Paying the fees

Payment policy

 

We are pleased to inform you that, despite the closure of our offices in Madrid, the volunteer camps will continue through our partnership with SCI Hellas (Greece). SCI Hellas will manage and coordinate the volunteer camps in the region, thus maintaining the legacy of service and commitment that we have cultivated over the years.

In order for us to proceed with your workcamp application, it is essential to make the payment. The participation fee in a Service Civil International volunteer camp is €150, the breakdown is:

  • €50 in application fee one-time fee.
  • €100 for the registration fee for volunteer camps.

 

  • The beneficiary of the payment will be SCI HELLAS . To make the payment we propose the following options:
  • Bank transfer to our National Bank of Greece account IBAN : GR2501101550000015529613422  BIC/Swift: ETHNGRAA

IMPORTANT: don’t forget to put your name in the reference when you pay; if not, we will not be able to verify that the payment is yours. Once you have made the payment, send us the proof along with a copy of the DNI or NIE by email (workcamps@sci.gr).

I want to go to more than one camp this year, how much does it cost?

If you want to participate in more than one camp, you will pay the registration fee again but not the application fee. For example, in the event that a volunteer wants to participate in two volunteer camps in a year, they would have to pay € 250 (50 + € 200).

Why do I have to pay in advance?

Paying the membership and participation fees for the field is vital before we can start to manage your application and allocate you a place. This may seem strange but it has a simple explanation: the camp request is online, freely accessible and can be filled by anyone without committing to anything. For us, receiving the proof of payment is an clear sign that the camp request is genuine.

We immediately get to work on a place for the volunteer. The acceptance rate for the first choice is more than 90%, and in the event that we do not find a place in your first choice camp, you can select another 6 more camps.

In the event that we do not find a place in any of your options, or in others that you may request later, we refund the participation fee. The details of the return conditions are specified below.

 

Refund policy

What happens to the fees I have paid if you cannot find a place for me?

We will refund of the camp participation fee if you are not accepted in any of the options that you have requested, nor in other ones that you can later add. This will be when the season is over and we rectify the accounts, usually in September.

WE DO NOT RETURN THE APPLICATION FEE: this is money that those who share the ideas and objectives of SCI contribute annually for its maintenance.

What if I decide not to participate when I already have an assigned field?

If you cancel your participation, for whatever reason, when you already have a place assigned, the participation fee will not be refunded. SCI is not responsible in any case for travel expenses.

The volunteer can receive a refund of their camp participation fee as long as they do not confirm the field position. If the volunteer requests the place and once the host branch offers them a place, if the volunteer does not confirm, they can request a refund of €100.

SCI regulations are that when a volunteer accepts the place in the volunteer camp, the camp fee is not returned. However, we can make exceptions in certain cases when we can see that a unforeseeable major circumstance has occurred.

Disease

In such cases, we request proof of what happened (proof of hospital admission or similar where there is proof of the hospital stay). Once we have it, we will request the account number where to make the deposit and we will make the payment of the camp fee (€ 100) after the high season of volunteer camps, throughout the month of September.

Entry into a job

In such case we will request a copy of the contract where at least the name of the person and the dates of duration of the contract are indicated.

Official exam

In such case, we will request a copy of the exam notice and proof of attendance.

Camp cancellation

Although it does not normally happen, it may be the case that the host organisation cancels the camp when the volunteer has already confirmed the place. In this case, the host organisation is obliged to offer the volunteer a place in a field on the same (or similar) dates.

The volunteer can reject this place if the new camp does not fit their needs. You will be offered the opportunity to request other volunteer camps and in the case you are not accepted in any of them, you will be entitled to a refund of € 100 of the participation fee.

If the volunteer has already bought the flight for the field and it has been canceled, the host organisation must bear the transportation costs. However, if the host organisation offers another camp with similar dates, the volunteer must accept the place or they will not be able to claim the refund of transport costs. The reason for this is that on some occasions the cancellation of the camps for reasons of force majeure, either for economic reasons or for other types of unforeseeable incidents. Many of our partners do not have enough financial means to be able to cover a transport cost, so the only tool for compensation to the volunteer is the offer of another project on similar dates. SCI volunteers must accept these conditions and have sufficient flexibility to adapt to new circumstances, although the new camp offered must meet SCI’s minimum quality standards.

 

Reasons where we won’t refund the participation fee

High travel cost

The participation fee will not be refunded if a volunteer accepts the place for the camp and then finds that the prices are very high. Flight prices must be looked at before camp confirmation.

Other motives

The volunteer has a margin of 3 working days to accept the volunteer camp that they have requested and that the host organisation has offered them. This reflection period is considered sufficient for the volunteer to decide whether or not they want to participate, so once the volunteer camp has been confirmed, except for the exceptions that have been commented throughout the document, the participation fee will not be returned.