2024 Impact Report
OUR MISSION
To improve lives and protect the environment by supporting local communities in the places we travel.
From our Chairmen
Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) takes great pride in creating groundbreaking adventures off the map, introducing our guests to some of the world’s most spectacular natural and cultural heritage. Doing this comes with the responsibility to ensure our hosts, the ancestral stewards of the landscapes where we operate, also benefit. Our community partners are our neighbors. While we can get by without a lot of things, we can’t live without our neighbors.
To carry out this commitment, we established an entire nonprofit division, A&K Philanthropy (AKP). AKP’s mission is to support our neighbors with education, health care, job creation and conservation programs. In 2024, AKP programming positively touched the lives and livelihoods of 398,662 people. Of all the ways to measure business success, the impact we are achieving around the world, in partnership with our community neighbors, is the one we are most proud of.
Here’s to the good travel can bring.
GEOFFREY KENT
Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Abercrombie & Kent
MANFREDI LEFEBVRE D’OVIDIO
Executive Chairman, A&K Travel Group
LETTERS
From the Executive Director
AKP’s mission is to be a partner in the process of uplifting communities. The linchpin of this effort is A&K’s commitment to staffing: 17 full-time community development professionals stretching from Peru to Kenya and Egypt to Cambodia. These dedicated men and women guide the planning that prioritizes our work in each country. It’s a participatory process that ensures everyone involved, from the community level to government ministries, has a stake in a project’s success.
For instance, we have school communities that commit the beans and vegetables for the school lunch program, and health ministries that staff and supply the clinics we build. The specifics vary from project to project, but the core principles of shared responsibility, transparency and equity define the process.
We hope you enjoy reading through our 2024 Impact Report and learning more about how we strive to work in partnership with our community neighbors around the world.
KEITH SPROULE Executive Director, A&K Philanthropy
OUR VISION
We believe that the best way to protect our planet’s remaining wilderness is to invest in the communities who live there.
Our Work
A&K founder Geoffrey Kent pioneered the community-first approach to conservation more than 60 years ago. Today, we still believe that the best way to protect our planet’s remaining wilderness is to invest in the communities who live there.
In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our projects focus on education, enterprise, health and environment.
Through these initiatives, we aim to support, empower and educate local communities to facilitate the protection of their surroundings, and to ensure that the people in the places where we travel also benefit directly from tourism.
AKP programming now spans over 25 countries on all seven continents, positively impacting hundreds of thousands of lives and helping preserve some of the world’s most precious ecosystems as we continue to celebrate travel as a force for good.
Our Team
AKP employs 17 full-time community development professionals around the world. These on-the-ground coordinators work collaboratively in the communities where our projects operate, which allows AKP to maintain strong relationships, oversight of project implementation and the ability to scale quickly in some of the most rural, isolated regions of the world.
A&K is proud of how unique it is that our corporate structure includes these dedicated professionals.
$2.7 M CHARITABLES RECEIVED 70+ ACTIVE PROJECTS
2
2 containers of medical equipment and supplies delivered to the Bwindi Community Hospital in Uganda and Nakatindi Health Clinic in Zambia.
90
90 water wells drilled, bringing the total number of wells AKP has funded in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to over 2,000.
107
107 LifeStraw Community water filters supplied to 28 schools bordering the Serengeti National Park. As a result, every school in the area now has a filter, providing clean water to over 42,000 students in the Serengeti. In total, 108,045 people have access to clean drinking water through the Safe Water for Schools Initiative.
1,667
1,667 bikes were shipped to women-owned enterprises in Uganda and Zambia. Over 20,000 bikes have been shipped since the program’s launch.
OUR IMPACT
In 2024, we continued to touch lives and strengthen communities in more than 25 countries around the world.
25+ COUNTRIES SUPPORTED
398,662 BENEFICIARIES
2024 Functional Expenses
AKP is a 501(c)3 U.S. nonprofit and a registered charity in the U.K. We have earned the Guidestar Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid.org.
In 2024, we received $2.7 million in charitable support from A&K Travel Group and generous contributions from our donors. AKP applies 100% of guest donations to directly support our programs. We are committed to spending donations efficiently and for maximum impact.
