What is RoundTrip?
RoundTrip is a volunteer-run, international development organisation based in Australia. RoundTrip, whose roots come from Lonely Planet authors and staff, encourages tourists to give back from their travels. We believe that all travellers – from backpackers to cruise boat junkies – can have a positive impact and change the world. We actively nurture the growth of responsible travel thru an online resource and support grassroot programs in local communities that deliver sustainable development. If you’ve ever thought about making a difference, we operate in areas where large NGOs do not. We’re a small organisation that is proof real change can be effected by thoughtful giving. Our aim is to harness the power of travel to fight poverty.
Join Us
Get the lowdown on our current projects
Check out our international projects – we support sustainable development by helping people who are change agents within their local communities.
Lend a Hand
Volunteer in Melbourne or overseas
Challenge yourself and experience the deep sense of satisfaction from giving back through volunteering – the work can be incredibly rewarding.
Give Back
Donate today – over $2 is tax deductible
You don’t need to spend a fortune to help out. Even small donations go a long way when they are well targeted towards driving sustainable change.
Join Our Newsletter Group
Sign up to our newsletter and stay up to date with the latest news from RoundTrip HQ, as well as our international projects. To say thank you for your subscription, you’ll also receive a 30% discount on the following Lonely Planet books (print and ebooks): Sri Lanka; Zambia. Mozambique & Malawi; Volunteer – A Traveler’s Guide.
Going travelling soon?
RoundTrip receives a donation from STA Travel with every booking made when the code above is used. So, organise your travels and begin giving back before you’ve even left home!
Follow us on Instagram
Check out our Instagram feed with new postings every week. Join our online community and keep upto date with the latest in responsible travel and info about our international projects.
Latest Stories
Meet the people from our projects in Sri Lanka and Zambia in these stories hot off the press. We hope the stories will help to connect you to these people and highlight what a huge difference a small contribution can make in their lives. As well, you can peruse the latest article additions to our Responsible Travel resource. Travel safe and – if you want to complete your journey – consider giving back to local communities in Africa and across the globe.
African Parks – Conservation Trailblazer
Managing 15 parks in Africa, African Parks’ holistic approach takes it well beyond traditional conservation models. Its success is largely based on support and investment in local communities. It is setting new standards in conservation and poverty alleviation in Africa.
A Traveller Tackling Gender Discrimination
Where do culture, religion and gender discrimination cross over? This is probably a question we have all had at some point. When we are travelling questions relating to gender can become quite significant to our day-to-day. Great advice about gender issues when you travel.
Ethical Travel and Empowering Women
My desire to help out women is based on an understanding of women’s roles in many of the communities where I travel. It is the case that women are often the family caretaker, reinvesting 90% of their income into families, compared to men’s 30%.
Project Locations
RoundTrip currently has projects in Sri Lanka and Zambia. We recently had project work in northern Namibia, on the Angolan border. We are currently looking at opportunities to contribute to local communities in East Africa and the Pacific, with the aim of opening new projects in 2018-19.
How Can I Help?
We welcome interest from people wanting to volunteer for us in Australia (we are based in Melbourne). We are especially interested in people with fundraising and social media backgrounds. But if you’d like to help out in an administrative capacity or at an event, we’d love to hear from you too. Experience the reward of working for a small NGO for days, weeks or months – flexibility is at the heart of our volunteer assignments. Distance volunteer work within Australia is possible depending on your interests, and we also put people in touch with our international partner organisations for overseas volunteer postings.
