Company Overview
Highlights
Vital stats on Peace Corps volunteers: 59 percent are female, 93 percent are single, 17 percent are minorities; 5 percent of volunteers are older than 50; the oldest volunteer is 80 years old; 95 percent have undergraduate degrees; and 11 percent have graduate studies or degrees.
A survey of returned Peace Corps volunteers in 1996 showed that 94 percent of volunteers would do it again. Seventy-eight percent of returned volunteers end up getting involved in community service.
Peace Corps' Office of Returned Volunteer Services (RVS) provides career, educational, and transitional assistance to more than 3,500 volunteers returning to the United States each year.
Formed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, the Peace Corps sends volunteers to work in developing countries around the world. Since its inception, 190,000 Americans have served in 139 countries. The nonprofit’s volunteer base reached a 37-year high in October 2007, with more than 8,000 Americans serving in 74 countries.
Chief Financial Officer George Schutter set a goal in 2005 to receive an unqualified opinion from auditors by the end of 2009, meaning its financials are fairly presented in the financial statements. The Peace Corps announced last year that it had received its goal two years early, by making some sweeping organizational changes including strengthening internal controls, establishing key performance metrics, re-engineering processes, obtaining financial system certification and accreditation, collaborating efforts with Inspector General David Kotz and his staff, and providing more senior leadership support.
The Peace Corps is stronger than ever, as an increasing number of adults leave the security of their jobs and homes to take on Kennedy’s challenge, living on allowances only large enough to maintain health and meet basic needs as they work and live among locals, doing the same work, eating the same food, talking the same language. "But if the life will not be easy, it will be rich and satisfying,” Kennedy assured. “For every young American who participates in the Peace Corps—who works in a foreign land—will know that he or she is sharing in the great common task of bringing to man that decent way of life which is the foundation of freedom and a condition of peace.”
Peace Corps volunteers do things like teach English, help establish local businesses, introduce new agricultural techniques, teach environmental awareness, train health workers, and teach people about AIDS awareness and prevention, among other things.
The typical Peace Corps stint lasts the required 27 months. Peace Corps alumni enjoy a strong network of fellow alums in all areas of American business and government, as well as the nonprofit arena. People working for the Peace Corps include everyone from recent college grads to retirees—though the majority are college grads. The organization is currently on the lookout for people who speak French, people with undergrad or graduate business degrees, teachers of English as a foreign language, certified teachers, and people with degrees or experience in agriculture, environmental education, and forestry.