Travelpledge to partner with Intrepid
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Responsible tourism charity, Travelpledge is set to partner with Intrepid Travel UK. Launched in 2009, the non profit organisation facilitates the Travel industry to help British tourists donate to projects following trips abroad. Intrepid travel, which specialises in adventures off the beaten track, will be the sixth travel company to work with the charity. In an exclusive interview with Travel Daily, Nick Chaffe Director Travelpledge, said: “People will go to countries like Cambodia and India and decide they want to give something back to the community they have visited. We work with travel companies who want to run a ‘give back’ scheme and they market our fundraisers to their customers”. He added that Travelpledge only works on small projects such as community development, education and environmental developments. “None of the initiatives require vast sums of money and every penny customers give goes back to the people who need it. Travellers always know about the cause and the delivery partners they are supporting, which can’t always be said of big NGOs,” explained Chaffe who operates the charity on a voluntary basis. “Working on smaller projects means we have been able to raise enough money to complete nine projects so far.” And with seven more in the offing, Chaffe is keen to attract more potential partners. “This is a very effective way for companies to raise funds for worthwhile causes and help their customers give money back if they wish to. The companies make a small contribution themselves before going on to tell their customers about the projects we are facilitating,” he added. Currently, the charity works on projects in South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Gambia, Romania, Nepal and the UK, where tourists can choose to support Family Holidays, which helps poor families to go away in Britain. Upcoming projects, which haven’t yet launched, will take place in Vietnam, India, Cambodia and Peru. Daniel Pawlyn, Sales & Marketing Manager UK Europe for Intrepid said: “Many of our customers develop a long-term bond with the places they travel to and want to give something back. TravelPledge will make it easier and more tax efficient for our UK customers to give back with confidence to a range of charitable projects identified by The Intrepid Foundation.” In terms of expansion, Chaffe commented: “we would like to get 100% more travel industry supporters. I’d like to talk to any travel company that has a give back scheme because we could really support it well. I’d also like to see more projects being developed and finished this year.”
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