Facebook Group Guidelines & Template

Facebook group guidelines

Terms of conditions (updated 11/08/2021)

Facebook group rules โ€“ The basic rules for the use of our Facebook groups are described in the rules section of the Facebook Group, but you can also read them on this other page.
Below you can read about our Groups terms of conditions.
First condition
During these years, cases of abuse and negative experiences have been reported to our admins. Some volunteers had terrible experiences at host places that were featured on our FB Groups (also negative experiences with volunteers). To prevent this from happening again, we are only accepting people whose profile clearly shows their face and basic life information. Sorry, but we had to take this as a precaution!
Second condition
Voluntouring was born to provide free travelling information and relevant volunteering opportunities around the world for nomads, travellers, volunteers, and remote workers, in need of a place to stay or volunteer while travelling. We have always thought that all the information should circulate and be shared for free on the internet, without the need for subscriptions or pay!
For this reason, any useful information, idea or volunteering opportunity that you share in the group could be also published on this website, on an open-source basis. So, please, keep this in mind!
Third condition
Numerous hosts that have published in the group are receiving requests for VISA and travel costs.

Before asking for volunteering opportunities please make sure you have the possibility to cover your VISA and travel costs.ย Volunteering can’t and will never enable you to move to other countries for free.ย If we notice you expect to have VISA and travel costs covered for immigration purposes, your post may be deleted and your profile removed from the group.


Guidelines – rules.


Your post hasnโ€™t been accepted/published inย ourย Facebook groupย orย website? Discover why by reading these simple rules:

NO:

  • No links to external websites**
  • No links to pay-to-access websites.
  • Spam – hidden advertisements are not tolerated.
  • No solicitation. This is not a “PM meย and I’ll tell u more” kind of group.
  • Impersonal messages, copy-pasted info or posts lacking descriptions.
  • No to post duplicates – you can post the same announcement only once. If you want, you can keep updating the same post. Or you could write to us to give your post more visibility for some time. (Hosts that are registered on our database always get the priority though).
  • No “upping” your posts. If we notice you’re doing it, your post might be removed.

** You can add a link to your website but the image shown in the post have to come from a manually uploaded file (see examples below๐Ÿ‘‡).

.YES to:

  • Volunteer/help request with a description+ uploaded photo
  • Travel companion request description + uploaded photo
  • Host/volunteer request description +uploaded photo
  • Sharing volunteering experiences with pictures. No links to personal blog**

** You can add a link to your website/blog but the images shown have to come from manually uploaded files (see some examples below๐Ÿ‘‡).

Furthermore,
  • 1) write a detailed description of the exchange youโ€™re offering or looking for.

Start with a simple title such as: โ€œVolunteering opportunity in Franceโ€, โ€œCultural exchange in Iranโ€, โ€œLooking for help in the UK, Londonโ€.

  • 2) always attach at least one uploaded photo. You must own the rights to the pictures you publish and they have to represent your announcement.

IMPORTANT: If you are a host, please donโ€™t forget to mentionย if youโ€™re charging a fee for volunteers.

Sorry but your post wonโ€™t be published if it doesnโ€™t meet these requirements.

Organizations and hosts registered on Voluntouring will get more visibility. Thanks for making it until here. ๐Ÿ˜Š


Template examples


Example of good posting:
Example of bad posting:
How to write a post description (suggestion for the hosts):

Dear host, when you write a volunteer request don’t forget to provide the following information:

  • General information about your farm/family/ecovillage/organization/hostel/ranch.
  • Info about the volunteering activities (what kind of activities will the volunteers do)?
  • How many volunteers can you host/do you need?
  • Hours expected to help each week
  • Can you confirm to be able to provide accommodation and food for free?
  • If not, write down costs and fees.
  • What are the volunteers’ benefits? (example: cultural exchange, free tours, use of the car, pocket money, etc.)
  • Type of accommodation? (home, apartment, tent, tipi, dormitory, treehouse, castle etc. etc.)
  • Extra activities during free time?
  • Which language will be spoken? Is there internet access?
  • CONTACT DETAILS!
Question: why am I not being accepted in the group?

The group now counts a large number of members. It is possible that we make mistakes when accepting or refusing new members, or when moderating. Please, understand that:

  • we do this on a volunteer basis, we are not perfect and we make (a lot of) mistakes.
  • Approving your posts may take time, 3 days up to 1 week! Please be patient as we’re humans and we enjoy our time offline.
  • moderating is difficult and we do not take pleasure in removing members or applying restrictions ๐Ÿ’”

Consider reading the rules carefully before contacting the moderation team, if you have any issues feel free to contact us. For security reasons, we generally don’t accept people…

  • …which Facebook profile picture looks fake or is hidden, or lacks verifiable information,
  • not replying to our introduction questions,
  • obviously joining for spamming or other purposes that are not aligned with our group and web project.
Click here to read the 10 main Facebook group Rules.


Author: Voluntouring staff

Become a volun-tourist! Discover the opportunities to volunteer and travel meaningfully around the world! We add new opportunities every day: www.voluntouring.org Follow our updates on Facebook!

4 thoughts on “Facebook Group Guidelines & Template

  1. I am a Dutch woman, living in Sweden and making a vegetable garden/food forest/permaculture garden. I would like to receive a volunteer (or a couple) in the month of May 2022, who will come and help me for 5 hours a day. The rest of the time can be used for vacations in beautiful Vรกrmland. It is about garden work and some chores on the house (including painting). There is a dog.

    [Automatically translated – the original message was:]

    Ik ben een Nederlandse vrouw, die in Zweden woont en een moestuin/voedselbos/permacultuur tuin aan het maken is. Ik zou in de maand mei 2022 graag een vrijwilliger (of een stel) ontvangen, die tegen kost en inwoning mij 5 uur per dag komt helpen. De rest van de tijd kan voor vakantie in het mooie Vรกrmland gebruikt worden. Het gaat om tuinwerk en wat kluswerk aan het huis (o.a. schilderen). Er is een hond aanwezig.

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