Frequently Asked Questions

  • This campaign will directly benefit youth today, and the fabric of our global society tomorrow. It will drive our growth following the pandemic and accelerate the expansion of our mission for decades to come and serve thousands more youth throughout the Americas.

    Prior to the pandemic, we hit peak enrollment in 2019 and were poised for continued growth. In 2020, we canceled all programs. We made it through the pandemic period and are nearly operating at pre-pandemic enrollment with a strong leadership team and track record. With critical capital investment, we’ll have an opportunity for expansion to significantly grow the number of youth enrolling in our programs.

  • The goal of $11MM is separate from our annual fund goal.

    The Fund for the Future is an historic, one-time effort to create the infrastructure to support growing our programs to meet the current demand and large numbers of young people who we will reach in the future. The Annual Fund must and will continue as part of our plans to sustain growth over the long haul.

  • When this campaign succeeds, we will expand our reach across the Americas and triple the number of youth mobilized for community leadership annually, from 600 to more than 1,800. This expansion of our reach will be made possible through investments in 1) The Access Program; 2) Program Innovation; 3) Systems for growth. And with this campaign AMIGOS will launch a Sustainability Fund, which will ensure that our mission continues for decades to come.

  • There is no minimum giving amount. In order for this campaign to be successful, however, AMIGOS must benefit from leadership gifts of $100,000 or more.

  • Yes, for this campaign we are accepting pledges of 3-5 years.

  • The Campaign Steering Committee is made up of dedicated volunteers that create the driving force of the campaign. These volunteers all have different connections to our organization but they are united under one shared motivation: to catapult AMIGOS into it’s next chapter of access and expansion.

    Our current members are: Patricia Grad (co-Chair), Elizabeth Blowers-Nyman (co-Chair), Kevin Lanier, Samantha Schnee, Michael Hafner, Kellie Motsinger, Paul Reidy, Sarah Heck and Steve Sharpe.

Fund for the Future FAQs

  • The annual operating budget of AMIGOS is over $5MM. The projected operating expense for 2024 is $5.7MM.

  • In 2020, AMIGOS faced total program suspension for the first time in our history. On March 13, 2020, AMIGOS evacuated our Gap programs in Ecuador and Uruguay, and announced the closure of our summer programs due to COVID-19. The financial impact was a loss of $638K in revenue in 2020. AMIGOS made it through this period thanks to the support of our donors, COVID-19 relief funding, and innovation into new virtual programming during that period.

  • In 2023, 285 (46% of all volunteers) volunteers received some sort of direct financial assistance or the cost of participation was covered through a sponsored program.

    Summer and Gap Programs: AMIGOS HQ and local chapters awarded $386K in financial assistance to 171 students (28%) who joined 2023 Summer and Gap Programs. The average award was $2,260.

    Sponsored Programs - Youth Ambassadors: 114 students were fully sponsored to participate in the Youth Ambassadors Program. Total cost per student averages $6,360.

    Sponsored Programs - Virtual or Classroom: 36 students were fully sponsored to participate in our virtual or classroom based programs.

  • The program fees cover various aspects of the AMIGOS program, including pre-departure training, travel support, on-site training and orientation, in-country food, lodging, and transportation costs, full-time program staff, 24-hour on-call safety team, program excursions, and credit for service hours.

  • 74% of AMIGOS volunteers participate in our traditional summer program. The remaining 26% of students participate in our College Gap program, Custom middle and high school program or the Youth Ambassadors program which is funded by the state department.

  • We currently run programs in 7 countries. We run summer and year-long programs in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama as well as our Youth Ambassadors program in the U.S., Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

    AMIGOS is a registered non-profit headquartered in Houston, Texas, and has staff and contracted employees throughout the Americas who currently work remotely.

  • Throughout our 60 years of transformational programming, our student experiences have evolved to focus on youth leadership. In the early days, AMIGOS programs brought U.S. youth to Latin America to conduct service.

    Our programs have grown to include year-round programming, exchanges with volunteers in Latin America who come to the U.S., programs for middle school students, and Gap Year programs. Our programs guide students to learn about a variety of pertinent issues, including community health, environmental conservation, food security and sustainable agriculture and more.

AMIGOS Operations Today FAQs