Impact Report 2024-25

Today we launch our Impact Report for our work from 2024-25, which you can download here. 

This year has been the most challenging yet since we launched the 100% initiative, and so still being able to share some incredible stories from the charities we work with and the work the team has done feels even more rewarding. 

A challenging year

Let’s start with the difficult bits.

2024 was a hard year for many reasons; a volatile market, accounting errors, changing technologies and some difficulties in the team all provided challenges we had to overcome. 

With so much political and economic change, the travel industry was undoubtedly in a state of flux over the last 12-18 months: some companies thrived and others had their backs to the wall. Inevitably, for an agency in the supply line, that volatility makes sales and retention more challenging, especially in the SME market where we’re one of the few outgoings that clients could easily save on.

Unfortunately, we also had an accounting experience we’d like to forget alongside this and were badly advised, which led to incorrect forecasting, larger than expected tax bills and less money at the end of it. All at a time that was already proving difficult. When it rains, it pours. 

Closer to home, we had to deal with some difficult situations within our own team that affected the work we could deliver in some instances, and navigating those moments took time and energy that might have been spent in more productive areas in another time. 

As most businesses know, it’s all about your people, and I’m super proud of the team we’ve built here. It has taken some time, but we’ve hit the stage now where I believe we have the best group of people we’ve ever had. And now we’re out the other side, this puts us in a really strong position for the year ahead.

Charity Impact 

All those challenges aside, we’ve still been able to support the charities we work with and the incredible work they do along the way. 

We’ve now provided 521 beds to Zarach across the 4 years of support we’ve worked together, and this year spent 46 hours volunteering across the team, delivering beds and food bank support throughout the year. 

“SEO Travel’s commitment means more children will receive a bed, bedding and the essentials they need to sleep with dignity, feel safe and wake up ready to learn. We’re so thankful for their belief in our mission and their dedication to helping us break the cycle of poverty – one bed at a time.”

ANDY PEERS, ZARACH CEO

The donation to Moving Mountains last year enabled them to establish a mental health programme to support more than 150 children in Embu, Kenya, during this year. I met those involved when I visited in 2023 and saw first hand how important the work MM does there is. Knowing the people this will impact makes it all the more rewarding to see it taking shape.

“There really is no doubt at all that the money from your company has not only enabled a lot of our work but, perhaps more importantly, it’s given us the confidence to develop and expand our remit.”

GAVIN BATE, MOVING MOUNTAINS CHAIRMAN

2025 Donation

Given the obstacles we faced last year, our donation for 2025 is smaller than it has been for the previous 3 years, with £10,000 left to give after we cover our own outgoings and add enough to the reserves to give ourselves stability as the business continues to evolve.

Whilst we wanted that number to be higher and over and above previous years, I’ve talked to the team about the importance of keeping perspective on what we’re doing. 

We won’t hit ten-year goals if we don’t survive the bumps along the way. 

The world will throw some curveballs at us, and we need to adapt accordingly, so prudence has been the name of the game this year, and it sets us up well for 2025.

Despite that, we’re still very proud of the numbers achieved across the 4 years so far, with £157,029 in total donated to the two charities, 521 beds provided, a school rebuilt, a children’s rescue centre run for a year and now a children’s mental health programme established. 

Not only that, but we have designed and built websites for both charities this year, which gives them more tools to drive their own fundraising in addition to the financial support we can provide directly.

The year ahead

The team have done an incredible job of surviving, adapting and evolving over the last 18 months, and it leaves us in a really strong position for 2025. The team is stronger than ever, we’re delivering fantastic results for clients, and we’re also at the forefront of the AI revolution and are able to help clients navigate this change.

We also have a lot of new and exciting things on the horizon for the year ahead. This includes; another Travel Sauce event, new and improved marketing and AI training for travel companies, and a toolkit in the making that travel SMEs can use to level-up their businesses using the evolving technology that is becoming increasingly available to us all.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and last year was a testament to that for us.

We’re back stronger, ready for a successful 2025 and more motivated than ever to support Moving Mountains and Zarach in the work they do.

Thanks to everyone in our community for their support along the way; clients, suppliers, team members and their families, and everyone else in the travel industry that we love so much. 

I hope you’ll give the Impact Report a read to understand in more detail the amazing work Zarach and Moving Mountains do, and I hope it might inspire one or two to explore this kind of model themselves or support these charities in some shape or form.

Let’s get after it 💪

About The Author...

Tom McLoughlin

Founder

Tom is here to steer the ship in the right direction, to ensure what we offer is best in class, and to keep clients and the team happy! Naturally, he loves to travel, but Honduras is a favourite destination after having spent a year there teaching after finishing school.