tours for humanity

• Our Philosophy
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DC WALKING TOURS: 

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION  

Tours for Humanity is a group of charismatic guides dedicated to the proposition that history can help people. We believe in the power of stories and contribute a portion of our profits to charities fighting ignorance, poverty and disease.  Our walking tours won't save the world  but they're a step in the right direction.

Join us on one of our   walking tours of Washington, DC  to expand your knowledge of presidents, heroes, wars and why it all matters. Our guides are history geeks and their passion is on full display as they guide you from monument to memorial while unleashing tales of old. Our guides possess such charisma and knowledge that we want you to pick your own price. At the end of the tour, simply pay our guides what you think the tour was worth.  Because everyone should be able to afford a good story. 

Bring your classroom to life. Work with us to create a  customized tour  th at fits your curriculum. We are not only experts in the resources of DC, but also have experience as former teachers. Tell us more about your learning objectives and we will work together to inspire students.  

Join us in  our philosophy  that business can be a force for good. We were inspired to build something meaningful after one of our founder's battle with cancer. We are seeking to make a difference by donating a portion of profits to charities fighting ignorance, poverty and disease, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Every aspect of our business, right down to  our uniform , does good in the world.

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Our Philosophy

Tours For Humanity             P.O. Box 681, Arlington, VA 22216             Tel: (202) 780-4544    

Tours for Humanity

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Tours for Humanity, Arlington

Tour for Humanity

Launched in 2013, Tour for Humanity is FSWC’s award-winning mobile human rights education centre. The 30-seat, fully accessible vehicle serves as a self-contained classroom in which FSWC’s instructors teach students about the horrors of genocide, especially the Holocaust, while addressing issues of racism, intolerance, diversity, democracy and human rights. As part of the interactive learning experience, Tour for Humanity (T4H) features a combination of video, PowerPoint presentations, activities and discussions in the four workshops offered, each adapted to the age of those in attendance.

The customized bus travels to schools and organizations throughout Canada, engaging students between grades 3 and 12, teachers and other community members from diverse personal and professional backgrounds. A creative outreach initiative, T4H teaches participants about historical and recent events, showing the connection between past and present-day hatred and its relevance on both a Canadian and global level. In the process, the content inspires participants to raise their voices and take action against racism, hate, injustice and intolerance to build a more equitable society.

Throughout the school year, the bus is typically on the road five days a week, booked primarily by schools months in advance. Since its inception, T4H has engaged more than 175,000 people, as a growing number of schools in Canada reserve it for their classes. In 2016, FSWC received the Award of Excellence from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for the Tour for Humanity project. Such has been the increase in demand for T4H that FSWC ordered a second vehicle that took to the road in the second half of 2022.

Workshop Options

All our workshops are led by experienced FSWC facilitators. We provide teachers access to educational materials to assist in preparing their students for T4H visits. T4H incorporates multimedia to offer students a rich and interactive learning experience. To add to student interest and involvement in each workshop, the T4H mobile classroom is equipped with HD projectors, a large video wall and HD surround sound. Here are the different workshops available.

Simon's Story

Aimed at junior audiences, this workshop introduces elementary school students to the Holocaust, in part through Simon Wiesenthal’s personal story. With age-appropriate content that includes defining and discussing stereotypes, racism and prejudice, it enhances the ability of participants to become proactive members of society by creating positive change.

Suitable for Grade 3 - 6

The Canadian Experience

In this workshop, students learn about important topics in Canadian history, including the Residential School System, the MS St. Louis and the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Following a review of the past, we examine and discuss current issues, including cyberbullying, hate crimes and a range of examples of intolerance.

Suitable for Grade 6 - 10

The Holocaust:  Then and Now

Showing how the Holocaust is not just a Jewish story, but a human story, this workshop explores the attitudes and social forces in Nazi Germany and in much of Europe that helped make possible one of the darkest chapters in human history.

Suitable for Grade 6 - 12

Global Perspectives

This workshop begins with a screening of FSWC’s three-part documentary series titled The Holocaust, Universal Genocide and Real-World Heroes. The documentary is followed by a discussion of The Ten Stages of Genocide, focusing on the Holocaust and other genocides, including in Rwanda and Cambodia, and crimes against humanity in Ukraine and eastern Europe committed by the former Soviet Union under dictator Joseph Stalin.

