Become a Local Goodwill Ambassador!
Start Local, Represent a Community
As a goodwill ambassador and having worked at both local and international levels for over 15 years I am frequently contacted by people that are interested in joining us and becoming goodwill ambassadors. I always tell people to try to find local recognition before contacting us to get involved in international missions or international cooperation. The best way to do this is by becoming a representative in your own community for a cause or to represent local tourism or a local city (neighborhood) beautification project.
Become a goodwill ambassador in your local community to gain recognition, serve as a figurehead for a business, a community organization, a town, a university, or a city. This report from Inside Jobs based on US Department of Labor statistics explains the employment outlook for goodwill ambassadors and I provided some links at the end for those interested in pursuing it further.
How to become a Goodwill Ambassador
Most Goodwill Ambassadors have no higher education and get on-the-job training. Think about earning a Certificate or Bachelor's degree to increase your competitiveness in the field.
Quick Stats
Salary Range: $17,000 – $44,000 Data from U.S. Department of Labor
What do Goodwill Ambassadors do?
A Goodwill Ambassador is a prominent individual in their community or profession who serves as an honorary Diplomat between entities, like organizations, cities, and nations. If you pride yourself on being a good friend, you might have a future as a Goodwill Ambassador.
Common examples of Goodwill Ambassadors are Actors, Scientists, Authors, and Activists who go on “international friendship missions” to foreign countries, where they present gifts, offer humanitarian relief, and socialize with their contemporaries and counterparts. Like these people, it’s your job as a Goodwill Ambassador to represent one group of people to another for the purpose of building friendly relationships that will be economically, culturally, socially, or politically beneficial in the future.
To accomplish your mission, you typically travel, attend social functions, participate in roundtable discussions, make public appearances, do media interviews, and lobby Legislators.
Although most Goodwill Ambassadors do humanitarian work for organizations like the United Nations, some act as “welcome wagons,” representing businesses to prospects. In this case, it’s your job to find and ingratiate yourself with sales leads by presenting them with token gifts, information, resources, etc. Either way, your job is “making nice” as a means of promoting peace, prosperity, and fellowship.
Should I be a Goodwill Ambassador?
You should have a high school degree or higher and share these traits:
Also known at local levels among other locals as:
Welcome-Wagon Host/Hostess - Source: InsideJobs; Goodwill Ambassador
Other useful links to learn about becoming a goodwill ambassador.
Readers are also encouraged to check for the several articles about becoming an ambassador on our blog! Our best two are: What Goodwill Ambassadors do? and What is Goodwill?
International Ambassadorships (Updated October 2020)
Update Notice: Globcal International is an international civil society organization (iCSO) promoting global citizenship, indigenous peoples, international cooperation and sustainable development for the United Nations under our stakeholdership, as of October 2018 we updated our legal requirements and procedures for new and continuing members who wish to serve as goodwill ambassadors at a professional level in benign non-state and non-governmental diplomatic affairs with international communities and corporations under the formal protocol of United Nations and best practices emulated by some of the most well known international authorities.
Globcal International began a diplomatic corps training and development program which has become standard fare for all natural persons working with global issues internationally with states abroad. The program is recognized by the United Nations internationally as a partner with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as a UNESCO partner and is collaborating with several organizations internationally.
"The formal process for the legal development of our own goodwill ambassadors is proprietary and exclusively for our own members. It is a process that involves investiture, nomination, orientation, assimilation and presentation to world leaders and international public figures resulting in letters patent and/or a letter of credence. Ambassadors are also developed through the building of their authority through notable institutions, recognitions, homologation and apostilles of documents."
New ambassadors are qualified and assimilated individually during the course of their first full year following their investiture as a lifetime member with an appointment as a goodwill ambassador at-large under full diplomatic authority while engaged in their vocation or mission. Once fully engaged ambassadors can be recommended and nominated to international orders, to heads of state for honors, pursue knighthood, be recognized by enclave nations and states, and receive a PhD equivalency in the form of Honoris Causa.
The processes can be costly, each vetting procedure may involve several FedEx packages, an attorney, several notaries and a personal visit to one of our 3000 partner centers in 120 countries before an ambassador can legally become recognized. Those joining must be able to provide documentation of a good deed for which they can be cited; recently or over the past 10 years. (Most classic deed would be rescuing a cat from a tree or another deed and then getting your photo in your local news or tv.)
New applicants should also have a diploma or an equivalency certificate from high school and be at least 25 years of age or older; OR may be bilingual and have a university degree. All new applicants must show a valid passport, a birth certificate and a well elaborated CV. Current membership programs are described at the Globcal International; our exclusive development program is developed to form both local and global representative ambassadors, generally most ambassadors will be qualified to serve and work locally within their own state of residence prior to working internationally.
Hon. David J. Wright
Col. David Wright currently lives on the Orinoco River in Colombia where he works as a thematic consultant to government and commissioner for Globcal International responsible for assisting Pre-Columbian Indigenous Peoples reconcile their autonomy, biodiversity, ecosystem services and intellectual property. He is a Kentucky Colonel and Goodwill Ambassador.
