Leading policy organization fighting the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) by raising awareness of the issue, advocating for the victims, developing policy for private companies, law enforcement, and government bodies to fight the problem, and passing legislation that protects the victims and penalizes the traffickers and exploiters.

AltruVistas is proud to be a signatory of the CODE and support all of our domestic and international partners to work actively to educate and advocate again the commercial exploitation of children in the tourism industry. PACT is the leading policy organization fighting the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). They work by raising awareness of the issue, advocating for the victims, developing policy for private companies, law enforcement, and government bodies to fight the problem, and passing legislation that protects the victims and penalizes the traffickers and exploiters.

The Adventure Travel Trade Association is a global membership organization and home to a thriving community of more than 800 responsible, profitable businesses, destinations and media who transform customers and businesses alike into advocates for sustainability and justice worldwide. Their members include tour operators, tourism boards, specialty travel agents, guides, accommodations, media and service providers. The ATTA is driven to help adventure tourism businesses and destinations worldwide succeed. They work to implement industry standards, face and address thorny issues, tackle initiatives that get adventure travel in front of the mainstream culture, and work to get others who should be investing in this industry educated about who the adventure traveler is, and the responsibilities we share to protect the people and places we visit. They’re working to ensure the sustainable development of the adventure tourism industry, with their sights set on people, planet and profit.

With offices in Washington, DC and at Stanford University, The Center for Responsible Travel, or CREST (formerly CESD) was launched in 2003 as a bi-coastal institute, offering programs, conferences, courses, and research projects at both of its locations, as well as field research opportunities. CREST uses policy-oriented research to design, monitor, evaluate, and improve the social and environmental commitments of responsible tourism, as well as to promote sustainable practices and principles within the wider tourism industry. They focus on tourism’s potential as a tool for poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation. At Altruvistas we appreciate their leadership in the field and also with generating support platforms for philanthropic travel through their initiative Traveler’s Philanthropy http://www.travelersphilanthropy.org/

EcoArts provides cross-cultural experiences that unifies environmental, economic, social and artistic sustainability. Sustainable tourism provides EcoArts Tours a way to support natural and cultural conservation efforts while at the same time eradicating poverty (the arts also provide a means of economic empowerment, through revenue generated from visitors traveling to the destinations). World arts education provides new ways to bridge cultural gaps and increase the support for the arts around the world. The union of both creates the founding principles of EcoArts’ holistic model of connecting the arts, nature and responsible travel around the world.

Ethical Traveler is a nonprofit organization, founded to “empower travelers to change the world.” We seek to use the economic clout of tourism to protect human rights and the environment. Ethical Traveler is a project of the Earth Island Institute based in San Francisco. We maintain our own staff, and a Board of Advisors possessing a broad range of expertise in the fields of travel, environment, economy, health and world policy.

THRIVEGulu is a not-for-profit organization that is building and operating a trauma healing and reflection center in Gulu, northern Uganda, to support the emotional healing and rehabilitation of trauma victims of the Ugandan civil war through educational programs. Get involved with THRIVEGulu.

Since our first journey Altruvistas has been proud to support TASSATAG by gifting our travelers each with their own unique and beautiful luggage tag. A TassaTag is a 4″x6″ bright, hand-woven cotton luggage tag that helps you spot your luggage more easily. Besides being practical, environmentally sensitive, and fair trade, TassaTags serve a much larger purpose than simply helping you spot your luggage. It is an ECPAT-USA social enterprise project. Each TassaTag purchase supports ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking), a non-profit children’s rights organization whose mission is to protect children in the US and abroad from commercial sexual exploitation. TassaTags are made by women at The Regina Center in Nongkhai, Thailand which provides income generating skills and opportunities for women and pre-school education for their children. The project enables women to stay in their villages and keep their children in school, which are two major strategies in reducing sex trafficking.

Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics teaches people of all ages how to enjoy the outdoors responsibly, and is the most widely accepted outdoor ethics program used on public lands. Through relevant and targeted education, research and outreach, the Center ensures the long-term health of our natural world. In its simplest form, Leave No Trace is about making good decisions to protect the world around you – the world we all enjoy.

NativeEnergy is a climate solutions pioneer and recognized leader in the US carbon market, offering services that reduce carbon emissions to fight global warming. In the latest North American survey of top providers (COPEM,Oct08), NativeEnergy ranked #1. Since 2001, they have used our distinctive “help build” model to support the construction of new wind farms, other renewable generators and carbon reduction projects.