Travelers' Philanthropy Handbook - Center for Responsible Travel

In summing up, the key words in this section are: complexity, partnership, investment,sustainable change, proactive, long-term, and professional. The risk is always that words of thiskind only become “buzz-words.” But put together in this setting, it hopefully makes sense andgives some guidance to future travelers’ philanthropists. In essence, remember that:“We travel in recognition of the complexity in the societies and environments we visitand seek to locally support sustainable change by proactive investments in long-termprofessional partnership projects”• Investment – Innovation – Transformation MatrixThe matrix above describes the principal relationship between investment and innovation levelsand their potential effect on socio-economic and cultural transformation in society. Since muchof sustainable conservation today is driven by the involvement of local community, the matrix isalso relevant to transformative conservation.The lower left box points out the risk of engaging in projects that have little or short-term fundingand takes little notice of the complexity in society and ecosystems (low level of innovation). Theresult is normally non-transformative and unsustainable and is at the risk of developing donordependency.The opposite corner of the matrix (upper right) is meant to describe a situation where more longtermand higher levels of funding, often in the form of investments, lead to financial selfsustainability,with the ability to create deep change in the local community. An example of aproject that has the potential to develop and graduate in the upper right corner is the Mara136