Calling all charities, universities, churches and non-profit organizations planning a group volunteer vacation and seeking assistance with travel costs.

A Volunteer Vacations Savings Program has been launched by CheapTickets.com aiming to provide discounts on travel, booked through CheapTickets.com, for organizations planning group volunteer vacations. “Through CheapTickets’ Volunteer Vacations website anyone can search for and book a volunteer vacation,” said Marita Hudson Thomas of CheapTickets’ Cheap Squad. “However, we wanted to take our volunteer initiative a step further by aiding groups, especially those watching every dollar, in taking these types of vacations to assist communities in need of help.”

To qualify for the CheapTickets Volunteer Savings Program, groups must meet the following criteria:

• Contain 10 or more travelers



• Book hotel plus flight packages for the volunteer vacation on CheapTickets.com



• Provide documentation that your organization is a qualified non-profit organization, e.g., 501c3 paperwork, tax exemption status letter



• Present a letter from the organization for which you will be volunteering, e.g., United Way, stating that your group will be participating in a volunteer vacation and describing the volunteer activities

Last month, CheapTickets.com launched a Volunteer Vacations website in conjunction with the United Way of America. The site provides tools for consumers to search and book volunteer opportunities across the country and receive travel discounts to the featured volunteer vacation destination. The site also allows all charities to post volunteer opportunities.