{"id":23051,"date":"2016-08-25T17:40:55","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T21:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=23051"},"modified":"2020-04-03T15:49:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T19:49:24","slug":"roya-elghanian-worldwide-helpers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/roya-elghanian-worldwide-helpers","title":{"rendered":"Doing Good: Roya Elghanian of Worldwide Helpers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Growing up in London, Roya Elghanian was itching to get a passport so she could travel around the world. When she finally got one, she embarked on a six-month backpacking trip through South America and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As she learned about new cultures, she wanted to help those in need. But she struggled to find volunteer opportunities that wouldn\u2019t cost her an arm and a leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere were a lot of people walking in the same shoes as me that wanted to help but didn\u2019t know how,\u201d says Elghanian. \u201cMost were on a shoestring budget and didn\u2019t have the capacity to spend large amounts on volunteer opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A decade ago, she started <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldwidehelpers.org\">Worldwide Helpers<\/a>, a nonprofit that links volunteers with low-cost or no-cost opportunities. After exchanging emails with hundreds of travelers, the organization\u2019s database has launched 100 volunteer projects around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"386\" height=\"540\" src=\"\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/08\/Roya-Elghanian-of-Worldwide-Helpers.jpg\" alt=\"Roya Elghanian of Worldwide Helpers\" class=\"wp-image-23053\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Year founded:<\/strong> 2006<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Employees:<\/strong> 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Where we\u2019re based:<\/strong> WeWork member based in New York<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Moment of inspiration: <\/strong>\u201cI was climbing a mountain in Laos, living in tree houses to prevent people from burning down the forest, when I came up with the concept,\u201d Elghanian says. \u201cI used to work in real estate, so looking at a real estate website is familiar in my head. And I thought, \u2018What if I made a website that replaced info for property with info for volunteer projects?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Biggest hurdle: \u201c<\/strong>The challenge has always been fundraising,\u201d Elghanian says. \u201cA website is not such an emotional cause. And if we ever have a fundraiser in New York, it would take a little bit of time for people to understand how powerful WWH is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How we want to change the world:<\/strong> \u201cWithout our website, people wouldn\u2019t know where to help,\u201d Elghanian says. \u201cWe want to become a household name in volunteering and enable people from all walks of life to help.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;Growing up in London, Roya Elghanian was itching to get a passport so she could travel around the world. When she finally got one, she embarked on a six-month backpacking trip through South America and Southeast Asia. As she learned about new cultures, she wanted to help those in need. But she struggled to find [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":917,"featured_media":23052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43911],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-member-spotlight"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Doing Good: Roya Elghanian of Worldwide Helpers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A decade ago, Roya Elghanian started Worldwide Helpers, a nonprofit that links volunteers with low-cost or no-cost opportunities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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