For gift-givers hoping to make a change, sustainable travel company Intrepid Travel has a suggestion: why not purchase an email gift card in support of one of the many causes supported by the Intrepid Travel Foundation? Not only does Intrepid pick up the tab for 100 per cent of the administrative costs, they match every contribution dollar-for-dollar.
Best of all, you can contribute to the project or NGO whose work you most want to support. There are 44 causes supported by the Foundation, in 10 different categories ranging from education to disabilities to animal welfare. The projects operate in 20 countries throughout Asia, Africa, South America and Australia (where you can become an official “Friend of the Koalas”).
This year, the Foundation has introduced E-Cards. Cards range from $20 to $160 in value, which the Foundation will double and forward onto one of eight projects of your choice. A $20 card, for example will purchase 200 oranges for children served by Living Heart which is dedicated to improving lives of women and children in the Sacred Valley of Peru. With a $50 contribution, you can fully equip a porter in Nepal: many of the porters in that Himalayan country lack appropriate attire for working in those high altitudes, and your gift will equip a porter with a jacket, trousers, boots, and even sunglasses so he can stay safe and well. Or, a $160 donation will educate a child for a full year in Vietnam.
“In all cases, the Foundation strives to work within the needs and contexts of the communities, while respecting the local people and raising their self-reliance as well as skill level,” says Steven Larkin, Intrepid’s president for North America. “And you certainly don’t need to be an Intrepid client to donate.”
Since its establishment in 2002, he adds, the foundation has distributed almost $2 million Cdn in aid.
To learn more about the Foundation – and double your Christmas budget instantly! – visit www.theintrepidfoundation.org.
Media enquiries: Katy Rockett at Intrepid Travel: 416-583-2674