Travelers' Philanthropy Handbook - Center for Responsible Travel

university’s students. This innovation uses the concept of travelers’ philanthropy to expand andenrich the traditional educational travel experience for both the UK students and their Gambiancounterparts.While many travelers’ philanthropy programs seek to address community needs in rural areas, agrowing number are based in cities. Calabash Tours in Port Elizabeth, South Africa specializesin township tours designed to provide visitors with insights into development and social issuesaffecting urban Africans, while generating jobs and augmenting incomes for poor households.Begun in 1997, it gradually expanded into travelers’ philanthropy because guests wanted tosupport the projects they visited. In 2000, Calabash Tours set up the Calabash Trust as aseparate, registered NGO, with its own board, to more effectively run its travelers’ philanthropyprogram.In New York City, New York Restoration Project (NYRP), founded by singer and actress BetteMidler, works with volunteers to plant trees and revitalize parks, gardens, and natural spaces inorder to create a cleaner, greener urban landscape. NYRP also runs the New Leaf Restaurant &Bar which, through its proceeds and donations solicited from guests, is providing about $50,000a year to support the work of the NYRP. This is an innovative example of an NGO creating afor-profit tourism business to underwrite its mission delivery and developing a travelers’philanthropy component to solicit visitor contributions.Some giving programs are more than “add ons” to the tourism business; they are part of thebusiness structure of the company. One of the most unique fundraising models has been LoretoBay, a resort and vacation home complex in Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. The MasterDevelopment Agreement for the Villages of Loreto Bay designated that 1% of gross sales ofhomes and condos go to The Loreto Bay Foundation to support community projects and theLoreto Bay National Park. This fund raised over $1 million between 2004 and December 2008,when the economic crisis hit and the company was put up for sale. This model of incorporatinga contribution to local causes from property sales is now being used in several other resort andvacation home developments in the Americas.Yet another approach to travelers’ philanthropy is set forth in three examples of tour companieswhose central mission is philanthropy. These are:1. Global Sojourns’ Giving Circles (GSGC) is amembership organization that hosts trips tosouthern Africa to visit community-basedorganizations focused on assisting children andsupporting education. After visitors return home,they continue to be part of the Giving Circlethrough quarterly conference calls, and work toraise funds to support the projects.2. Elevate Destinations was launched in 2005 asa philanthropic and sustainable travel companyPlan USA trip to Ghana.Credit: Elevate Destinationsproviding “responsible travel” opportunities for individuals and institutional clients. Itspecializes in providing donor travel programs for international non-profit organizations(such as Global Fund for Children and Rare Conservation) to highlight their successfulprojects in developing countries. The company donates 5% of the net cost of its trips toNGOs in the host countries. In addition, donations are built in to the cost of the trip28