Amateurs without Borders examines the rise of new actors in the international development world: volunteer-driven grassroots international nongovernmental organizations. These small aid organizations, now ten thousand strong, sidestep the world of professionalized development aid by launching projects built around personal relationships and the skills of volunteers. This book draws on fieldwork in the United States and Africa, web data, and IRS records to offer the first large-scale systematic study of these groups. Amateurs without Borders investigates the aspirations and limits of personal compassion on a global scale.

"Amateurs Without Borders is an engaging and lively read. It is apt to be particularly useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate students who are exploring development and constitutes an important addition to sociology’s collective understanding about the contours of the field." - Social Forces

"Amateurs without Borders offers valuable information and insights." - Christian Relief, Development and Advocacy