Impact Projects

Giving Back to Impact Projects

An important part of Yugen Earthside's vision is to give back to social and environmental initiatives, via Impact Projects, that support sustainable tourism development. Our company is registered as a Social Purpose Corporation to legally allow us to pursue altruistic objectives in addition to financial profitability. We donate at least 1% of Gross Profits to Impact Projects each year.

Impact Projects & the SDGs

Our Impact Projects are aligned with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contributions to Impact Projects are incremental to our Climate Impact efforts (being a certified net-zero company and automatically including carbon removals with each booking).

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Yugen Earthside & the SDGs

Committed to using tourism for good.

We want travel to be a positive force in the world. The primary Sustainable Development Goals we focus on are:

SDG #5: Gender Equality
SDG #10: Reduced Inequalities
SDG #11: Sustainable Cities & Communities

All SDGs are important, and our Impact Projects may support goals in addition to those listed above.

2023 Impact Project

In 2023, we focused our donation on just one important and unique project.

The Great Himalaya Trail - Women Leaders Campaign

We contributed $100 to this incredible initiative fiercely advocating for gender parity in Nepal's trekking industry by creating jobs and workforce equity. This is inline with SDG #5 – Gender Equality and SDG #10 – Reduced Inequalities.

The campaign's vision:

We want women to be valued, treated fairly, and recognized as an integral part of the trekking tourism industry as leaders, guides, and porters and to have safe and equitable working conditions with equal access to opportunities at all levels within the industry.

The campaign's goals:

To raise funds to support a team of female Nepali guides and porters to trek the GHT from February to July 2024.
To elevate and celebrate the roles and voices of Nepali women and create visibility for them within the outdoor and tourism industries, as well as, in the media.
To educate and initiate discussions with consumers and the tourism industry about the current challenges and inequitable working conditions that female guides and porters face.

Learn more about this project here.

2022 Impact Projects

Here are the organizations we supported in our first year of operations.

Center for Responsible Travel

The Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) is a global non-profit that “promotes responsible travel where local communities thrive and steward cultural resources and biodiversity.”

We donated $50 which was generously triple-matched by CREST board members for a total impact of $150 supporting SDG #11 – Sustainable Cities & Communities.

We only count the $50 donation toward our annual donation goal.

Galapagos Conservation Trust

In honor of where the highest number of customers booked trips in 2022, we donated £75 ($91) to the Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT), a UK-based non-profit focused on environmental and wildlife protection.

The GCT supports SDG #14 – Life Below Water and SDG #15 – Life on Land with its work to “protect the vulnerable ecosystems found on Galapagos by conserving species, restoring habitats and driving sustainable solutions.”

Women in Travel CIC

The bold mission of Women in Travel CIC, a UK-based non-profit, is to “Empower Women through Employability & Entrepreneurship in Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality.”

We donated £125 ($153) to Women in Travel throughout the year to support the social goals of SDG #5 – Gender Equality and SDG #10 – Reduced Inequalities.

We do not count the $153 toward our annual donation goal as our company received event access and mentorship in return.

Research

We work to understand the biggest problems affecting the travel and tourism industry and what can be done about it.

Partner

We partner with local organizations, non-profits, and others doing reputable, verifiable work to help combat those problems.

Donate

We donate at least 1% of Gross Profits to our partner organizations. We will be completely transparent about the amounts and partners.

Other Impact Projects

Below are examples of other types of projects, in line with the SDGs, that we may contribute to in the future. We are always open to learning about new projects doing important work on the ground. Don't be shy to suggest a project to us!

SDG #5 – Gender Equality