Our Foundations

Minor Hotels creates travel experiences that also benefit the local communities where our hotels and resorts are located. To develop, fund and support such initiatives, we have established the following foundations:

The Heinecke Foundation

The Heinecke Foundation supports less fortunate children of all ages who have outstanding records of performance. Each year, the foundation gives scholarships to over 400 students, helping support their education from early learning stages through to graduation.

On a grassroots level, our hotels and resorts provide support to individual students in their local area who have excelled at school by buying books, pencils and school equipment to help further their education.

In return, students are asked to support projects in their own communities. Since 2000, the foundation has supported thousands of children and many have since graduated to earn professional degrees.

The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation

The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation was set up in 2005 in Thailand to help elephants that could not help themselves, a task it initially achieved by rescuing street begging elephants and their handlers (mahouts) and bringing them to live on the 400 acre forest and grassland surrounding Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort in northern Thailand.

 

This land is still home to 20 elephants but since 2005 the Foundation has adapted to changing circumstances and adopted three separate pillars: Captive Elephant Welfare, Wild Elephant Protection and Research and Education.  

 

Working with the elephants on site and through well chosen partners, the Foundation has been a key driver in the improvement of welfare for all captive elephants and has been active in hosting and supporting free courses, seminars and workshops for elephant camp managers and mahouts.

 

The Foundation has three ongoing Wild Elephant Conservation projects. The #SurvivingTogether project on the outskirts of Khao Yai National Park, Thailand which supports Community Conservation Clubs to gently intercept wild elephants when they leave the forest and through special techniques push them back before they can damage farmers’ crops. The foundation also provided infrastructure such as watch towers to more safely observe the elephants. The second project works with Hunter College, New York University and supports their Comparative Cognition for Conservation Laboratory in their study of elephant behaviour in efforts to promote human-elephant coexistence. Perhaps most significant is funding the total protection of an 18,000 hectare wildlife corridor between Botum Sakor and Southern Cardamom National Parks in Cambodia, home to all manner of endangered species and a migration route for elephants.

For more information please visit www.helpingelephants.org

The Mai Khao Turtle Foundation

The Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation (MKMTF) was established by Minor Hotels in 2002 to help rejuvenate the turtle population in Sirinath National Marine Park and the surrounding Andaman ecosystem.

Mai Khao is one of the few Phuket beaches that continue to welcome nesting turtles. The eggs are rescued from surrounding beaches where the necessary natural and peaceful environment can no longer be guaranteed. The eggs are then given to the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) and Royal Thai Navy who provide a safe home for the eggs to hatch and the young turtles to gain strength before finding their true home in the sea.

Funds are raised for the foundation by its members and partners such as JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, Marriott Vacation Club International and Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, who ensure a sizable annual donation to the Marine Conservation Units. These Units carry out a number of worthy projects such as the Nesting Beach Patrols & Hatchery Programme including the Marine Animal Stranding Rescue Project to help bring awareness of turtle protection and encourage the participation of all stakeholders to preserve our natural surroundings.

The MKMTF is dedicated to educating the community about the plight of the sea turtles here in Phuket and how we can support them. Efforts by the foundation and its supporters include an integrated coastal management plan with its partner – the International Union for the Conservation of Nature including beach and reef cleaning, educational workshops, recycling projects, mangrove tree planting, turtle rescue/release and support of other marine conservation organisations.

Over the recent years, the foundation has broadened its environmental efforts to not only ensure the conservation of the leatherback and other turtles but also to preserve the environment with the involvement of local communities, schools, universities, government organisations and other NGOs.

For more information please visit www.maikhaomarineturtlefoundation.org