Inspirato charity platform exchanges donations for high-end vacations

When consumers donate $2,000 to an array of educational, environmental and health charities, they are given access to Inspirato destinations in California, Colorado, the Caribbean, Mexico, France, Hawaii, London, Italy and New York. Inspirato relies on its Web site and organization partnerships to market this effort.

“Corporate social responsibility is defined as a core component for the business,” said Jackie Benton, executive director of Inspired Giving, Denver. “This is a great way for us to establish ourselves both as a growing company that is giving back to organizations as well as a way to grow business.

“It’s win-win-win in that we can work on building out our corporate responsibility piece, charity organizations find a year-round solution for fundraising and our members get to donate and go on vacation,” she said.

Participating charities include The Lance Armstrong Association, American Diabetes Association, Pencils of Promise and Chicago’s Children Museum.

Join the club
Inspirato is a membership-based destination club with leased properties worldwide.

The club offers a breadth of vacation options and properties for its members for an initial $15,000 initiation fee and $2,500 annual charge.

Inspirato site

Members have access to a wide variety of properties as well as exclusive perks including a personal trip advisor, 24-hour destination concierge and other services.

The Inspired Giving platform works through the Inspired Giving Web site at http://www.inspiredgiving.com.

For every $2,000 donated to an organization, the donor gains one-time access to an Inspirato luxury vacation without having to pay the initiation fee.

Inspired Giving site

In return, Inspirato contributes one Inspired Giving vacation experience that the organization can auction to raise funds. All of the funds raised go back to the charity.

Also, for every new Inspirato membership generated from the donation, Inspiried Giving gives $2,000 back to the charity.

CSR for CRM
Corporate social responsibility is an effort that many luxury marketers are participating in for a few different reasons.

Since many affluent consumers are involved in charitable organizations, marketers that are aligning core values with those of their target customers are likely to relate to them.

For example, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts used its new electronic gift cards for a corporate social responsibility effort. For every gift card purchased, the hotel will plant one tree as part of its 10 Million Trees commitment (see story).

The hotel’s employees worldwide are helping to plant trees in and around the communities in which Four Seasons has properties.

Indeed, giving affluent consumers a taste of the Inspirato membership perks through donating to the charity could very likely entice them to sign up for the destination club.

Furthermore, if consumers are already members of Inspirato, this platform could act as a retention tool since they may feel good about donating to a cause with the added benefit of vacation.

“We are looking to expand our membership, portfolio and the kind of properties that we can send members to,” Ms. Benton said. “The Inspired Giving platform is helping us gain exposure to new audiences that are interested in the Inspirato portfolio.

“If you look at the high-end donor marketplace today, they are interested in writing big checks but they also like getting a good deal and getting something back for their donation,” she said.

Final Take

Rachel Lamb, associate reporter on Luxury Daily, New York