Every year, thousands of travelers – nearly 70% of them American – book trips to Europe with Nordic Visitor. They come for the northern lights, the fjords, the Alpine peaks, the Scottish Highlands. What they may not know is that their trips are part of something bigger.
Nordic Visitor, part of Icelandic travel group Travel Connect, has always believed that travel is better when you have a friend in your destination – someone who knows it deeply enough to help you explore it like a local. And friends look after the places they love. Through the Travel Connect Fund, launched in 2025, that belief has been put into practice: giving back to the communities behind its travelers' experiences.
What sets the fund apart from a standard corporate giving program is who makes the decisions. There's no external panel. No executive shortlist. Organizations can apply directly or be nominated by Travel Connect employees, with an employee-led committee selecting recipients twice a year.
Being able to nominate organizations we actually know – places that matter to people in our team – and have that translate into real funding felt significant. The company funds it, but it’s employees who decide where every cent goes.
-Kristín Halldóra Halldórsdóttir, Travel Connect’s Sustainability Coordinator
The first two funding rounds focused on Iceland and Scotland – both destinations closely connected to Nordic Visitor’s operations. Travel Connect was founded in Reykjavík, and Iceland remains central to the company’s work. Scotland is home to Nordic Visitor’s second-largest office, in Edinburgh, where employees helped identify causes in their local communities.
Together, the two countries received approximately $97,000 across eleven organizations working on environmental and social projects.
Einstök börn (Unique Children) received approximately $16,000. The Icelandic charity supports children and young people with rare diseases, offering counseling, peer support groups, and family services. The organization was both a direct applicant and independently nominated by an employee with a personal connection – exactly the kind of outcome the fund was designed to make possible.
Steps to Hope, based in Edinburgh, also received approximately $16,000. The nonprofit runs a free 90-day residential recovery program, helping people experiencing homelessness and addiction as they rebuild their lives.
That transformation is possible because every block has been removed. Thanks to companies like Nordic Visitor getting behind us, we can simply say: come in and get better.
- Richard Roncero, Steps to Hope Founder and Director of Operations.
For Nordic Visitor's Edinburgh team, the decision to support Steps to Hope was deeply personal.
Steps to Hope does the most incredible work. When I heard about this donation, I cried. I’ve achieved many amazing things during my time at Nordic Visitor, but this has meant the most to me. It was such a boost, both personally and in seeing the impact we can have as a company.
- Lorna Denham, Regional Sales Director UK
The fund supported other recipients across Iceland and Scotland, including Seawilding, which is restoring marine ecosystems on Scotland’s west coast, and Neistinn, which supports families of children and young people with heart conditions in Iceland.
The recipients reflect the fund's alignment with key UN Sustainable Development Goals, including climate action, gender equality and community wellbeing.
Future funding rounds will expand to more of Nordic Visitor’s destinations across Europe, continuing to support the communities behind its travel experiences.
