Travelocity’s Travel for Good program is back! I asked Alison Presley, manager of Travel for Good, how Travelocity chose their partners and programs to feature for the grants, see below for answers. Hey Steve, Kimberly and James – wanna comment on what it’s like being a Travelocity partner?
From Alison Presley – “The program was founded back in 2006 and we still have our original three partners: Globe Aware, Cross-Cultural Solutions, and Earthwatch Institute. We added American Hiking Society a bit later to be able to offer a wider selection of domestic voluntourism trips.
We selected our partners for being leaders in the emerging field of voluntourism, for their wide selection of programs, and for their commitment to being a strong partner for our program. Working together, we’ve been able to spread the word about how voluntourism can change the world.
We reached out to each of our voluntourism partners and asked them to select two trips they’d like to support this year for the “signature trips.” They selected the trips based on their goals for 2011, local needs, and a variety of other factors.”
Travelocity (http://www.travelocity.com) believes travel has the power to change the world through experiences like volunteer vacations. That’s why, since 2006, the company’s Travel for Good® program has been awarding eight $5,000 volunteer vacation grants every year. These grants sponsored deserving Americans on trips to new corners of the world to give back with their own two hands. And today Travelocity announced the launch of a new voluntourism grants site, marking a new era for the program. This site allows volunteers to submit video applications for the voluntourism grant.
Additionally, VolunteerJournals.com provides a free blogging platform for all volunteers, including stories from past Travelocity grant winners. Travelers don’t need to win a grant or even volunteer abroad to make use of this new tool. From a local book drive to a three-month voluntourism trip, the site gives all volunteers across the globe the opportunity to share their experiences and get more people involved with the causes they care about.
Voluntourism Gal 
Pingback: Tweets that mention Travelocity’s Travel for Good Grant Continues « Voluntourism Gal -- Topsy.com
Earthwatch has been proud to be a partner in this program not just because of the obvious support of international volunteering but also because Travelocity is genuinely making huge efforts to encoruage their hotel operators, suppliers and customers at large to improve their environmental sustainability footprints which is a topic near and dear to our heart. We look forward to seeing the exciting video applications!
James Fry
Thanks, James! And thanks so much to you Alexia for posting about our new grants contest.
If anyone has questions, they can email me at travelforgood@travelocity.com
As a non-profit, priorities at Globe Aware are placed on operating programs and making smart decisions in order to benefit the people we serve. The resources for promotions, contests, and special events are somewhat limited.
When a company like Travelocity creates a program such as “Travel for Good” and seeks partners, you hope you have managed your first priority well enough to be recognized and considered. When they approached us to be a partner in the program, we were, as you can imagine, thrilled.
Volunteer vacations do have the power to transform lives and change the world. Being able to help make that possible is worth a lot, as you know, Alexia. Having a company like Travelocity join in to support such efforts is invaluable.
Thanks for asking!
Kimberly
Globe Aware