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Curated Impact Travel
We design immersive journeys that connect participants with local perspectives, cultural context, and conversations that can deepen understanding and inspire thoughtful action.
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Insiders for Impact
Travel With Purpose. Lead With Impact.
Insiders for Impact connects mission-driven entrepreneurs and leaders through transformative travel experiences that accelerate their social, environmental, and community-focused work.
Who We Are
Insiders for Impact is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting leaders who are building meaningful change. We design curated travel experiences that inspire collaboration, learning, and real-world impact.
Our programs bring together entrepreneurs, innovators, and mission-driven individuals working to create a better future.
Nonprofit Organization
Our Work
How we turn purposeful travel into meaningful action.
Our work uses thoughtfully designed travel as a setting for learning, connection, collaboration, and mission-aligned action. We create programs that help people build stronger relationships, encounter new perspectives, and support meaningful work across communities and organizations.
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Leadership & Community Building
We bring together entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, creators, innovators, and changemakers to exchange knowledge, build trust, and create relationships that can continue beyond the journey.
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Partnership & Initiative Support
We help mission-aligned initiatives create visibility, strategic connections, community engagement, and opportunities for collaboration around shared goals.
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About Us
Meaningful journeys. Powerful connections.
Travel—done with intention—creates powerful environments for learning, connection, and impact.
Insiders for Impact brings together mission-driven leaders through immersive experiences that spark collaboration, innovation, and meaningful change.
Our Story
For more than a decade, our team has been designing extraordinary journeys that bring people together in ways that spark ideas, inspire purpose, and strengthen communities. What began as Insider Expeditions—a global experience design company—has grown into a mission-driven initiative dedicated to supporting the work of entrepreneurs, innovators, and social change leaders.
Through twenty years of hosting community gatherings, nonprofit donor trips, leadership retreats, creative brainstorming adventures, and meaningful cultural exchanges, we discovered something powerful:
When people travel with purpose, they unlock new ways to create
impact.
Insiders for Impact was born from this insight — to take the heart of our experiential work and center it fully around supporting leaders who are building a better world.
Our Vision
A better world needs supported leaders.
We envision a world where leaders working toward social and
environmental good have the inspiration, support, and community
they need to create lasting impact.
How We Create Impact
Connection is only the beginning.
Our role is to create the conditions for meaningful exchange, thoughtful collaboration, and relationships that continue beyond the journey itself.
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We Connect
We bring together people and organizations who share a commitment to positive social, environmental, and community impact.
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We Immerse
Purposeful travel creates time and space to listen, learn from local perspectives, challenge assumptions, and build authentic relationships.
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We Activate
We encourage participants to carry new ideas, collaborations, and relationships forward through their own organizations, projects, and communities.
What We Believe
Principles that guide every experience.
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Perspective Changes Possibility
Stepping into a new environment can challenge assumptions, expand understanding, and help people see their work and the world around them from a different point of view.
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Connection Builds Community
Meaningful relationships grow through shared experience, listening, and exchange. We create space for people to connect across disciplines, cultures, and communities.
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Purpose Should Lead to Action
Inspiration matters most when it continues beyond the journey. We aim to create experiences that encourage collaboration, stronger networks, and thoughtful next steps.
Our Cause
Travel With Purpose.
Travel With Purpose.
Impact With Intention.
At Insiders for Impact, our cause is simple and powerful: We create meaningful travel experiences that support impact-oriented entrepreneurs and leaders.
We believe that when mission-driven people step into new environments, connect with diverse communities, and learn from global perspectives, they unlock fresh ideas, stronger relationships, and new possibilities for their work.
Through curated journeys, retreats, and collaborative gatherings, we help leaders:
- Gain clarity and inspiration
- Build supportive, purpose-driven networks
- Explore innovative solutions to global challenges
- Strengthen the impact they are creating in the world
Our cause is to support the people who are shaping a better future — by giving them the space, community, and experiences they need to grow.
Current Focus
Current journeys, shared purpose.
These current programs reflect how Insiders for Impact brings purposeful travel together with community connection, learning, collaboration, and mission-aligned partnerships.
Website content updated September 2026
Puerto Rico
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¡Volviendo! with Howie D
A purposeful Puerto Rico journey centered on community, connection, culture, and meaningful exchange. ¡Volviendo! with Howie D creates space to experience the island with intention while supporting relationships with local people and place.
Brazilian Amazon
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Wonder Summit
Wonder Summit brings people together in the Brazilian Amazon for learning, exchange, collaboration, and deeper connection to the region. The program creates an environment for meaningful conversations and relationships across communities and areas of expertise.
Experiences
Journeys that leave something behind.
Community & Culture
Jimmy Buffett Musical
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Impact Journey
Adventure to Antarctica
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Innovation & Community
Wonder Summit
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Amazon Journey
WOW IT'S NOW Amazon
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Leadership & Impact
Stewardship Antarctica
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Art, Music & Exploration
Artists in Antarctica
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Wellness & Culture
Bhutan with Dr. Hyman
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Our Leadership Team
Purpose built through experience.
Founder & CEO
Carleton Shephard
Founder & CEO
As the founder of Insider Expeditions, I’m proud to have led travel programs in more than 100 countries. After riding my bicycle across the country as a college senior with a motley crew of 30 riders raising money for Habitat for Humanity, I have dedicated my life to creating group travel experiences which combine the qualities I so enjoyed that summer: a fun, inspiring, curated itinerary, lots of memorable surprises, local community engagement, and a journey that leaves behind a positive impact.
Shortly after that trip, I moved to South America with a local tour operator, leading cultural exchanges, service projects, and innovative travel itineraries throughout the region. Honored a few years later with a World Peace Fellowship by Rotary International, I then moved to Japan for my Masters and worked with Peace Boat, whose circumnavigational voyages focus on meaningful interactions and cultural exchanges with local communities, service efforts, and unique educational and enrichment opportunities for their passengers.
Since founding Insider Expeditions, I’ve had the opportunity to organize business delegations for Fortune 500 companies, donor experiences for international non-profits, trade missions on behalf of the US government, educational trips for top universities, creative brainstorming journeys for entrepreneurs, extraordinary family reunions, world-class destination weddings, epic birthday celebrations, wild dancing adventures, and remote wellness retreats.
Through Insider, it’s my mission to share our team’s love of this beautiful and magical world through travel and thoughtfully curated experiences, no matter your group, interest, or mission.
It’s our own mission to have you look back and say, “wow, that was one of the best trips of my entire life”. On behalf of our fabulous, dedicated, and experienced team, we can’t wait to travel with you.
Our Team
The people behind the impact.
Carl Shephard
Founder & CEO
Katy Koob
Head of Strategic Alliances
Community
Some Of Our Partners
Get Involved
There are many ways to create impact with us.
Join a global network of people using connection, experience, and purpose to help shape a better future.
Be a Volunteer
Share your experience, energy, and skills with programs designed to create meaningful connection and impact.
Volunteer With Us →Be a Partner
Collaborate with us to develop meaningful programs, experiences, and initiatives aligned with shared values.
Become a Partner →Be a Donor
Support our mission and help us create opportunities for mission-driven leaders and communities around the world.
Support Our Mission →
Contact Us
Get in Touch.
Interested in an impact journey, partnership, volunteering, or supporting our mission? We'd love to hear from you.