The Intrepid Foundation just announced their latest round of Impact Grant funding, and 16 NGO recipients are set to receive a share of over USD$400,000. And majority of the funding came from travelers who chose to donate one per cent of their tour cost. Kassondra Cloos reports.
It’s easy to brush off a small donation as inconsequential, or to sit out from community action because you think it won’t make a difference. But ask any one of the 16 grassroots organizations that are receiving part of a record-smashing pool of donations from Intrepid travelers, and they’ll probably beg to differ.
The Intrepid Foundation—the charitable arm of Intrepid Travel—announced this week that it will be giving USD$453,650 (AUD$709,000) in Impact Grants funding. That’s more than double the amount donated in 2024, in large part thanks to travelers who opted to donate an additional one percent of the cost of their trip at the time of booking.
“It’s inspiring to hear how our NGO partners plan to use these grants to create impact on the ground,” said Biheng Zhang, general manager of The Intrepid Foundation. “From helping restore marine environments in Thailand to creating an empowerment program for migrant women in Greece and enabling better health screenings in Colombia.”
“Even though your donation seems small, when it’s combined with donations from other generous Intrepid travelers, it can have a huge impact in the communities in their favourite travel destinations,” said Zhang.
“We operate under a trust-based philanthropy model. We wholeheartedly believe in the work that our partners are doing and we trust that they know where funds are needed most to keep their organizations running smoothly and fuel their impact.”
- Biheng Zhang, general manager, The Intrepid Foundation
This year, Intrepid Travel matched those donated traveler funds dollar-for-dollar, and the grant program received additional funding from Intrepid Foundation corporate partner Eurail. But how were the 16 grant recipients chosen?
Innovation was a crucial element in each successful application. “The impact of the grants begin before they’re even awarded,” Zhang said. “It creates a moment for our partner organizations to think creatively, and ambitiously, about how they would tackle the challenges facing their communities.” Grant applicants were also asked to highlight how their project proposals would address gender equality and environmental issues.
Just a few of the projects approved for this round of grants include:
World Bicycle Relief who will purchase 200 bicycles to help health workers commute to work in Tanzania.
Greening Australia is set to restore up to 20 hectares of forests in Tasmania to provide habitats for the endangered Tasmanian devil and eastern barred bandicoot.
Awamaki will cover the cost of natural dye for alpaca yarn so that Peruvian artisans can boost appeal for their wares on the international market.
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, which won the Traveler’s Choice Grant in a vote by Intrepid travelers, will provide livestock and biodigester systems for 20 families living in human trafficking hot spots in Vietnam. The goal is to help them to earn a living at home and reduce the risks associated with work-related migration.
Ezwitti, a restaurant in Amman, Jordan, that offers free meals to those in need through a discreet, pay-it-forward voucher system, will create a mobile unit to reach low-income communities beyond the center of the city.
Sagarmatha Next will create a learning center in Kathmandu, Nepal, focused on recycling and waste management.
The Impact Grants make up just one of the ways The Intrepid Foundation supports its global nonprofit partners. Most of the money the organization donates is in the form of ‘untied’ funds, which means partners have complete control over how the funds are used—hiring new staff, paying the electric bill at headquarters, or whatever else is needed to support the work that’s being done. These needs can be difficult for organizations to fund, because donors often restrict their money for specific purposes.
“We don’t tell our partners what to do with the funds we distribute,” Zhang said. “We operate under a trust-based philanthropy model. We wholeheartedly believe in the work that our partners are doing and we trust that they know where funds are needed most to keep their organizations running smoothly and fuel their impact.”
According to Zhang, it can be challenging for organizations to find funding for projects that seem ‘untested’. These impact grants can help give the organizations a head start.
“It can be hard to get funding for something that’s new and different,” said Zhang. “Lots of donors want to see evidence that you’ve done it before and that it’s going to be successful. So we saw an opportunity to offer deeper support and felt that we could offer that initial funding to help our partners bring some of their most innovative ideas to life and get these projects underway.”
The Intrepid Foundation hopes to continue expanding the program over the next few years by encouraging more travelers to get involved and donate just one percent of their trip cost when they book with Intrepid.
“It’s a really inspiring thing,” said Zhang. “To think that as little AUD$20 can go on to create such massive change around the world, and that the collective impact of our travelers can make a genuine difference to so many people’s lives.”
You can find out more about the 2025 grant recipients and even choose to make a small donation (with a big impact) for yourself via The Intrepid Foundation.
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Adventure.com acknowledges the complexity and challenges of travel in the context of our global climate crisis. This article is part of Adventure.com’s paid partnerships program, which enables us to continue publishing stories about a more regenerative and sustainable future of travel by helping to make out platform commercially viable. Adventure.com only partners with brands and products that align with our ethical and editorial standards, and our vision for a future of travel built around lower emissions, deeper connection and more resilient communities.
Kassondra Cloos is a travel journalist from Rhode Island living in London, and Adventure.com's news and gear writer. Her work focuses on slow travel, urban outdoor spaces and human-powered adventure. She has written about kayaking across Scotland, dog sledding in Sweden and road tripping around Mexico. Her latest work appears in The Guardian, Backpacker and Outside, and she is currently section-hiking the 2,795-mile England Coast Path.