Suitable for Grade 9 - 12

Booking the Tour

Given the high demand, the bus is often booked months in advance. To reserve a date for the Tour for Humanity mobile classroom to come to your school, please write to us at [email protected] or call 416.864.9735 ext 222 for more details.

• Each session, 45 - 60 minutes in length, can accommodate one class of 30 people.
• Sessions are led by an experienced, specially trained FSWC educator who introduces the content and leads the discussion.
• The classroom teacher is responsible for preparing students with pre and post activities and assignments. We have developed educational materials for teachers to use before and after the program, to facilitate conversations about the topics covered.
• In terms of physical requirements, there needs to be a designated parking area of 20ft x 50ft to accommodate the bus and to allow for the safe movement of students entering and exiting the vehicle. T4H needs to park on school property without going over a large curb or through narrow alleyways.
• There is a fee to bring the T4H vehicle to schools.

For more information and to make a reservation, email us at [email protected] or call 416.864.9735 ext 222.

Going the Distance

Tour for Humanity travels far and wide in fulfilling its mandate. Every year, we visit more than 200 schools and communities throughout Canada, engaging with thousands of young people in cities and small towns. Since its inception in 2013, the bus has visited schools across Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and New Brunswick.

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Charismatic guides - check! Entertainment - check! Knowledge and great stories - double check! Add a social mission to eradicate disease, educate others, and better the world and you have the real deal tour company! This is a wonderful experience for locals and tourists alike! Tours For Humanity is a recently launched company and I had to admit, I was a bit skeptical. Very rarely do companies have it figured out and the tour guide can really make or break the trip. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surpised and overwhelmingly impressed with how well-organized the company was, how charismatic the guides were, and how much I really enjoyed the information and stories that the guides gave. It was clear that this group really enjoyed what they were doing and really wanted to make sure that you were having an experience that could not be matched by other tour companies. As an added bonus, they have a really cool social mission. Their outfits highlight various causes and a portion of proceeds go to eradicting disease or educating others. This is a must not just for those visiting DC, but also for locals who could truly benefit from knowing the stories and history behind the monuments that we are fortunate enough to see on a daily basis and often take for advantage. Definitely check them out!

The Hotel Drinking Tour in DC was just amazing. Such a wonderful time and our tour guide Bo was exceptional!! Great stories, good drinks and lots of laughs. Such a fun way to spend an afternoon.

I went on a group tour with TFH and really loved it. Having lived in DC for a while, I am not easily impressed by tour companies, but this one was an absolute pleasure. Our tour guide Bo brought us around the monuments for an evening tour. He was extremely engaging and knowledgable, as well as very humorous and outgoing. Besides being a very high quality tour company, TFH is in a league of its own in that it donates a portion of all revenue to charity. It is definitely the best option for DC tours!

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Tours for Humanity: Travel with Purpose

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“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” –Robert F. Kennedy

I know it’s cliché to begin any article in our field with such a well-known and inspirational quote. But that quote has special meaning to me. Not just because Bobby Kennedy is a personal hero of mine. No, I read and walk by those words every week because they are etched into the stone across from his grave. He rests in our country’s most hallowed ground, Arlington National Cemetery, and it’s my job to walk those hills. 

Lisa Ann Maurer and I founded and run a social enterprise in Washington, D.C. called Tours for Humanity. That famous RFK quote sums up both our purpose and our philosophy: Tiny ripples of hope slowly improving lives and the world while building momentum with other social good causes. We provide walking tours of D.C., in person and via a mobile app, then donate a portion of profits towards charities fighting ignorance, poverty, and disease. We lead tours from Capitol Hill to the National Mall, from Arlington Cemetery to the fan-favorite Drinking History adventure. 

We are using moving stories of history to help people. Tales about the heroes of yesteryear generate not only inspiration for travelers but funds for the charities we support: the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Ashoka, and Honor Flight. We also donate tours to nonprofits and causes as fundraising tools, all the while moving towards our goal of B-Corp certification. The idea is to transform travel into a force for good. We know that even with scaling we are still small actors on a very large stage. That’s why one of our mottoes is “a tour won’t save the world, but it’s a step in the right direction.” 

