Since people frequently post questions about charitable activities during African travel (donating clothes or books, visiting a school or orphanage, or even just handing out money or goodies to kids), I thought I'd post a link to this interesting report, which discusses some of the unintended consequences of these nice gestures. Lots of food for thought here.

The short version is that the best way to help is by contributing to a long-term project in some way, rather than giving random handouts. I know this topic has been discussed many times on this board, but the report is still worth a look for anyone interested in these issues. You can download it as a PDF for free:

http://www.travelersphilanthropy.com...ications.shtml

(To give credit where it's due, I found out about this website from the e-newsletter of Intrepid Travel, the company I used for my trip to India a few years ago.)

Thanks for posting this Kyle. I was a friend's guest last night at an event here in New York for a non-profit based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa called Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntufund.org/community/index.html) so this feels like a particularly timely post to me.

I've been giving some thought lately to how Fodor's could highlight the organizations that our members choose to support. It's a great way to retain that feeling of connection that you have with a place that you've fallen in love with.

I see in the pdf one of the messages from last night---it's important to identify/know what a community's unique needs are.

Anyway, looking forward to other responses you might receive.

Thanks, Katie. It would be great if Fodor's had a way to highlight some of these projects! Maybe a special page with links to organizations suggested by members here?

One small thing I'm trying to do is mention the specific organizations we visited as I'm writing up my trip report about Uganda and Rwanda, and providing links to their websites in case anyone is interested in finding out more. We were fortunate in that our entire trip was structured around visiting organizations like the Budongo Snare Removal Project, Kibale Community Fuel Wood Project, Uganda Large Predator Project, Virunga Artisans, and Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. But I know that a lot of people like to find a way to connect and give back to a place, even if the primary purpose of their trip is for safari fun.

Hi Katie - I urge you to PLEASE be careful about how such a section might be set up.

It can be difficult to identify credible projects, difficult to establish the motives of those who would nominate/propose them, and inherently difficult to balance the unintended negative consequences of charity with all the good that is intended.

One also has to recognise the profit motive, even in NGO's, for promoting 'philanthropic travel.' How does one gauge the fairness of the distribution of funds? To what extent is it acceptable to exploit the idealism and urge to do good of travellers in order to make money? And what about the overt or unstated religious goals of some projects that add complexity to the balancing act?

It's not that this can't or shouldn't be done, but Fodor's should think carefully about how, what the goals would be, what standards and principles and guidelines would be followed, who will make the decisions, what level of accountability Fodors will accept, and so on.

I'm happy to continue this discussion off-line via e-mail or through this forum. I've just seen too many well-intentioned people and projects come to frustration and worse not to speak up.

HTH

Kurt

Very good point, Kurt. Thanks. That's a big reason I posted the report in the first place -- as a tool (and hopefully not the only one) to help people think about how and why they support projects and organizations in other countries.

I know for myself, I only support projects that I've done the research on and feel are really doing some good and worth supporting (and I'm a researcher by profession, so I feel confident I can gather enough information to evaluate that and weigh the kinds of things you mention). In the case of our Uganda/Rwanda trip, we were visiting projects that are affiliated with our local zoo and vetted by a conservation manager on their staff. But yes, there are lots of questionable organizations out there, and if Fodor's includes information like this on the forum it will have to be handled carefully.

Sounds like a moment for the "Human Fund" for all you Seinfeld fans.