FUNDING SUMMARY
91% PROGRAM SERVICES 6% ADMINISTRATION
3% FUNDRAISING
Program services are charitable expenditures on AKP projects worldwide for the benefit of communities where A&K travels. Fundraising and administrative expenses relate to activities that support our programs.
Our Partners
AKP operates at the “end of the road” in some of the most remote regions of the world. Given our long-term presence in these areas, when possible, we collaborate with mission-aligned partner nongovernmental organizations. Together, we promote economic development, protect and conserve the natural world and foster connection between travelers and locals.
Through our partnerships, the value of every dollar donated is leveraged to achieve an exponentially greater impact.
OUR PROJECTS
AKP invests with our community partners for the long term. Our participatory planning process ensures that all stakeholders are involved. AKP has over 70 active projects in more than 25 countries where our guests travel, collaborating with local communities to promote lasting impact. Our initiatives have four areas of focus.
EDUCATION
The key to opportunity and to the conservation of the planet’s remaining wilderness.
ENTERPRISE
Our community-led enterprise programs are designed to enable everyone to learn, earn and progress.
HEALTH
By bringing clean water and healthcare to remote communities, we aim to alleviate inequality of access.
ENVIRONMENT
Through supporting communities who live on the edge of wilderness, we promote the conservation of the land and all its inhabitants.
Building Schools in Cambodia
Almost half of school-aged children in Cambodia do not attend school, and those who do often find themselves in overcrowded classrooms. AKP is dedicated to expanding educational opportunities in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and in 2024, construction of two schools — Kok Chan Primary School and Tapang Primary School — was completed. Both schools received new campuses that include six brand-new classrooms. Additionally, Tapang Primary School was equipped with new toilets, a playground and teaching supplies requested by its educators.
AKP has a long-standing commitment to supporting education in Siem Reap. In 2018, we built 18 classrooms at two different schools. Overall, our infrastructure and improvement projects have benefited more than 1,600 students.
FEATURED PROJECTS
Feeding Children in East Africa
School meal programs are essential, as they encourage regular school attendance and improve students’ concentration on their studies. AKP’s School Lunch Program provides nutritious daily lunches at 16 schools.
AKP collaborates closely with local communities to implement the School Lunch Program. We provide the main meal and help cover the cost of hiring local cooks. In return, the schools and families contribute by assisting with the cooks’ salaries and supplying vegetables, beans and firewood for cooking.
Overall, AKP has constructed 15 school kitchens and serves daily meals to 6,300 children in rural schools surrounding national parks in Kenya, Namibia, Uganda and Zambia.
Saving and Rehabilitating Birds of Prey
Each year in Tasmania, Australia, approximately 100 raptors are killed. These birds are among Tasmania’s most threatened wildlife and face numerous dangers. Since 2019, AKP has supported the Raptor Refuge, a unique sanctuary and rehabilitation center for falcons, owls, hawks and eagles that cannot survive in the wild due to their injuries. The refuge also rehabilitates and returns injured raptors back to their natural habitat.
In 2024, AKP contributed funding for the construction of a flight aviary specifically for the white-bellied sea eagle, which currently shelters two non-releasable eagles. Additionally, the Raptor Refuge plans to build a second flight tunnel that will allow visitors to experience the thrill of a bird of prey landing on their gloved arm.
Equipping Women to Earn a Living on the Trail
From Western South America to Southeast Asia, AKP is empowering community members to earn a living by assisting and guiding tourists on famous hiking trails.
In Peru, AKP has collaborated closely with the Village of the Flowers, a traditional rural community in the hills surrounding the Sacred Valley, for over a decade. In 2022, we began training women from the village to work as assistants on the Inca Trail, a renowned hiking route leading to Machu Picchu, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire. Currently, the program supports 12 women who earn a living as trail guides.
On the other side of the globe, AKP supports guides on the Pekoe Trail, a 185-mile (300-kilometer) walking trail through the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka. In 2024, we facilitated initial training for participants from local communities. As a result, four trail champions and nine trail assistants were selected.
In partnership with the Pekoe Trail Organization, AKP will continue to support additional training sessions to help more individuals earn a living as trail guides.
