Panama is easy to fall in love with. You can wake up in a cloud forest, swim in Caribbean water by lunchtime and watch toucans from your breakfast table. But once you spend more time here, you also begin to see another Panama. There are rural communities with limited access to education, children growing up in poverty, abandoned dogs and cats, forests under pressure and enormous stretches of biodiversity that need protection.
The good news is that you don't have to be rich, retired or planning to spend six months in a hammock to help.
Panama has a surprisingly wide range of organizations where visitors, residents, digital nomads, students, businesses and long term travellers can contribute money, skills, time or simply a few hours of hard work.
And sometimes the most useful thing you can give isn't money at all. It is your time, your knowledge or your willingness to get your hands dirty.
Helping Children: Casa Esperanza
Fundación Casa Esperanza is one of the organizations worth knowing about if your interest is helping children.
Its work focuses particularly on children and teenagers living in poverty and those affected by child labour. The organization provides support involving education, nutrition, health, personal development, sport, culture and recreation.
Casa Esperanza has centers in several parts of Panama, including David and Boquete in Chiriquí, as well as locations in Panama City, Colón, Coclé and Veraguas.
They also have volunteer opportunities, allowing people to contribute their time, knowledge and professional experience rather than simply writing a cheque.
For travellers passing through Chiriquí, this is particularly interesting because you can potentially support an organization doing meaningful work without having to travel all the way to Panama City.
Helping Children in Darién
If you want to support communities far away from the usual tourist circuit, look at Fundación Pro Niños de Darién.
The organization has been working since 1990 with children and communities in Darién and the Emberá Wounaan region. Its programs include nutrition, health, education, production and community development.
The foundation works in dozens of communities and reaches thousands of children.
It also offers opportunities for volunteers to participate in activities such as educational events, sports programs, school supply campaigns and community projects.
This is a very different side of Panama from the one most tourists encounter.
Darién is one of the country's most remote regions, and supporting organizations already working there can be an excellent way of contributing without turning someone's home into a tourist attraction.
If Animals Are More Your Thing: Spay Panamá
Panama has a very visible stray animal problem, particularly involving dogs and cats.
Fundación Spay Panamá works to tackle animal overpopulation through sterilization and community education.
This is one of those organizations where you don't necessarily need a special qualification.
Volunteers can help with things such as cleaning, preparing supplies, transporting equipment and personnel, assisting during sterilization campaigns and educating communities about responsible animal ownership.
In other words, you can actually show up and do something useful.
For animal lovers travelling through Panama, supporting sterilization programs can be far more effective than simply feeding street animals. Feeding an animal might help that animal today. Sterilization can prevent generations of unwanted animals from being born into the same difficult circumstances.
Conservation With ANCON
For anyone who came to Panama because of the jungle, birds, monkeys, frogs and ridiculous quantities of green vegetation, ANCON is an organization worth investigating.
ANCON works in conservation, biodiversity, environmental education, restoration and sustainable development.
It also provides opportunities for volunteers and organizations to participate in conservation activities.
This is particularly appealing if you don't want your entire Panama experience to consist of consuming nature.
You can actually help protect it.
You don't necessarily need to be a biologist. Environmental organizations need people with all kinds of abilities, from practical outdoor skills to education, communications, administration and fundraising.
Sometimes the person who knows how to build a website is just as valuable as the person who knows how to identify a bird.
Get Seriously Wild With Panama Wildlife Conservation
For people who look at a monkey, frog, macaw or camera trap and immediately become more interested, Panama Wildlife Conservation offers something particularly fascinating.
This isn't really "paint a school for three days and take some Instagram photos" volunteering.
Its volunteer programs involve genuine conservation work, including wildlife monitoring, camera traps, amphibian surveys, macaw monitoring, species data collection, habitat assessments and environmental education.
Some programs require a considerably longer commitment, making them much more appropriate for someone who genuinely wants to become involved in conservation rather than someone who has two spare afternoons between Bocas del Toro and Santa Catalina.
The organization works with local communities as well as scientists and focuses on protecting Panama's extraordinary biodiversity.
For a person who has always wanted to experience conservation from the inside rather than simply paying for a wildlife tour, this can be a fascinating option.
You Don't Have to Join a Charity
One of the biggest misconceptions about volunteering abroad is that you need to sign up for an expensive organized volunteer package.
You don't.
Sometimes you can simply contact an organization and ask:
"What do you actually need help with?"
You might discover they need someone who speaks English.
Or someone who knows social media.
Or a photographer.
Or a website designer.
Or someone who can teach English.
Or someone who can repair something.
Or someone willing to spend Saturday morning sorting supplies.
The Ministry of Social Development of Panama, known as MIDES, also has volunteer initiatives involving areas such as education, environmental awareness, culture, sport and community development.
Your professional skills may be considerably more valuable than a generic volunteer activity.
Sometimes the Best Thing You Can Give Is Money
There is sometimes an almost religious belief among travellers that "real" volunteering means physically doing something.
Not necessarily.
If you're in Panama for five days, spending your limited holiday time sorting boxes might not be the most useful contribution you can make.
A donation to a reputable local organization could accomplish considerably more.
A $10 donation might not feel significant to someone travelling through Panama with a backpack, but hundreds or thousands of people making small contributions can finance school supplies, animal sterilizations, conservation equipment, food programs and community projects.
You can also organize something yourself.
A hostel can hold a fundraiser.
A restaurant can donate one night's profits.
A group of travellers can buy school supplies.
A hotel can sponsor an animal sterilization campaign.
A tour company can contribute a percentage of one excursion.
And before buying a random collection of toys, clothes or canned food, simply ask an organization what it actually needs.
You may discover that what they desperately need isn't another box of donated clothing.
It's printer ink.
The Most Valuable Volunteer May Not Be a Volunteer
This sounds strange, but sometimes the best way to help is to become a long term supporter.
Imagine a traveller who spends three weeks in Panama and volunteers for two afternoons.
Useful? Absolutely.
Now imagine another person who visits Panama every year, donates $100, shares the organization's work with friends, brings supplies when travelling and convinces five other people to contribute.
That person might ultimately have a much greater impact.
Volunteering isn't a competition.
You don't get extra points for having the dirtiest T shirt at the end of the day.
The important question is simply:
Did what you did actually help?
A Few Rules for Responsible Volunteering
Before joining anything, do a little research.
Ask where the money goes. A reputable organization should be able to explain what its programs accomplish.
Don't volunteer casually with vulnerable children. Organizations working with children should have proper safeguarding and supervision procedures.
Don't handle wildlife unless you are trained and authorized. A wild animal isn't a volunteer opportunity simply because it is adorable.
Don't turn poverty into entertainment. Taking photographs of disadvantaged people without consent is not humanitarianism.
Ask what they actually need. Your intentions can be wonderful while your contribution is completely useless.
And whenever possible, support Panamanian organizations that already understand the communities they serve.
They generally know the local problems, languages, relationships and realities far better than a foreign organization flying volunteers in for a week.
Panama Gives You an Unusual Opportunity
There aren't many countries where you can spend the morning watching a sloth, the afternoon helping an animal sterilization campaign, the next day supporting a children's organization and the following week walking through rainforest containing species scientists are still studying.
That's one of the wonderful things about Panama.
It is small enough to explore, diverse enough to surprise you and full of organizations working on problems that matter.
You don't have to become a full time humanitarian.
You don't have to save the rainforest.
You don't even have to give up your holiday.
But if Panama gives you an unforgettable experience, giving a little something back can make your time here mean considerably more than another stamp in your passport.