About the Rick Steves Fund

Travel shapes the way we see the world

When we leave home and meet people whose lives look different from ours, something shifts. We come home with more than memories. We return with a broader perspective, a deeper appreciation for our shared humanity, and a clearer sense that there is more than one way to build a healthy society. In the process, we become more curious, more connected to our wider world, and more motivated to be better neighbors and citizens.

Over time, that awareness becomes responsibility. Our commitment to giving back and supporting our neighbors — both near and far — grew out of that sense of responsibility and from a simple belief: the success of our travel business should translate into a broader good. We've never measured success simply by money in the bank. We measure profit by the lives enriched through travel — and by our ability to put the ideals we picked up on the road into practice.

The Rick Steves Fund is the next chapter in a giving journey that began long before the Fund itself. For decades, Rick has supported organizations whose work reflects the core value that has guided his life: love thy neighbor. And travel has a way of making the world feel smaller and our circle of neighbors larger. The more we've traveled, the more we've come to appreciate that compassion isn't limited by geography. Joy and suffering are just as real across an ocean as they are across the street.

We want to be part of the solution to challenges we've come to better understand through our travels. We support organizations working locally, nationally, and internationally to strengthen communities, protect democratic values, and address the root causes of poverty and injustice. Across all that we do runs a common thread: we believe we're all better off when everyone is better off.

Recent grants include:

• Lynnwood Neighborhood Center — bringing essential services and community resources together in one location
• Agros International — helping farming families in Central America gain secure access to land…to actually own the farm.
• Bread for the World — advocating in government for policies that address hunger and poverty in the U.S. and globally
• NORML and Marijuana Policy Project — working to reform drug policy and reduce the long-term harms of criminalization
• Edmonds Center for the Arts — supporting a local cultural institution that contributes to civic and community life

Supporting nonprofits such as these is not charity. We see it as employing a specialized service for a job we want done: a smart investment in the kind of world we want to live in. As Rick likes to say, "travel has taught me that even if you're motivated only by greed, if you know what's good for you, you don't want to be filthy rich in a world that's desperately poor."

We try to help in ways that create lasting change. That usually means supporting work that addresses root causes of issues, not just their symptoms. Our goal is not to replace public responsibility (such as government programs), but to reinforce what works and call attention to where more support is needed.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, we want to help wheels already heading in the right direction roll better. We look for opportunities where a financial boost can materially strengthen a great organization or expand access to the services and opportunities people need to live and work with dignity. We think of this as backing good work that is already making a difference and helping it gain more traction and go further.

And all of this makes our travels even more rewarding.