News + Blog

Barefoot for India raises $1456

Stirling Weir, a previous G Adventures CEO (Chief Experience Officer), who is now a Operations CEO specialisit decided to use his vacation time for good. A simple pledge to walk barefoot for one day while travelling in India ended up raising $1,456 for Planeterra. From Planeterra we just wanted to say a huge thank you to Stirling for his generosity and his creativity!

Here’s what Stirling proposed through his GoFundMe page:

“As many of you know I’m currently traveling through India, a country known equally for its abundance of cultural beauty, as well as its visibly crippling poverty. Instead of remaining passive towards the thousands of people affected by poverty that I come across on this trip, I have decided to try and fight for them. On February 3rd – in an attempt to raise personal awareness, public awareness, and money for a good cause – I plan to spend the entire day barefoot while I tour around the city of Varkala in Southern India. I ask your help in raising money for Planeterra, a non-profit whose goal is to sponsor Social Enterprises (i.e., locally owned businesses) that will bring disaffected communities into the tourism industry all around the world. I believe in Planeterra’s mission because it provides lasting support to people in need by creating jobs, while improving the experiences of travelers from all backgrounds (If you want to learn more about Planeterra, you can visit them at their website, www.planeterra.org).

I’m also pledging to cover GoFundMe’s 8% service charge, so that all money donated goes straight to Planeterra. So if you donate $100, GoFundMe will give me $92, but I will still donate all $100 to Planeterra. If you’d like to donate directly to Planeterra, just let me know how much you donated and I’ll add it to the campaign.On behalf of the billions of people living in poverty around the world, I thank you all for your support. And be sure to follow me on Instagram (@stirls101) or Facebook on the 3rd to watch my experience going barefoot. I have no doubt that I’ll accidentally step in something strange and disgusting, hopefully to your squeamish joy.
www.planeterra.org
Help spread the word!”
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Planeterra named finalist for WTTC Award

We’re thrilled to report that Planeterra and our partners at G Adventures are finalists in the “Community” category of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, hosted by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)! As Community Award Finalists, Planeterra’s work has been recognized as a leader of sustainable tourism in local community development, empowerment and cultural heritage.

Please read the press release from WTTC to learn more.

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11 New Projects Launch

Last year at this time, the Planeterra Foundation launched the ambitious 50 in 5 Campaign, to raise $5 million CAD to develop 50 new social enterprise projects by 2020. Since that time, we have been working hard to set the pace for the next five years, and we are pleased to share with you some of our results.

Since September 2015, the Planeterra Foundation has raised an astounding $1.1 million dollars. Our founding partner G Adventures’ continues to provide a generous annual donation to support our operating costs. This means that 100% of public and corporate donations are directed towards our projects. At our launch, we were also fortunate to receive multi-year funding from Live Out There and Deloitte to kick start news projects each year throughout the campaign.

With these donations, Planeterra has been able to launch 11 new social development projects in nine countries. That translates to 34,475 new community members whose lives are being changed by our work since the launch of 50 in 5.

Click through to read more about each of the projects launched through Planeterra’s 50 in 5 Campaign:

  1. Ubuntu Community Lunch (Kenya)
  2. Bike with Purpose (Belize)
  3. Cafe Chloe Training Restaurant (Australia)
  4. Barauli Community Homestay (Nepal)
  5. The Castaway (Oceans)
  6. Turkey Almond Park (Turkey)
  7. Belize Women’s Pottery Project (Belize)
  8. Tengger Community Homestay (Indonesia)
  9. Bali Community Lunch (Indonesia)
  10. El Hongo Community Restaurant (Mexico)
  11. Magdas Refugee Employment Hotel (Austria)

Stay up to date on Planeterra.org to learn about all the latest project launches across the globe!

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