It’s hard to believe it’s been over 5 years since I started Beyond the Backpack, founded to spread awareness and educate about the impacts our actions have on this planet and its wildlife. It’s been quite the journey and this vital work will never stop, however my goal was always to start a project which would directly help wildlife. Three years ago I started looking into Sri Lanka and realized it was the perfect country for us to do just this. Honestly, Sri Lanka wasn’t even a place on my radar, but some friends travelling there opened my eyes to the huge biodiversity and potential of this beautiful country. A plan started to form in my mind…and then COVID hit. So for the past 2 years, it’s been a waiting game, plotting my trip to Sri Lanka to see if the plan in my mind made sense in reality. It’s now April 2022 and I’m finally here! It’s also time to share the idea I have with you and take you along for the journey, because whether it works out or not, it’s going to be a fun one!
In all honesty, the plan is not much of a plan at all. I want to start something to do with wildlife conservation, which could be a sanctuary, something regulatory to protect wildlife, buying land to conserve; really not sure yet. It also could be any animal or a number of animals. There’s not one specific in mind yet, only that I want to help what’s most in need. So, what’s the actual plan right now? Well glad you asked because this is where we’re going to have some fun! Over the next few months, I’ll be travelling around the entire country of Sri Lanka to explore the business potential along with the areas in wildlife conservation where BtB can make a difference. The hope is to find the geographical area and specific wildlife by the end of the trip and then get started on actually making it happen.
But wait, you said business potential…I thought you BtB was a non-profit? Damn, very well spotted, nothing gets past you I see. Yes, yes, I did say business potential and that’s because there’s a second part to this project. I know, sneaky, but I have to keep you somewhat entertained so you keep reading!
The second part to the project, or rather concurrent part, is my plan to make this whole project financially feasible. BtB has been saving and investing for exactly this over the past 3 years, but that won’t be nearly enough. We’ll be looking for passionate investors who believe in the mission and want to help and I’m quite certain we’ll be able to make this happen. However, if we were to start, for example, an elephant sanctuary, on top of the start-up capital, there will be significant ongoing monthly costs that will have to be met.
This spiffy new website you’re reading this was designed by yours truly for this purpose specifically. To properly inform our passionate supporters of our plans, and really target monthly donations. If just 100 of you were able to donate $10 a month, that would go a long way in meeting those costs to care for the elephants. If we could reach another 1000 who would support for a single dollar a month, that’s another massive boost to our shared mission to protect the wildlife of our world.
Micahhh, you still did not answer anything about the business potential…argh yes, I know, I’m getting to it now, promise! While generous giving is a huge part of this plan, we don’t want to be fully reliant on donations. BtB will also be looking to open a fully sustainable, non-profit hostel and bar. Yup, fully sustainable, solar panels, rain catchment, the whole shebang! And it will run as we always have, non-profit, meaning all of the profit it makes will be used for wildlife conservation. All funnelled to the wildlife program we are also starting and to help cover of the ongoing costs we will have to care for the animals. This is not verified at all, not even a little, but I’m going to go ahead and call this the world’s first sustainable non-profit hostel!
You might be wondering why we chose this particular avenue to bring in money and it’s a fair question. It just makes sense, is the answer. BtB stands for Beyond the Backpack. I was inspired on my travels, through my many years as a backpacker to give back to the amazing world I’ve been so lucky to explore. Hostels have been where I’ve stayed over the past 15 years during these travels and I love everything about them. They played in a huge part in my growth as a person, having stayed at an uncountable amount Throw in the 10 years of bartending experience and this business just makes all the sense! Using the travel community to support the wildlife conservation is exactly the vision I was hoping for when founding BtB.
Deep breath! Ok I think I got most of my thoughts out here now. Ended up being way longer than planned, and I hope I didn’t lose you in the read. But I really wanted to explain in detail my thought process and the thinking behind the journey on which we’re about to embark. There’s so much to see, so much to do and a long way to go before any of this is realized, but I believe the result will be well worth the work. I’m so excited to get started and share this journey with all of you!