What is Travel Philanthropy?

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   Travel Philanthropy is not new, but it is growing very rapidly and it now takes a very wide variety of forms – from the donating of cash to charity treks and volunteering. WTM has commissioned a report to provide a reference point for people in the industry wanting to understand the trends and to find out more about the different forms of travel philanthropy – the opportunities and pitfalls. 

Travellers and tourism companies have been making donations of cash and time for years and although many companies involved in Responsible Tourism also engage in philanthropy, so do many companies and holidaymakers who are not part of the movement towards Responsible Tourism – and certainly Responsible Tourism cannot be reduced to a charity work.

Travel Philanthropy defines charitable and philanthropic behaviour, the donating of money, in-kind resources or time, occasioned by or facilitated by travel. Travel Philanthropy includes donations by travellers and travel companies inbound and outbound where the charitable contribution is occasioned by, but secondary to the primary purpose which is travel or holidaymaking and the commercial operation of travel businesses. In reporting these contributions it is important to distinguish between contributions from travellers or holidaymakers and those made by inbound or outbound operators, whether donated for use in the originating place or in the destination.

There is surprisingly little information available about the scale of Travel Philanthropy in the originating markets or the destinations. However, it is clear from the case studies in the report that very significant sums of money are being donated in destinations by travellers and companies.

This Forum has been created to enable the sharing of information, good and bad examples of Travel Philanthropy, and to discuss the issues. 

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goodwinhj Members Profile Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Admin Group Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 45	Quote Reply Topic: What is Travel Philanthropy? Posted: 26 Sep 2009 at 10:06am
	Travel Philanthropy is not new, but it is growing very rapidly and it now takes a very wide variety of forms – from the donating of cash to charity treks and volunteering. WTM has commissioned a report to provide a reference point for people in the industry wanting to understand the trends and to find out more about the different forms of travel philanthropy – the opportunities and pitfalls. Travellers and tourism companies have been making donations of cash and time for years and although many companies involved in Responsible Tourism also engage in philanthropy, so do many companies and holidaymakers who are not part of the movement towards Responsible Tourism – and certainly Responsible Tourism cannot be reduced to a charity work. Travel Philanthropy defines charitable and philanthropic behaviour, the donating of money, in-kind resources or time, occasioned by or facilitated by travel. Travel Philanthropy includes donations by travellers and travel companies inbound and outbound where the charitable contribution is occasioned by, but secondary to the primary purpose which is travel or holidaymaking and the commercial operation of travel businesses. In reporting these contributions it is important to distinguish between contributions from travellers or holidaymakers and those made by inbound or outbound operators, whether donated for use in the originating place or in the destination. There is surprisingly little information available about the scale of Travel Philanthropy in the originating markets or the destinations. However, it is clear from the case studies in the report that very significant sums of money are being donated in destinations by travellers and companies. This Forum has been created to enable the sharing of information, good and bad examples of Travel Philanthropy, and to discuss the issues.
	Harold Goodwin

sallie Members Profile Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Newbie Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Location: UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Quote Reply Posted: 26 Sep 2009 at 10:57am
	people and places match skilled volunteers to local need.Since placing our first volunteer in 2006 we have been humbled and challenged by the generosity of the volunteers. They are completely self funded, covering all the costs of their placements themselves including a ring fenced donation amount for the project with whom they will work.This ensures that economically poor people do not subidise them.This generosity norwithstanding, over 20% of our volunteers continue to support the community with which they have worked on their return home. people and places is a founding partner of www.travelphilanthropy.co.uk (TravelPledge). This partnership enables us to give donors an independant and transparent vehicle through which to donate. TravelPledge works with local communities and projects.We believe that the independence of Travel Pledge proves a reassuring level of independence and transparency to donors. The discipline of submitting targeted causes and the robust due diligence undertaken by TravelPledge concentrates the mind on the efficacy of each donation – and more important, it ensures that local people are equal stakeholders in this process - and to be quite honest, as a tiny organization, we were becoming overwhelmed by the reporting systems needed to ensure we were communicating properly with donors and monitoring efficacy – and the burden was equally overwhelming for our local partners. The TravelPledge model has solved most of this for all of us. In the first 9 months of 2009, TravelPledge has facilitated,for people and places, over £18,000 of volunteer donations to local communities, and at least another £10,000 is expected before the end of the year. The money raised has provided sanitation for vulnerable children and adults in South Africa; paid for the education of orphans in Kathmandu; funded feeding programmes, education and medical equipment; a school in Nepal now has clean drinking water for its 2,000 pupils. Future targeted causes include training programmes for local bike mechanics and pre-school teachers, funding education for orphans (as well as providing them with trips and outings which are just plain fun!), horticultural training … and as each target is met a new cause will be introduced, enabling local people and volunteers to work together in creating better places for people to live and better places for people to visit. Many of the targeted causes have been identified by volunteers working together with local people – expert education volunteers are helping local schools interpret their needs, healthcare experts work with local community support programmes – and TravelPledge then screens them and focuses donations on these needs, thus assisting meaningful travel philanthropy. Take a look at http://www.travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk/About.aspx?category=26 http://travelpledge.org/ Edited by sallie - 26 Sep 2009 at 11:02am
	sallie www.travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk

Guests Members Profile Find Members Posts Guest	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Sep 2009 at 11:54am
	The Center for Responsible Travel’s Travelers’ Philanthropy program makes it easy for travelers to support and empower local and indigenous communities. With just a few clicks, you can make a donation that will help generate jobs, improve health care, educate children, or protect the environment in the travel destinations you care about most. The tourism companies that Travelers’ Philanthropy has brought together are dedicated to the people and environment where they operate, and they encourage you to learn about the community efforts that they support. You can even make a donation today!

marcusjborg Members Profile Find Members Posts Newbie Joined: 13 Oct 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Posted: 13 Oct 2009 at 11:08am
	I am agree with statement . Travelers and tourism companies have been making donations of cash and time for the social cause... apprendre l'anglais en angleterre < id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">

lewisc01 Members Profile Find Members Posts Newbie Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Location: Leeds Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Posted: 16 Nov 2009 at 10:01pm
	Much independent travel operates in the absence of tour operators. How can this market pay back? Backpackers often see themselves as travellers and feel more of a belonging to a destination. Is it possible to place a cost on such a nomadic group? Are such systems in place to combat this?
	C M Lewis

Guests Members Profile Find Members Posts Guest	Quote Reply Posted: 07 Feb 2010 at 10:54am
	Very nice article about Travel Philanthropy Regards John sofia

Vega Members Profile Find Members Posts Newbie Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Mar 2010 at 6:28pm
	It seems that churches have been engaged in travel philanthropy for years. When I was a youth I traveled with a church group to New York City where helped clean up a church and volunteer at the local soup kitchen. I also know of some local charities that travel once a year to the Dominican Republic to deliver supplies and help out in local hospitals and villages.
	Vega Sinclair,Atlas Travel Insurance

Beckersen Members Profile Find Members Posts Newbie Joined: 16 Aug 2010 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Posted: 16 Aug 2010 at 7:45am
	I have been traveling for almost 3 years and I have never thought about Travel Philanthropy. Well, thanks for this post. I am looking forward to become a part of one Travel Philanthropy organization soon.
	I am a blogger, photographer, traveler I am also an custom essays writer.

	welcome to the responsible tourism forum

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