The Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CESD) announces plans to hold the next Travelers’ Philanthropy^SM  conference in Arusha, Tanzania, on December 3-5, 2008. The conference will focus on the growing trend among responsible tourism businesses to support community and conservation projects in the host countries where they operate.

The 200 to 250 conference attendees will include representatives from tourism companies from around the world, as well as experts from development and conservation organizations, representatives from the UN and other international agencies, academics, government officials, and others interested in how responsible tourism can contribute to poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation.

The conference will be held at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha, a vibrant tourism town near the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru that serves as a gateway to Tanzania’s world renowned game parks. Arusha is also the headquarters of many NGOs and is close to Nairobi, Kenya, another popular safari destination. 

“Over the last decade, we’ve seen a growing trend among tourism companies and tourists to donate funds, material support, and expertise to assist health clinics, schools, protected areas, libraries, and other development projects in communities and countries where tourism takes place,” says Dr. Martha Honey, CESD Co-Director. “We believe that, done well, this sort of ‘give back’ to local communities is an extremely important new source of development assistance – and our Travelers’ Philanthropy^SM program is dedicated to helping to promote this type of responsible tourism.”

In April 2004, CESD hosted its first and highly successful Travelers’ Philanthropy^SM conference at Stanford University. Previously, two smaller meetings had been held to draw attention to this growing practice by responsible tour operators.

“We need to recognize that philanthropy is not always beneficial. It needs to be done in ways that meet real community identified needs, supports economic and social empowerment, and is transparent in its operations. The role of CESD is to work with tourism businesses to help ensure that they employ the best methods in developing programs and supporting projects in host communities,” explains CESD Co-Director and Stanford University professor Dr. William Durham.

The Travelers’ Philanthropy^SM conference in Arusha will also showcase the best in socially and environmentally responsible travel through safaris with leading East African ecotourism operators. These trips will combine local community and conservation projects that are supported by tourism businesses, with visits to East Africa’s world renowned game parks and the island of Zanzibar.

In Arusha, CESD has hired Fred Nelson of the Maliasili Initiatives to handle local logistics. CESD is also soliciting endorsements and sponsorships from a variety of companies, NGOs, and international agencies.

For more information about the Travelers’ Philanthropy^SM initiative, conference, registration, speakers and program, pre- and post- conference trips, latest updates, as well as background information on the previous conference, please visit our websites: www.travelersphilanthropy.org and www.ecotourismcesd.org.

Past Travelers' Philanthropy Conferences

Travelers' Philanthropy Conference 2004: A Big Success

The Travelers' Philanthropy Conference, which took place on the Stanford University campus April 12-15, 2004.brought together leaders of socially responsible travel businesses involved in corporate giving programs to support community projects in tourism destinations. Sponsored by the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CESD), the conference was co-sponsored by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) and Conservation International, as well as by a number of eco-tourism companies, and the Ford Foundation.

A half dozen keynote speakers addressed issues surrounding the impacts of externally-funded projects on local communities, Travelers' Philanthropy's relationship to national parks, lessons from United Nations development projects, the psychology of giving, and consumer demand for responsible tourism companies. One of the most provocative talks was given by David Abernethy, Stanford Professor Emeritus in Political Science, who discussed what can be unintended "bad consequences" that come from "doing good." Dr. Abernethy suggested criteria that travel companies undertaking charitable work should consider, such as partnering with well-established local NGOs.

William Barnett of Stanford's Graduate School of Business also gave a lively presentation on the likely trajectory and organizational challenges that will face Travelers' Philanthropy as it becomes a more visible social movement. And, on the final morning, William Durham, CESD Director at Stanford and Chair of the Department of Anthropological Sciences, challenged donors to choose projects that empower local communities, including ones that help them to maintain control over their land. "It was worth flying all the way from Australia just to hear one of these presentations by the Stanford faculty," commented one enthusiastic participant.

In the wake of the conference, CESD has received dozens of other unsolicited accolades. Just a few samples: "I am deeply inspired," wrote Nancy Rivard, President of Airline Ambassadors. Julie Snyder of READ Nepal called the conference "illuminating, inspiring and motivating, with an intriguing blend of people," while Dennis Pinto of Micato Safaris commended the organizers on "an exceptionally well-organized conference. You were brilliant!" Jane Crouch of Intrepid Travel in Australia wrote, "Most conferences I've been to - maybe if you're lucky 50% of the content is of relevance and interest. In this case I'd say 95%! It was fantastic!" Ok, enough…

This Travelers' Philanthropy conference evolved from two earlier gatherings - in November 2001 and September 2002 - organized by Michael Seltzer of Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel (BEST). In a White Paper prepared for these meetings, Seltzer described Travelers' Philanthropy as providing "3 T's" of support - time, treasure and talent - to host communities. In mid-2003, when Seltzer left BEST, CESD assumed leadership of Travelers' Philanthropy and began preparations for a larger conference that would combine expertise from Stanford and other academic institutions, as well as travel businesses, foundations, government and the UN, NGOs, and host communities

Conference participants endorsed a variety of follow up activities, and 11 people volunteered to be part of an expanded steering committee. In addition, Richard Weiss, of Weiss Associates in Berkeley, agreed to devote part of his time to running Travelers' Philanthropy. It was also decided that Travelers' Philanthropy would continue to maintain links to CESD, TIES and CI, but would develop its own, expanded website and set of activities. Those include publishing a book about Travelers' Philanthropy (using some of the conference presentations), online discussions (being organized by Peter Gibbs of Sea-Change in UK), producing a pamphlet and a "tool kit" on Travelers' Philanthropy, creating a list of experts who can work with companies starting philanthropic programs, doing media outreach, and creating a non-profit organization to handle donations from travelers and companies and funnel them into community projects. To this end, Richard Weiss established a new 501c(3), Travelers' Philanthropy Fund, under the auspices of the Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, and opened a bank account in the name of the fund.

Conference Brochure

Conference Agenda

In addition, CDs of the presentations and conference packets and papers can be purchased for $25; conference participants can get the CD of presentations for $10.
Please send payment to Clair Nelson, CESD, 733 15th St., NW, Suite 1000,
Washington, DC 20005 or email her at [email protected].