The Untours Foundation

The Untours Foundation was founded in 1992 by Hal & Norma Taussig to address poverty issues in the US and abroad. The Taussigs donate the profits from their travel business, Untours1, to the foundation. Since 2005, some Untours’ customers, who are called Untourists, have also contributed to the foundation.

The focus of the foundation’s work is to provide low-interest loans to projects that create jobs for the unemployed and underemployed. The foundation looks for innovative and replicable projects that respect Mother Earth and her future. One particular emphasis of the foundation is Fair Trade since that form of commerce raises the standards of living of small, developing world farmers, and ensures that land is farmed in a sustainable fashion.

The foundation staff has worked with retailers and citizens in Media, Pennsylvania, the town where the foundation is located, to make Media “The First Fair Trade Town in the USA,” which was achieved in July 2006. Britain and Europe have hundreds of Fairtrade Town, which have greatly leveraged the Fair Trade movement.

A sample foundation loan recipient is Belu, a British water bottling company that, like Untours, gives all of its profits away. Belu funds clean water projects in the developing world. Belu spring water comes in glass or recyclable and compostable cornstarch bottles. Another foundation loan recipient is SOS Sumatra, a project producing Fair Trade coffee and organic spices. This post-tsunami enterprise in the highlands of Sumatra is helping over 3,000 families start new lives. Parents earn living wages, and therefore children are free to go to school – most for the first time in their lives.

Hal and Norma Taussigs’ generosity won them an award in 1999 from Paul Newman on behalf of Newman’s Own and John F. Kennedy, Jr. on behalf of George (magazine), for having the “Most Generous Company in America.” This award came with a cash prize of $250,000, which was given to the foundation.