We have been in operation for over a year. Our journey began with an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign through which we raised roughly $20,000 in start-up capital. Indiegogo, and platforms like it, are essential for entrepreneurs just starting out. As of now we have two independent contractor guides working for us in the busy season. We were not in the red last year but neither are we driving a Tesla. No one said this would be easy. 

Progress is too slow. I know most of us feel that way in our various fields. But scaling a traditional tour company is incredibly labor-intensive with hiring independent contractors and training new recruits, not to mention scheduling and managing multiple tours while you’re also out in the field. Tours for Humanity (TFH) will maintain this slow and steady path, on the one hand. In-person tours will never disappear and we want our guides to double as brand ambassadors for other social good companies. That’s why our guide on the standard tour is wearing TOMS shoes, a FEED bag on his shoulder, and has on a t-shirt made by Freeset. And you’ll never find me without my LSTN headphones. All these products improve the world in their own ways. 

On the other hand, we are pursuing a digital strategy with a mobile app of audio tours. Think of it as a tour in your pocket. Currently we have three tours available in D.C. with two more under production. Each of these tours has over an hour of story content for customers. We are proving our value with a freemium model where the app and National Mall tour are free and additional tours are $3.99 each. This is a huge savings to, say, a family of four when compared with a traditional tour. 

Digitizing your services comes with many benefits. I know that the quality of the content is assured and I don’t have to be out in the field myself. New guides don’t have to be hired, trained, and managed as often. This leaves a wider reach and more profits to be sent to our charity partners. 

TFH, working with our software development partner PearCircuit, can scale the app much more quickly than a traditional guide-on-the-ground company can. The strategy we are pursuing is unique at the moment, a hybrid model featuring part in-person guides and part mobile app sales. There are tours and revenue that the app may cannibalize and others it could not possibly replace. For instance, the Drinking History tour (our favorite) is far better face-to-face in a group. The social camaraderie and group dynamic are why folks book this experience. As for the app cannibalizing customers from more profitable in-person tours, well, if the atom bomb is possible then it’s better to develop it first. The chance of disruption exists and therefore we intend to be the disruptors. 

Currently there are the traditional by-foot walking tours that only have in-person guides and the all-digital, all-app companies. We believe the two to be complementary and synergistic. The plan is simple: expand to other cities with the app first. Then we follow up with boots on the ground and establish Drinking History tours. These in-person outings and the app advertise and support one another. At this stage even modest investment could be leveraged for rapid expansion. 

To build on this foundation, our guides and app will act as a gateway to other social good companies and causes. Our people are brand ambassadors leading travellers through monuments and memorials. They are walking billboards for conscious companies that meet and interact with dozens of tourists every day. On the app side, these same companies have the opportunity to sponsor individual tours, like a podcast advertiser, or even entire cities. 

We took a small step in this direction when LSTN headphones sponsored our app launch party. Their products were sold alongside people toasting our app (TFH events are almost always in Irish pubs). All of us know we make a greater impact when we stand together. That is why we are pursuing and in talks with multiple companies for partnerships. 

We started this company so we could continually give back to and promote causes we believe in. This whole endeavor began in the neighborhood bar on a bleary New Year’s Day. That’s where I met my business partner and girlfriend.  Little did she know she had met her caretaker and I didn’t know she’d battle through cancer.  That brush with disease and darkness is why we started this enterprise.  Now every day we work so that the next day will be a bit better. Through our app, pursuing partnerships, and the power of story, we are sending forth our tiny ripples of hope. 

Bo Hammond has been a summer camp counselor, civic educator, and a tour guide. He founded and leads Tours for Humanity (TFH) with his partner Lisa Maurer. They started they started with a successful crowdfunding campaign and are now in year two of operation. TFH is a social enterprise walking tour company based in Washington, DC.  

Tour for Humanity

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies

Ideal for classroom use with Grades 4-12.

Launched in 2013, Tour for Humanity is FSWC’s award-winning mobile human rights education centre. The 30-seat, fully accessible vehicle serves as a self-contained classroom in which FSWC’s instructors teach students the history of the Holocaust, genocide, racism, antisemitism, intolerance, diversity, democracy and human rights.

Tour for Humanity visits, which include a trained facilitator, can be arranged by reaching out to [email protected].

Questions about this resource? Contact:

[email protected]

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