Announcing the Barbara Banks Vision Fund

On October 5, 2022, the Barbara Banks Vision Fund was announced at the ATCF members’ breakfast at the ATWS Summit in Lugano, Switzerland. The fund has been set up by Charles Altekruse, with Benjamin and Jeremy Banks-Altekruse, to honor the life of wife and mother Barbara Banks, a pillar of the adventure travel community whose untimely death of cancer in May 2020, came as a shock to all who knew and loved her. Proceeds will benefit the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund.

Banks was the longtime director of marketing and new trip development for tour operator Wilderness Travel in Berkeley, California. She was a regular fixture at ATTA’s annual Adventure Travel World Summit Trade Association. Her many colleagues became great friends.

Banks believed that travel and world travelers could be catalysts for positive, sustained change, locally and globally. “In her final years, Banks became a shooting star in this emerging “travel with purpose” niche,” says her husband, Charles Altekruse. “She championed local conservation projects wherever possible within the adventure travel industry.” Representing Wilderness Travel, Barbara became one of the first to sign on to membership with the Adventure Travel Conservation Fund when it was announced in 2016.

“Our family is so honored to announce the Barbara Banks Vision Fund in conjunction with the nonprofit ATCF,” said Altekruse. “Few organizations are as well positioned to effect change through travel.” With an extensive network of local operators, ATCF advances its mission “to support, leverage and expand the travel community's environmental and cultural conservation efforts for maximum impact” by funding visionary grassroots conservation projects in adventure travel destinations. ATCF has disbursed over $500,000 to 33 community conservation projects in 27 different adventure destinations worldwide.

“We are humbled and honored to have the support of Charlie, Jeremy, and Ben and the Barbara Banks Vision Fund,” said Soraya Shattuck, ATCF’s executive director. “Along with its member companies, ATCF has been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. We are now actively reconvening and reconfiguring to invigorate communities, empower individuals, and protect environments worldwide. And the support from the Barbara Banks Vision Fund will ensure the work continues.”

According to Altekruse, the ambitious goal for the next six months is to raise at least $250,000, the majority for direct support of grassroots conservation projects around the globe, with a portion dedicated to internal ATCF capacity building. Altekruse hopes to tap not only Barbara’s network of friends and colleagues in the adventure travel industry but also the couple’s personal and professional networks.

If you feel inspired by Barbara, please consider donating to the Barbara Banks Vision Fund or visit ATCF’s site here.