CRT-002 Client Responses

1. As a non-profit please describe what exactly you provide in terms of services.


Crooked Trails is a 501 c 3 educational nonprofit. Our goals are to educate people about the world and its diverse cultures through responsible travel, educational outreach and community development projects. I have attached a document the tells you a ;little more about how we do this.


2. Why is it called Crooked Trails?

Some people believe we choose the name Crooked Trails because of Edward Abby’s quote "May all your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view...where something strange and more beautiful and full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you."

However, the truth is that we wanted something that suggested traveling in a different way, not the straight path. Suggesting your travels may take you to unexpected places—like Abby says. When we had someone design our logo we want the logo to suggest a Crooked Trail but to be clear that others had been there before. Not just the environment with a trail but that another culture may live there. Unfortunately, we don’t like the logo and it would be exciting to see what you can do with that idea.



3. Do you have repeat participants?

Absolutely! We have many people who return to take another trip with us and even sometimes to the same place as the connections are pretty strong.

4. Tell me a little about what the target audience is for your services: who takes your trips? (gender, age, income level, personal interests, is their a common theme to the participants) ex. They may all be young adults interested in environmental issues globally.

EVERYONE! It is really hard to pin down a target audience. When we began in 1999, we had mostly 20-30 year old hard core backpackers. At that time, these were the only people who thought they could do our programs. Over the years, many more people have come to understand that you don’t have to “ROUGH IT” to have a deep cultural exchange. Our average age now is 35-60 and we get MANY families who participate. This does not include our high school and university programs. We run about 70% women to men and the income level is now higher than it use to be. Most people come to us one, because they want something different out of their travel experience, they want to connect with people in the country and they want to travel to give back. Families want to introduce their kids to a world where other are not as fortunate as we.

5. Could you describe a Crooked Trails experience in 10 words:

We like to say it is like a “mini-peace corps experience” I say EXCHANGE, EDUCATION, SERVICE

6. As a non-profit what percentage of trip cost goes back to the organization?

Approximately 20% goes to Crooked Trails administration.

7. If I were to take one of your trips would I be eligible for a tax deduction?

Yes, roughly 30% of all trip fees are tax deductible.

8. Why did your start the organization and what drives you to keep Crooked Trails open?

It first began as a desire to help indigenous people who were being exploited by the tourist industry. We want to to give them a voice to say NO. We wanted to help them gain the skills and financing to get involved if they wanted to. We wanted to give travelers an alternative to negative and destructive MASS TOURISM. Ecotourism already existed but nobody was considering how the cultures of host countries were being affected.

I am driven to continue with our work because of the families I have made partners with in other communities. Because of the testimonials from our participants and because of the enormous need for CULTURAL UNDERSTANING by the whole world.