When Basil Foundation 20 years ago, there were very few travel companies giving back to local communities. Since then, the Foundation has worked with more than 62,000 individual donors to raise more than A$12 million for 136 community partners around the world. And as far as Intrepid co-founder Jeff Manchester is concerned, they're just getting started.
For 20 years, the Intrepid Foundation has raised more than $12 million for 136 community projects around the world, creating a positive impact through the joy of travel, community, and connection.
And it all started on a road trip across Africa in 1988.
We've modified an ex-board's truck, and the plan was to drive it across the continent with some friends. Daryl [Wade, Intrepid’s co-founder]his wife Anna and I started talking about the Intrepid concept, what it might become, and we thought: If we're going to make a living transporting people to developing countries, we have to be Restores for those countries.
Pretty soon, Intrepid Travel was born. In those first three years, we started to provide financial support to some small projects in Southeast Asia. This was before the company turned a profit. Daryl and I haven't even gotten paid yet!
In 2002 we set up a separate not-for-profit, the Intrepid Foundation, in part to help our travelers donate, but also so that Intrepid could start supporting these projects in a much larger way.
"I think that's one of the real powers of travel: connecting us to people and communities all over the world."
It may not sound very revolutionary now, but I'm 99 percent sure that no other travel company would have done something like this 20 years ago. It was a completely different model of philanthropy. The bold approach was based on travelers, not wealthy benefactors. Income was coming from ordinary people. It was fixed and permanent in theory. A new way to give back.
Measure our impact
For too long, we've only measured success in dollars and the number of organizations we can support. This is still a good way to look at things, but over the years we have improved our process.
We want to make sure the organizations we support make a real difference on the ground. Part of this is because we find worthy partners - each organization is carefully selected and vetted by our local destination teams - but we've also become more rigorous with our reporting. Every one of our partners It delivers annual data, so we can measure not only the organization's results, but ours as well Effect.
There is an important difference between results and impact. Not just what your donations are to methat's what they are Represent. A good outcome might be training 100 disadvantaged women in a new skill, but the effect could be much greater: better job security, a more prosperous society, a living wage, healthier children, more gender equality, higher living standards, and so on. .
A new world of travel
The future of travel is changing now, every day, and the organization is a big part of that. There is still a lot we want to achieve. We want to scale our partners, and tackle the issues that matter most to them, alongside our local teams. The organization has been doing great work for 20 years, but we want the next 20 years to be even better.
“Our internal research shows that travelers really appreciate this. They want to make a contribution, and feel more connected to the places they are visiting.”
For this reason, we would like to finally have a partner associated with each Intrepid journey. This is the ultimate goal. Obviously, this means supporting partners whose work covers every region we travel to, which is a big job. It takes a long time to find these partners, evaluate them, create relationships, get the story out there, and start making money. To put it in some perspective, Intrepid runs over 900 different rides!
We also want to build on the success of the past 20 years by ramping up the enterprise's disaster response work. This is something we've been doing since the "Boxing Day" tsunami in 2004, but we'd like to do more. Over the years, our travelers have raised funds for Nepal earthquakeThe Australian bushfiresAnd the Equity vaccineand now Red Cross of Ukraine.
This is one of the true powers of travel: connecting us to people and communities around the world, and enabling us to support those communities. Our internal research shows that travelers really appreciate this. They want to make a contribution and feel more connected to the places they visit. They want their adventures I mean Something.
We see that Intrepid and The Intrepid Foundation are intertwined. They are separate organizations, but they work toward the same mission. When you book an intrepid excursion, you should be able to see, feel and read about its immediate impact. Become part of a community of conscious travelers, ready to make a difference. You meet people and learn about local issues, and a part of you stays connected to these destinations, long after you've returned home.
I am proud that the Intrepid Foundation has been able to support many meaningful partners over the past 20 years. But mostly, I'm looking at ways we can increase that impact in the coming years. And while travelers continue to push for the travel experiences that matter, I know the future of travel is in good hands.
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