Arnie Weissmann
"Statistics are great, but a story will encourage people to do something."
The speaker of those words, Giles Duley, is one of the best storytellers I've ever encountered. He was one of 10 speakers at the Explorers Club Global Exploration Summit earlier this month in Ottawa and one of two presenters at the summit who is also part of Kensington Tours' explorers-in-residence program.
Kensington, through its Kensington Cares initiative, is one of many companies that have foundations and programs that work to make the world a better place. One percent of Kensington sales go directly to Kensington Cares, and clients are offered the opportunity to donate another 1%. The money helps fund Range Foundation, a registered charity supported by 10% of parent company Navigatr's profits.
The Kensington explorers-in-residence program is unusual in that it supports individuals whose work may be only indirectly -- even distantly -- related to travel. The five people in the program do not lead tours nor necessarily engage with Kensington clients at all; they may be doing work that furthers scientific research or have their own nonprofits that Kensington feels are worthy of support.
Duley, a triple amputee, lost limbs while working as a war photographer -- or, more accurately, an anti-war photographer -- in Afghanistan. He employs his compelling personal narrative and gifts as a storyteller to raise funds to support his Legacy of War Foundation. One of that organization's programs, Land for Women, works to lift women out of poverty connected to the aftermath of Rwanda's civil war through land ownership and sustainable cooperative farming. Another of his programs supports ambulance services on the front line of the Ukraine war.
Duley said his interactions with Kensington as explorer-in-residence have been internal for the most part; he has spoken twice at Navigatr-owned sister company Ensemble's annual meeting, and, as a result of Ensemble members' generosity and matching funds, two farming cooperatives in Rwanda were established. After speaking at a Travel Edge (another Navigatr company) event, money and matching funds helped Duley acquire two ambulances for Ukraine.
Although Duley has participated in videos and contributed to blogs, he doesn't otherwise interact directly with tour clients. He likens these residencies to the patronage one typically associates with Victorian or Edwardian times, when wealthy individuals or societies funded exploration expeditions.
"Kensington supports projects that they think may not have an obvious commercial fit but are worthwhile for the betterment of humanity, science and the arts," he said.
"It's not a sponsorship," he continued. "They're not looking for deliverables. I'm always feeling, 'What more can I do to repay you for this support?' I wish I could do more. This is really altruistic."
"It's less about representing our brand and more about how we enable and empower these incredible individuals' work," said Madelaine Emberson, Navigatr's director, social impact. "It's about curiosity, demonstrating our commitment to and passion for exploration, its connection to travel and how we can positively shape our world. And it's critical that scientists receive the funding they desperately need to inform us about the way that our world works."
Kensington is a significant supporter of the Explorers Club as an official partner. Through that organization, it launched the Kensington Conservation Grant program to support Explorers Club members who are undertaking conservation field work. (Navigatr CEO Jeff Willner is on the club's board of trustees.)
Increasingly, consumers do look closely at companies they patronize and are, in Emberson's words, "looking for [activities] to be demonstrated in the travel brand they're supporting." Navigatr's Range Foundation, Kensington Cares and explorer-in-residence programs are not secret -- one can find information about all of them online -- but it's not particularly prominent on the Kensington Tours website (Kensington Cares is tucked into the Why Us section, though it's brought into the light more explicitly during the booking process).
As we see the impacts of human activity accumulate to the detriment of the planet, it occurs to any sentient person in the travel industry to reflect on the toll that travel takes. While one can fairly easily list the benefits of travel, the industry has nonetheless been singled out as a symbol of the excesses that accelerate climate change, erode community life, exploit indigenous cultures and pollute natural resources. One may wonder: Is it possible to make a living sending people around the world and still feel that, on balance, one is in an industry that contributes more than it degrades?
I feel the answer to that question depends heavily on what company you work for. Cumulatively, the efforts I have seen from companies to make travel a force for good have been staggeringly impactful, bringing clean water, electricity, educational opportunities, jobs, medical care, land restoration and water conservation projects, wildlife protection, anti-trafficking support, cultural preservation initiatives, sanitation projects and uplifting community programs to people in need around the world.
Navigatr is more than doing its share. Is your company?