Philanthropic Focus 

We have chosen to focus our efforts on the following types of programs: 

1. Early childhood education – because empowering our youth through an early love of learning is the best gift we can give to them and the future of our communities. 
2. Arts organizations – because the arts expand our minds regardless of our age. 
3. Specific requests that come directly from our main contacts for our corporate clients – because we value what our clients value. 

Other Means of Support 

In addition, the employees of Travel Leaders through their time and own donations support many charities of their own choosing. 

Excluded Organizations

We do not donate to the following types of organizations simply because we have to draw a line somewhere or feel the support of such organizations is best done by individuals based on their own personal convictions. 

1. Organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) status with the IRS 
2. Individuals (including fundraisers for medical/educational needs for individuals) 
3. Disease research and support related non-profit organizations 
4. Political organizations 
5. Networking and social groups 
6. Private scholarship foundations 
7. 3rd party professional fundraisers regardless of who they are representing 
8. Police, fraternal or veterans organizations 
9. Public or private school sports team sponsorships or program advertising
10. Churches 

Ideas Using Travel as Fundraisers 

While we wish we could secure free cabins, airline seats, hotel rooms and tours from all the vendors we work with to give away to local charities, the reality is, for every request we get, the airline, cruise and tour companies get 100’s of requests worldwide and most major travel suppliers have their own policies for donations and requests need to go directly to them by the non-profit itself. Most have policies to only fund national highly visible causes and do not have programs that support local causes outside of their headquarters market. 

We suggest the following ideas should your organization want to use travel in your fundraising efforts beyond what we can provide. 

1. Find staff, board members or current donors who have an overabundance of frequent flyer points; credit card points or frequent guest points they might be willing to donate. Most programs allow the use of points for other than the point holder. 
2. Condo owners are often willing to give away a weeklong use of their rental property for charitable giving. Query your organizations supporters to see if there are any opportunities and bundle it with your previously found frequent flyer points for an awesome package! 
3. Consider working with Travel Leaders to promote a group cruise. Most cruise companies have programs that allow you to book group space and obtain a portion of each cruise booking back in the form of a contribution. Cruises are also a great way to bring together all of your supporters and provide programs on board during "at sea" days that can further your organizations mission. Contact Tom Sprunger at 260-434-6600 if you would like to discuss this possibility further. W are always happy to be a guest speaker at a board or marketing committee meeting!