This past weekend I visited Westover Church to participate in their Step into Africa simulation. This experience was supposed to walk you through the steps of a child living with AIDS. As I stepped through a faux-hut, I inhaled the deep scents of woodcarvings, basket weavings, and leather. I pressed play on the iPod shuffle, which played the narrator’s voice as well as the melodramatic sound of drums over a slowing heartbeat accompanying me on my journey as an eight-year-old Kenyan boy.

The organization did not play too much off of pictures of desolation and sadness to win over their audience. Most of the experience focused on empathy and then statistics.

Yet before I was hardly finished pinning up my prayer card, a volunteer stood before me with a brochure and the inevitable question, “Would you like to sponsor a child?”

We have all seen the ads, the deserted child laden with dust in the arms of the merciful missionary.

In recent years we’ve also heard of groups like the Department of Investigations (DOI) examining misused or stolen funds through the use of experienced accountants and forensic auditors.

The possibility of my donated funds trickling into some CEO’s swimming pool has frightened me into just donating my time.

Since the investigations of many non-profits, organizations have become more wary of internal financial oversights. However I could not help but say, “No, not now.” I took a brochure anyway, my attempt at consolation but all the while I wondered about what other ways I could contribute.

Luckily, World Vision does have volunteer and internship opportunities, but they do not send interns or volunteers overseas. You would work in an office or a church, doing paper work or re-packing supplies and donations around the United States leading me to wonder, who gets to interact with the “poor and oppressed” that World Vision has been called to serve?

I can donate a caregiver kit and bicycle for $155, or sponsor a child for $35 a month; in 2007, 86 percent of their total revenue went to programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need. Nonetheless I remain skeptical since the volunteer experiences listed on their Web site would only put me in contact with other volunteers.

Non-profits rely on volunteers and donations, and many organizations do stretch every last dollar to make a positive difference in the world. However, a little research into what percentage of funds goes where can soothe the experience of donating money.

I look at Guilford and the emphasis they place on service. Guilford maintains relationships with many organizations who only ask of our time. These organizations that are often on a smaller scale than those mega-non-profits, allow us to interact and see first-hand who benefits most from our contribution.

If you’re considering volunteering your time, Career and Community Learning in the basement of Founders Hall always has suggestions and can usually direct you to an area of your particular interest.