Mission Trip Changes FAQ

We’re making three broad kinds of changes to the program:

First, we’re going to restrict the number of volunteers we take each week. Most weeks will be capped at 20 volunteers, with a few weeks allowing larger groups. We’re also going to enforce some rules about skill and age ratios for groups that we haven’t been enforcing in recent years.

Second, we’re going to revamp the educational part of the mission trip program, strengthening the ‘learning’ part of this service-learning experience. We’ll be working out the details over the next several months, but we’re hoping to provide a more consistent education, deeper looks into our ministries, and opportunities for self-directed learning.

Third, we’re going to change the fee structure and increase fees. The new structure will be: a $200 per group reservation fee (regardless of group size) and a $250 per person participation fee. These fees will cover lodging at the Mission House, service materials, and educational materials.

The first priority of our housing rehabilitation ministry is to our clients. That means that we want to provide high quality repairs and renovations as quickly as possible. Believe it or not, that’s easier to do with smaller groups.

Capping most weeks at 20 participants will help us in two major ways.

First, it will give us more opportunities to have smaller groups working on smaller projects. While there are some projects that require a large number of volunteers at one time, many can be completed more efficiently with a small number of volunteers.

Second, it will reduce the time that staff need to spend on supervision, freeing them up to work on planning and logistics. This will improve our services to clients by helping us complete projects faster. It will also improve the volunteer experience, since better planning means less time waiting for materials, staff supervision, or instruction. 

We recognize that there are larger groups who want to come to the Mission. We’ve even had to turn down some very large groups who want to volunteer with us. Reducing the number of volunteers most weeks will give us the freedom to open up a few weeks to larger groups. We will accept three larger groups (of any size) each year. These groups will be evaluated on a case by case basis.

The rules on skill and age ratios have been around for a while, but haven’t been strictly enforced. These rules apply to all groups, regardless of size.

All groups will be required to have at least one adult for every five participants. For example, a group of 20 will have to have at least four adults.

All groups will be required to have at least one skilled person (a professional or accomplished hobbyist) for every five participants. For example, a group of 20 will have to have at least four skilled volunteers.

Appropriate supervision is important for every mission trip. This means having enough adults to supervise youth. It also means having skilled volunteers who can teach, supervise, and help less skilled volunteers. Appropriate ratios helps ensure the safety of volunteers, improves service to our clients, and allows our staff to meet other needs.

We’ve always talked about our mission trips as service-learning experiences, and we’re going to be revamping the ‘learning’ part of that experience. While we don’t know exactly what will be included yet, here’s what we’re working on:

• Orientation to Back Bay Mission and our ministries
• In depth orientations to the ministries that volunteers work in: housing rehabilitation, the food pantry, and the Micah Day Center
• Opportunities to learn how we administrate our ministries (e.g., how we select clients, evaluate projects, etc.)
• Opportunities for self-directed learning before, during, and after the mission trip, including manuals for our ministries, discussion questions, and devotionals.

The new fee structure is very simple.

There is a $200 per group reservation fee, regardless of group size, which reserves space on the calendar for the group. This fee is due when the group makes its reservation.

There is a flat $250 per person participation fee, which provides lodging at the Mission House, materials for service projects, and educational materials.

Let’s be honest: the fees for mission trips to Back Bay Mission have always been very low. In fact, they’ve been well below the market rate for the quality of mission trip experience we provide. We could keep those fees low in part because the mission trip program – and the housing rehabilitation ministry – were generously supported by a variety of funders.

Over the last few years, the funding available for housing rehabilitation has gone down while the cost of each project has gone up. Likewise, the cost of providing the kind of volunteer experience that we can be proud of has increased. After careful analysis and a lot of thought, we’ve found that it’s necessary to bring our mission trip fees more in line with the market so that the mission trip program – and the housing rehabilitation ministry – can be financially viable.