Online travel agency donates 100% of profits to charity

For those who love to travel, there is now a way to see the world while also doing a good deed. A brand new online travel agency, Teleotravel, operates under a generous philosophy and donates 100% of its net profits to charity.

Explains Adam Beardwood, the Founder and President of Teleotravel, “My idea for Teleotravel came out of a need to create a sustainable way to financially help charities in a consumer forum. That is, people and businesses can participate in ending extreme global poverty as simply as doing something they are already doing, like buying travel…My hope is to capture a small percentage of [the online travel booking market] which could potentially raise millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars for charities.”

Travelers making a booking on the site can choose from a list of charities that they would like the net profits from their booking to go to. So, why do you have to choose a charity from a predetermined list? Because the team at Teleotravel want to make sure that these bookings are making a significant impact. Instead of myriad charities getting one single donation, a set group of specific charities can receive significant contributions each day. As of now, the official charity partners of Teleotravel that can benefit from bookings made on the site include:

Says Beardwood of the mission of the site, “My partners and I did not start this business in order to build up our own wealth but to help others succeed in rising out of poverty, may that be nationally or globally.”

To learn more or to make a charitable travel booking with Teleotravel, click here.

Man sets out on 5,000 mile hike throughout Asia to raise money for charity

Winston Fiore, a 26 year old Marine from Bloomington, Indiana, has set out on a 5,000 mile journey, by foot, throughout Southeast Asia and China. Fiore arrived in Southeast Asia on September 25, 2011, for what is called “Smile Trek”, and is projecting it will take him a year to walk the entire route, which begins and ends in Singapore.

The goal of the journey is to raise $50,000 or more for the International Children’s Surgery Foundation, a not-for-profit that provides children in developing countries with free corrective surgery. Through fundraising efforts, such as giving presentations at rotary clubs across the United States as well as having help from the CouchSurfing community who have helped organize benefit dinners, charity walks, and media interviews, Fiore has been able to raise over $28,000 for the cause.

Fiore’s inspiration for Smile Trek stems from an experience he had when training for the Marines in a very poor region of Lingure, Senegal. When he returned home, he read a newspaper article about a successful plastic surgeon in the United States who gave up his career to perform free surgeries in developing nations for children with cleft palates and lips. From there, the idea began to grow.

To follow Fiore’s Smile Trek or donate to his cause, visit his blog here.