting you!