The document discusses best practices for responsible volunteer travel, noting that many programs focus more on short-term benefits for volunteers rather than meaningful, sustainable impacts. It emphasizes the importance of thorough research, transparency about funds, investing in long-term community relationships, and ensuring local voices and needs are prioritized over outside solutions. Proper monitoring and evaluation are also needed to understand actual impacts and make continued improvements.

1. we have to learn
before we can help
Creating Responsible Traveler’s Philanthropy Experiences

2. ★ Who are we?!
Ø 3.6 million UVs p.a"
Ø 12,000 travel journals"
Ø Travel alerts, safety, Travel
Smarter"
Ø iPod / iPhone language guides"
h"p://www.ccsnys.org/
Ø Travel scholarships"
Ø Ambassador program "
Ø Footprints"
Ø Linked with Social Media"

3. How
&
why
it
works

4. - Registered non-profit
organisation
- Work with 3rd party
charities, grassrootss and
NGOs
- Source locally supported
projects
- Support United Nations
Millennium Development
Goals
- Manage and report on
charitable projects
globally

5. • $1,106,567
• 432,040 donations
• 66 projects funded

6. 12,821 donations
from people in 18 countries
raised $31,548
for to fund a Water & Sanitation
project
In Timor-Leste run by WaterAid
2,264 donations
from people in 21 countries
raised $6,910
to fund a Teacher Livelihood Program
In Cambodia run by PEPY

7. To learn more
Twitter: @tunnsey; @worldnomads;
@footprintsntwrk; @travelsafety
Email: christina.tunnah@worldnomads.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/footprintsnetwork
URL: http://footprints.worldnomads.com/
Youtube: Positive Footprints Channel

8. WHY
are we
HERE

9. Daniela Papi
d@pepytours.com
pepytours.com
educationabroadnetwork.org
voluntourism101.com
lessonsilearned.org

10. HOW
matters

11. Impact
on…
Travelers
Local Non-profit
community or partner, the
ecosystem issue, or the
program

12. Travelers
Local Non-profit
community or partner, the
ecosystem issue, or the
program

13. note You can’t know your
actual impact unless you
follow up, do research,
and stay open to
learning the realities of
the impact you had.

14. What went wrong on
the “voluntourism” trip?

15. EVERYTHING
that could
have gone
wrong!

16. EVERYTHING
that could List of things that
have gone possibly go wrong
wrong!
All of it
Bad planning
Poor implementat
Lies and corruptio
An evil guy

17. EVERYTHING
that could List of things that
have gone possibly go wrong
wrong!
All of it
Bad planning
Poor implementat
Lies and corruptio
An evil guy

18. Poor pre-planning

19. Poor pre-planning

20. Poor pre-planning
!
!
! !

21. No transparency

22. No transparency
$$$

23. No transparency
$$$

24. Ineffective project

25. Ineffective project

26. Little to no
traveler education

27. Little to no
traveler education

28. The WRONG people
were let in

29. The WRONG people
were let in

30. The WRONG people
were let in

31. So… how can we prevent
this?

32. Lessons Learned at World Nomads
• Financial transparency not always
clear
– Communication w/ volunteer
– Do they fund project costs via tour fees?
• Does $ stay local/ in country or get
repatriated?
• Housing, food and safety provisions
• Research thoroughly your partners; a
360

33. Lessons Learned (cont’d)
• Consider duration of trio when
working with kids
• Is LOE > than outcomes
• Honesty and integrity are everything
• Upside: faster feedback loop
• Going to the place isn’t only way to
leverage travel as a change agent

34. Where Footprints & Volunteerism
Intersect
• Partnered w/ non-profit partners that
run trips (provide funding through
Footprints)
– Seek transformational personal experiences
& make a difference fit in with the
Footprints vision
• Projects must meet UN’s MDG;
operators need to be accountable for
outcomes not just tourism experience
– Can be a challenge for operators who
dolphin in
– Projects & needs are identified by locals

35. an
ILLICH
break

36. Voluntourism: What’s wrong
1) Band-aid “solutions”
2) Forgetting volunteers are NOT free
3) Focusing on “things” to solve
problems
4) Poor monitoring
5) Skilled jobs to the unskilled
6) Forgetting the REST of the trip
7) Fostering moral imperialism

37. 1) Band-aid “solutions”

38. Just Say NO to
Orphanage Tourism

41. a. Orphanages are not a
tourist attraction.

