Give by Going
Unlocking the transformative power of travel
We didn’t set out to build a model for impact. We set out to share the story of the Espinhaço.
The range had other plans.
Why We Do This. 2023
Community is the work
It sounds naive today, but Elisa & I never imagined that community would become so central to our lives.
We thought we were exploring landscapes, mapping routes, and learning the history of the range.
The truth is that we were simply meeting people, spending time with them, and being invited back again.
Over time, those relationships came to define the work.
Today, they’re inseparable.
Teacher & Student. 2022
What it looks like in practice
One of the most gratifying parts of building this company is that we’ve been able to decide how it actually works on the ground.
Everything Gift of Go does in the field runs through the people who live here.
We hire—and often train—local drivers, cooks, guides, horsemen, boatmen, porters, and hosts. We stay in family homes and small pousadas, many of which had never received a foreigner. We build trips around the lives already being lived along the route.
It’s possible there are easier ways to run trips in remote places.
We’ve yet to find a more fulfilling one.
Living here changes things
Since September 2021, Elisa & I have spent just about every moment of our lives studying, documenting, and traveling in the Espinhaço on behalf of our expeditions.
We also live here.
These realities inevitably—and thankfully—fill our lives with new, enriching relationships with residents from all walks of life.
We see the same people week after week, year after year. We visit their homes, and they visit ours. We hear about problems when they arise, not months later.
It’s changed how we think about our work. “Giving back” no longer feels like an initiative, but an act of taking care of a place you’re part of.
Barbosa & Lúcia, Community-based tourism pioneers in Inhaí.
The real question
Elisa & I stopped worrying long ago about whether our trips would positively impact the Espinhaço and its residents.
We’ve seen firsthand what happens when money moves directly into the range’s small communities.
We’ve seen what steady work means for families who didn’t have it before.
The question now is: can we do more, and can we do it well?
Money isn’t everything
Building strong communities requires vision, commitment, resources, and time. Experience has shown us how easy it is to overestimate the role of resources—especially financial ones—in that equation.
Money matters. It always does.
Without relationships, trust, and follow-through, though, the gains are fleeting.
We’ve seen large investments disappear without changing anything. We’ve also seen small, consistent efforts reshape how people live and work.
What matters is staying long enough to understand what actually helps, and being present enough to see it through.
The old School. Conselheiro Mata
The 5%
Traveling the region and spending time with residents continues to reveal new challenges and possibilities.
Elisa & I keep a running list of “needs, plans, and projects” across the Espinhaço, shaped by what we see and what we hear. Some are small and symbolic. Others are larger and more ambitious.
What they all have in common is that they come from the people who live here—and that we understand them well enough to know where we can help.
We allocate 5% of every trip to these people and projects.
All of them matter.