The Intrepid Foundation: Travel That Gives Back

As an Australian traveler I have often visited parts of the world that don’t have the economic and social advantages of Australia. Simultaneously, whenever I travel to these countries, I often feel disheartened that we can’t equally distribute wealth through philanthropy. It’s a tension many travelers feel – the privilege of exploration sitting uncomfortably alongside the realities of the places we visit.

The Intrepid Foundation, the charitable arm of Melbourne-based Intrepid Travel, offers one answer to that tension.

Founded in 2002, the Intrepid Foundation channels funding to grassroots community organizations across the regions where Intrepid operates. Rather than large institutional aid, the Foundation focuses on smaller, locally led projects in areas including girls’ education, wildlife conservation, and community resilience, the kind of work that rarely makes headlines but consistently changes lives.

The Foundation operates on a simple model, travelers can donate at the point of booking, and Intrepid matches those donations. Every dollar raised goes directly to partner organizations, with Intrepid covering all administrative costs.

For Australian travelers who’ve sat in a tuk-tuk in Bangkok or watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat and wondered what they can do beyond leaving a tip, the Intrepid Foundation represents something practical and transparent.

Travel broadens the mind. The Intrepid Foundation asks whether it can also broaden the impact.

To learn more, visit the Intrepid Foundation at theintrepidfoundation.org

Paul Mercuri
Wake Up Here Founder