If you’ve ever felt a little bit guilty sitting at an all inclusive resort getting your feet rubbed while the entire island’s population deteriorates around you, your next trip might best be a philanthropic vacation.

The concept, in case you’re unfamiliar, is in traveling to a destination to help out with a volunteer program, perhaps building houses, digging ditches or training school children. While away, one immerses better into the local culture and garners a more genuine experience, and on the side, well, there’s also time for some fun as well.

Tsunami Relief. Photo via Habitat for Humanity

Several companies offer package trips that arrange (sometimes discounted) airfare and hotel plus coordination with a local volunteer organization. This is often the easiest and least time consuming method in which to volunteer. Here at SuiteTrip we’ve got first-hand experience with the group Volunteers for Peace, with whom we’ve traveled all over the planet on assorted odd jobs from tsunami relief work to litter removal to wildlife preservation and rehabilitation. It’s a rewarding experience, one that profoundly impacted the lives of many around us.

No article on philanthropic vacations would be complete without a mention of Habitat for Humanity, which has both local and international opportunities for many a volunteer to donate time. You can learn all about their various programs at their programs page.

Along the lines of individual donation, it’s also possible to independently locate an opportunity and coordinate the logistics yourself. This affords the benefits of engineering your own trip with your own schedules and goals – but it also means that you’ll have to spend tons of more time researching and in the end may still not get the team experience that so many desire.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of locations where you can find a place to volunteer for a few days, weeks or even months. One of our favorites, Archaeological.org lists a variety of open archaeological digs around the planet and has an opportunities board for volunteers. Note that with the distance and orientation required for these digs it may require at least two weeks of vacation.

Another great hub from where you can begin your volunteer search is at Global Volunteers. Linking to dozens of sites across the web, their database is an impressive list of excellent opportunities in which you can take part.

Most of all, don’t forget to take some time and relax during your philanthropic endeavor. If you return home more stressed out than you were when you left you may be the next philanthropic case!