When done right, tourism brings many benefits and opportunities to destination locals. We don’t think these should be limited to the people in our crew. The Tao Kalahi Foundation recognizes those outside our community as rightful beneficiaries to the profits of tourism.

We believe in a new tourism movement. One that shares the opportunities tourism brings with as many families and communities as possible.

Over years of exploring the islands, we’ve included as many people as we can in our operations. But there are and will always be people around us who are not formally members of our tribe. That doesn’t mean they should not benefit from what tourism has helped their neighbours achieve. The islands we explore are their islands, and the culture we live is their culture, so what we gain is theirs as well.

The Tao Kalahi Foundation (kalahi means ‘of the same breed’ or ‘of the same type’ in Filipino) builds and nurtures relationships with those around our island community so that they too benefit from tourism, even if they don’t work with us.

The Tao Kalahi Foundation is funded solely by Tao Expeditions.

In our early expeditions, we looked for ways to contribute to the villages that welcomed us. The most obvious way for us was to build schools.

Many young children on the islands have to paddle in the open water just to get to the nearest school. To avoid the danger, most families have their kids skip early education and go straight to grade school when they’re old and strong enough. Unfortunately that often means the kids enter school already behind in learning and are unable to catch up.

The Foundation builds kindergartens, daycares, and elementary schools on remote islands to allow the kids to learn, relieve their parents of the risks, and provide jobs for local teachers.

Our school structures incorporate the same bamboo bending designs we use in our basecamps. Having beautifully constructed buildings built with materials the kids see their parents work with instills in the kids a pride for their surroundings and culture.

Education is not only a priority for young kids. We also send high school graduates from the islands to universities around the country to earn degrees they can use in Palawan.

We’ve built and donated 5 daycares and 5 elementary schools over 10 different islands around Palawan.

The daycares and schools support 6 teachers. 30-60 kids go to each school every year.

Every Summer we invite kids to join a training program at our camps. They learn the various skills our crew use on a daily basis and get first-hand experience working in tourism.

We’ve had over 20 higher education scholars attend schools in Manila and Palawan in courses such as marine transportation, hospitality management, marine biology, fisheries, agricultural engineering, public administration, aquatic biology, education major in science, political science.

10 – Daycares and elementary schools we’ve donated across ten different islands.

6 – Teachers supported by these schools.

30-60 – Students who attend each school every year.

120 – Kids invited to join a summer training program at our Tao Farm. They learn the various skills our crew use on a daily basis and get first-hand experience working in tourism.

20 – Higher education scholars we’ve had earn degrees in marine transportation, hospitality management, marine biology, fisheries, agricultural engineering, public administration, aquatic biology, education major in science, political science.

As we expanded our routes and built relationships with more communicates around the islands, we made it a priority to get as many people involved in our trips as possible.

Palawan locals have many innate skills and talents but no space or opportunity to apply them. The Foundation hones and sharpens these skills through training programs and recruitment and provides locals the opportunity to work and provide for themselves and their families. With that comes a sense of pride. Formerly unemployed locals now earn livelihoods with their skills, close to their homes, and with materials and resources from their environment.

3
livelihood training and summer programs we run every year

25
students in the Foundation programs every year

6
villages werecruit from, for livelihood training and education

15
jobs created by the Foundation every year

The Tao Foundation Building, a large structure featuring our signature bent bamboo architecture, is home to our community shop, with products by our different women’s groups as well as communities reached by the Foundation.

In our off-season, the building is the centre of our General Assembly when we gather for a week to train, prepare, and have fun as a modern tribe.

The Tao Foundation Building is in the Tao Farm.