GoPhilanthropic – Sustainable Travel Empowers Communities

GOPhilanthropic enters 2009 with a host of new travel programs aimed at providing support for the empowerment of communities worldwide and the protection of heritage and environment.

The socially-conscious travel company embraces the combination of Travel Philanthropy, Geotourism and Sustainable Travel, coupling Vacations and In-depth Educational Tours with support for social and conservation projects worldwide. The result offers travelers meaningful and authentic exchanges with local communities and engagement in conservation efforts unique to each region, providing a valuable source of support for projects worldwide. The focus of the private custom-made trips is on providing the traveler with enriching experiences while protecting, preserving, and enhancing the “health” of foreign tourist destinations and their communities. This new trend in travel provides a compelling alternative to volunteer trips and offers a platform from which to educate tourists.

Through their philanthropic travel programs, travelers can have fabulous trips as well as plan in advance to purchase and deliver directly through the company’s partner NGOs tangible items such as:

• Water wells and filters
• Portable Mobile Libraries (boxes containing 250 bilingual books)
• School supplies, furniture, or computers

In addition, in certain locations travelers have the opportunity to meet in person

• Candidates for school scholarship
• Microloan/finance candidates
• Local artisans involved in fair trade programs
• Musicians, traditional dancers, and artists

GoPhilanthropic represents a growing social entrepreneurial trend in the private sector –a hybrid whereby for-profit businesses encourage their consumers to support the non-profit sector, providing a much needed resource in sustainability for NGO programs.