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Outside Magazine February 2005

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Destinations: Adventure Altruism
Giving Large (cont.)


	Global Exchange (courtesy, Global Exchange)

Clif Bar
800-254-3227 | www.clifbar.com
Clif divides 1 percent of its profits—nearly $900,000 in cash and product donations a year—to environmental and recreation advocacy groups. Through its participation in the Project 2080 program, more than 80 percent of Clif's 150 employees volunteer with local service groups like Habitat for Humanity, collectively giving more than 2,080 hours per year—the equivalent of one person being employed as a volunteer full-time.

Eco-resorts
866-326-7376 | www.eco-resorts.com
A longtime advocate for responsible travel in East Africa, this trailblazing safari company specializes in do-good itineraries. Travelers on the Volunteer Vacation work at a Kenyan children's home weekday mornings and spend afternoons and weekends exploring the Malindi-Watamu biosphere, the Masai Mara National Reserve, and Lamu Island.

Geographic Expeditions
800-777-8183 | www.geoex.com
On a fundraising expedition to Malawi and Tanzania last spring, Geographic Expeditions clients helped raise $145,000 for Save the Children's Adopt-a-Village program. This and similar journeys give travelers a firsthand look at the projects of nonprofit aid organizations. On top of that, the 25-year-old company gives 10 percent of its profits to a wide range of international charities.

Global Exchange
415-575-5520 | www.globalexchange.org
Once you've actually crouched in the makeshift shack that serves as home for a maquiladora worker in Tijuana, Mexico, you'll have a better sense of the challenges faced by people around the world. That's one philosophy behind this human-rights group's travel division, Reality Tours, which since 1989 has sent Americans to work alongside Nicaraguan coffee workers, discuss terrorism with Afghan college students, and witness the effects of globalization worldwide.

Volunteer Vacation Classics
These nonprofit groups pioneered the concept of a "volunteer vacation"—and continue to offer adventures that combine hard work and big rewards. HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Sign on for a 7- to 20-day Global Village trip and you'll help build homes for needy families in one of 60 countries (including the U.S.). 229-924-6935, ext. 2549, www.habitat.org/gv » EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE: Nearly 76,000 volunteers have worked on an Earthwatch conservation or community project since 1971. Try their 14-day trip in Ghana's Red Volta River Valley, where you'll help scientists track elephants and develop a wildlife-management plan. 800-776-0188, www.earthwatch.org » OCEANIC SOCIETY EXPEDITIONS: Help biologists train locals to conduct wildlife studies that may lead to biosphere-reserve protection for Belize's Turneffe Atoll. The society offers 18 hands-on, one- to three-week research expeditions in 2005. 800-326-7491, www.oceanicsociety.org » SIERRA CLUB OUTINGS: Restore historic Adirondack canoe routes or help repair the Kanab Creek Trail in the Grand Canyon on one of 90 weeklong service trips in the U.S. and abroad. The club's philanthropic travel tradition dates back to 1958. 415-977-5522, www.sierraclub.org/outings

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