In a world where luxury often dances with indulgence, Abercrombie & Kent has once again turned the tables, swapping excess for impact in the most elegant way possible. The company’s philanthropic arm, Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy (AKP), has just unveiled its 2024 Impact Report, and the figures are nothing short of extraordinary: £2.1 million (AU$2.7 million) in charitable support, a 17% increase from last year, reaching nearly 400,000 lives across 25 countries. Now that’s what one might call five-star giving.
The report, released this week, reads like a heartfelt travel journal written by a benevolent globetrotter — complete with tales of school lunches in East Africa, water wells in Cambodia, eagle-saving in Tasmania, and bicycle-powered dreams in Uganda and Zambia.
A Legacy Written in Local Stories
While many companies pay lip service to community support, A&K has been putting boots on the ground since “sustainable tourism” became a buzzword. For over 60 years, the company’s DNA has been infused with founder Geoffrey Kent’s conviction that luxury travel should benefit the traveller and the world they traverse.
“AKP’s mission is to ensure that travel creates lasting, tangible benefits in the places we visit,” said Keith Sproule, Executive Director of A&K Philanthropy. “The best way to protect our planet’s remaining wilderness is to invest in the people who live there.”
That’s not just poetic sentiment — it’s practical policy. AKP employs 17 full-time community development professionals across four continents, from the Sacred Valley of Peru to the temples of Cambodia and the savannahs of Kenya. These boots-on-the-ground leaders act as cultural connectors, ensuring every dollar goes further — and deeper.
Highlights from a Year of Doing Good
Let’s dive into the heart of this impact story — the tangible, the touchable, and the tear-jerking.
🥣 Feeding Young Minds
In East Africa, over 6,300 children were fed daily through AKP-supported school lunch programs in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Namibia. The results? Improved concentration, better school attendance, and, in one school’s case, a 270% spike in enrolment. Forget silver spoons — these children are fed with purpose.
🏫 Building Futures in Cambodia
Education infrastructure boosted in Cambodia, where AKP built new classroom blocks at Kok Chan and Tapang Primary Schools. More than 800 students now have proper classrooms, playgrounds, and materials. Since 2018, AKP’s school-building initiatives have touched the lives of 1,600 students in the Siem Reap region.
🚲 Empowering Women, One Bike at a Time
In Uganda and Zambia, 1,667 women entrepreneurs received bicycles — bringing the total to over 20,000 distributed since AKP’s founding. These aren’t just two-wheeled rides; they’re mobile micro-economies. In Peru’s Sacred Valley and along Sri Lanka’s Pekoe Trail, women were trained as professional hiking guides, gaining economic independence and social recognition in traditionally male-dominated roles.
💧 Water and Health for All
Water is life — and in 2024, AKP funded the drilling of 90 new water wells in Siem Reap, adding to its 2,000+ total since inception. Meanwhile, 107 LifeStraw filters helped 108,000 East African students access clean water through the Safe Water for Schools Initiative.
In the health sector, two shipping containers packed with life-saving medical supplies made their way to hospitals in Uganda and Zambia — practical help in places where such assistance is often the difference between hope and despair.
🦅 Soaring Support for Raptors in Tasmania
Here’s one for the Aussie books. In Tasmania, where raptors are among the most threatened native species, AKP supports the Raptor Refuge’s ongoing rehabilitation work. In 2024, the charity funded a new flight aviary explicitly built for the white-bellied sea eagle — now home to two majestic but non-releasable birds. Plans for a second aviary will allow visitors to interact directly with birds of prey, adding tourism revenue to the refuge’s conservation toolkit.
The Real Gold Standard? Transparency
AKP’s commitment to complete transparency is more than a feather in its cap — it’s a cornerstone of its success. Every guest donation, whether from a safari-goer in Kenya or a heritage trail hiker in Sri Lanka, is directed entirely to their chosen project. Not a single cent skimmed. It’s a model that has earned AKP the GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid.org and cemented its status as a registered charity in the U.K. and U.S.
Travel That Changes Lives
This isn’t just feel-good fluff; it’s the future of travel. In an age when consumers are savvier and more socially conscious, A&K’s approach sets a shining example of what luxury travel ought to be: grounded in values, backed by action, and leaving a legacy that goes far beyond the footprints left on a white-sand beach.
As Keith Sproule eloquently says, “When travel uplifts local communities, everyone wins.”
And isn’t that the point of it all? To wander the world not just in wonder, but in service — to build bridges, not just bucket lists.
For more about the programs and to donate, visit: www.akphilanthropy.org.
By Yves Thomas
