This page was created by a group of people working in development and tourism who noticed a growing trend of travelers looking to give money, gifts. and time to people and programs in the developing countries they visit. This, combined with a growing number of tour operators entering the traveler's philanthropy and "voluntourism" sectors with little experience in non-profit work and few opportunities to monitor the development programs they support, inspired us to make this page.

What started as a project where the management at PEPY Tours team was looking for a way to improve the impact of their tours by seeking out effective practices ideas from other partners, turned into a full research project conducted by Karina Kloos, currently a Standford University PhD student.

Other contributors to the research in this document include:

Karina Kloos, PhD student, Stanford University
Daniela Papi, PEPY Tours, PEPYTours.com
Christina Heyniger, Xola Consulting, XolaConsulting.com
Alexia Nestora, Lasso Communications / Voluntourism Gal, Voluntourismgal.com
Chris Hill, Hands Up Holidays, HandsUpHolidays.com
Steve Rosenthal, Cross Cultural Solutions / Building Bridges Coalitions, crossculturalsolutions.org
Marnie Heim-Stafford & Jeremy Stafford, Voluntours, Volutours.co.za
The team from Comhlamh, as they helped us to design our self-check tool around their successful model, Comhlamh.org

Thank you to everyone who helped create this tool! Please get in touch with us if you have ideas to add, questions, or would like to know more about the research compiled on this site.

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