Wednesday, November 12, 2008

TripAdvisor divides up $1M donation to five nonprofits

By Mass High Tech Staff

Travel information company TripAdvisor LLC reports that it has tallied the results from its More than Footprints charity program and has determined how to divvy up its $1 million donation among the five travel-related nonprofit organizations.

Newton-based TripAdvisor launched the More Than Footprints campaign in September, and asked the public to decide how it would divide its $1 million donation to the nonprofits. According to TripAdvisor officials, more than one million votes were cast.

The final results are:

• Conservation International will receive $70,000 based on 7 percent of the vote
• Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) gets $392,000 from its 39.2 percent of the vote
• National Geographic Society will be granted $54,000 based on 5.4 percent of the vote
• The Nature Conservancy will land $137,000 based on 13.7 percent of the vote
• Save the Children will receive $347,000 after getting 34.7 percent of the vote

The TripAdvisor Media Network, which is operated by TripAdvisor LLC and owned by Expedia Inc. attracts more than 32 million monthly visitors across 12 travel brands, including TripAdvisor, Airfarewatchdog.com, Smartertravel.com, Travelpod.com and Virtualtourist.com, according to officials.

Founded in 2000, TripAdvisor was acquired in 2004 by travel giant Expedia.