42. b. It’s not a zoo. No, you can’t
pet or feed them.

43. c. Ask yourself: Would this be
okay if this was happening in
my community?

44. 2) Volunteers are not FREE

45. 3) “Things” aren’t
the solution

46. but by
investing
time in
people
instead

47. people
have the
capacity and
connections
to reach their
own goals

48. 4) Poor monitoring can
= poor impact

49. 5) Skilled jobs take
skills

51. 7) What about
the REST of the
trip?

52. $ You vote with
your money
RESEARCH: Giving your
money

53. Do you want more kids
on the street?

54. Poverty voyeurism is
voting for poverty.

55. Avoid the
long-neck-
women
phenomenon.

56. At
RESEARCH: Giving your
we have made many mistakes.
money

57. Schools don’t teach kids.

58. Neither do pens,
books, or t-shirts.

59. We learned we needed to
invest in people to put
those things to use.

60. At
RESEARCH: Giving your
we have made many mistakes too.
money

61. it’s not how we can
save the world in a week

62. It’s what we can do
the other 358
days of the year

63. PEPY Tours is designed to inspire
people to improve the way they
GIVE, TRAVEL & LIVE
after they leave us

64. and, with a two-part fee, the donation
requirement from the tour goes straight to
our NGO programs

65. service learning
only looks one way

66. learning service
= trips where you are learning to
serve AFTER you leave

67. the current situation
a), b), and c)

68. A) Many people are marketing the
“developing world” this way

69. Come help him.

70. Only you can help him.

71. A large part of what
people “know”
about “developing”
countries comes
from fundraising
campaigns
& travel advertising

72. B)
Sometimes we create
aid projects
just to let people feel
they are helping.

73. You know, Americans always want to
paint things. They want to paint
buildings, so we have a building we let
them paint. Usually we have to repaint
the walls after the Americans leave
because they don’t do a very good
job.”
-- Remarks from an African leader who felt that
letting visiting Americans paint allowed them to
feel like they accomplished something even though
it was unnecessary (excerpt from Rethinking Short-
Term Missions for Long-Term Impact by Mary
Faultds)

74. C)
We are selling what
people “want”.
Or do people want
what we are selling?

75. 5 Steps to Creating
Successful
Learning Service
Trips

76. 1
#
BUILD
RELATIONSHIPS!

77. 2
#
Research

78. 3
#
Invest in
people

79. 4
#
Close the
feedback loop
Follow-up & ask questions

80. Come
support
this
organiza?on!
5
#
HONEST
Traveling
with
us
means
you
are
HELPING
THE
WORLD!
MARKETING!!!
Travel
with
us
an
make
a
difference!
Buy
our
trip
and
help
this
orphanage!
.
Join
our
SERVICE
trip!
Come
help
them!

81. Other
RESOURCES
to consider

82. www.voluntourism101.com

84. www.voluntourism101.com

85. Child Safe

86. Travelers Philanthropy
Handbook

87. Thank you!
Christina Tunnah
twitter: @tunnsey
email: Christina.Tunnah@worldnomads.com
Daniela Papi
twitter: @danielapapi
email: d@pepytours.com

88. Photo Credits
Photos from Flickr
@martyn
@nebarnix
@lara604
@mithril
@alancleaver
@simulacraofmi
@press the b[o]tton
@claudiasnell
@hrdrck
@kristabrath
@tormods
@tamer_shabaneh
@beth19
@divemasterking2000
@jurvetson
@looking4poetry
@garryknight
@sandvand
Photos of PEPY class and school
Photographer: Mathieu Young