What a year it has been: Highlights of 2016

2016 has been a tremendous year for the Inspired Team! We’ve welcomed twins, become a B Corp and we’re continuing our mission of helping charities raise vital funds and changing the lives of ordinary people. Here we look at the highlights of 2016, and hope you will celebrate with us!

In 2016 we welcomed Nicola Long, our new General Manager. She has been an incredible asset to the team, assisting Justine with the day-to-day running of Inspired Adventures.

Our fearless founder and CEO has taken on the greatest challenge of all – twins! But as we all know, with great challenge comes great reward and Louie and Eddie are adorable happy little babies.

In one of Inspired Adventures’ biggest achievement to date, we became B Corp certified! Much time was spent auditing our business to earn the certification, and we’re so proud to have the tick of approval on our commitment to using business as a force for good.

2016 set new records, with Turia’s Kokoda Challenge for Interplast raising the highest total yet for a single adventure. $343,888 was raised by Turia Pitt and the incredible team, funding Interplast’s work to educate and train surgical leaders throughout the Asia-Pacific region, allowing them to provide free surgical treatment to those in need.

The highest funds raised by an individual were a jaw-dropping $72,202 by Trish Davidson for the Leukaemia Foundation’s NYC Marathon.

We’re very excited to welcome many new charity partners on board this year including: McGrath Foundation, White Ribbon, 350.org, Melanoma Institute,  Kids Plus, Mission Aviation, The Motor Neurone Disease Association of NSW (MND NSW), Legacy Australia, The Leprosy Mission Australia, Blue Earth, Cerebral Palsy Society, Graceworks, Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (AMDF) Epilepsy Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Australia, Royal Hospital for Women, The Wilderness Society, SANE and Sydney Children’s Hospital.

If you don’t already follow us on social media, you’re missing out! So far, we have streamed live from Cambodia and China, and look forward to bringing you the on-the-ground action from lots of exciting places next year.

We had ten teams visit the Great Wall of China and raise an incredible $1,000,000.  Our second most popular destination was trekking the Kokoda Track, our seven teams raised $740,000. Our third most popular challenge was the New York City Marathon—our eight teams raised $570,000.

Our community fundraisers have raised an incredible amount of money for our charity partners this year—$4.5 million to be exact! Our team feels strongly about the charities we support and are proud to turn up to work everyday, knowing what we do makes a difference. Here is a snapshot of some of the causes that have benefited from adventures in 2016;

• Cancer research and support: $1,200,000
• Hospitals and Care facilities: $ 870,000
• Aid and development: $790,000
• Mental health: $540,000
• Human rights and social justice: $400,000

We have exciting new challenges for 2017 – be part of our story and check out our adventures for next year!