The Join Adventures Paddle Team & Community
We are a crew of paddlers that came together in 2014 to use our skills and love of paddling to build a self sustaining system that support training opportunities, sponsorships and community projects. We are a Nepali team with an Australian thrown into the mix who deeply believe in the philosophy of Paying Forward and leading by example. Our dream is to be part of a global network of amazing people who use their strengths to support others and make amazing things happen. We feel humbled and honoured to have grown from our small paddle team in Nepal (and our Aussie chick) to a global network of amazing people who give their skills and time to Paying Forward.
Join Adventures: Team or Company?
Join Adventures is not a company but a team of paddlers who specialise in extended expeditions and instruction, we are dedicated to empowering people to empower and inspire each other through river adventures. We create awesome river adventures that are inclusive and supportive of people of all levels and that produce the funding for our community initiatives. Paddling is how we bring our teams together allowing us to share rivers, stories, time, skills, knowledge and most importantly sharing laughter and smiles that stay with us for life.
THE JOIN ADVENTURES EXPEDITIONS
The expeditions are our sustainable income source, allowing our team to self fund training courses, sponsorships and community projects as well as our wages. Every Join Adventures expedition contributes financially to supporting our goals with contributions to our community fund.
The expeditions are very special to our team, we have a deep passion for the river, for white water, and for sharing adventures with people from around the world. We are an inclusive team and welcome people of all paddling skills, abilities, gender, sexual preference, age and race on every expedition.
The expeditions are very special to our team, we have a deep passion for the river, for white water, and for sharing adventures with people from around the world. We are an inclusive team and welcome people of all paddling skills, abilities, gender, sexual preference, age and race on every expedition.
Paying Forward
"Pay It Forward" Philosophy is the idea that we help those we can help and in turn ask only that they help another person in the future; creating a chain reaction that never ends.Every person has something to give in a team and something to gain, our dream is to network people together to make amazing things happen.
What we have achieve so far..
2017
What we do right now…
On Expedition
Where are we heading...
What we have achieve so far..
2017
- Kayak Instructor Training 2017 (Fully Sponsored Program)
- Sent Join Adventures Trip Leader Dipesh Gurung to New Zealand for further training with the New Zealand Kayak School. The New Zealand Kayak School provide a full sponsorship for training and living expenses & Join Adventures raised the finances for the flight costs, visa and immigration lawyer (required to obtain a visa for Dipesh to enter NZ)
- Two Kayak Programs with New Zealand Kayak School instructors Jess Matheson and Sophie Mulder (Fully Sponsored)
- 5 Day Senior Kayak Instructor Training; focused on advance kayak instruction, advanced kayak rescue and kayak techniques
- 3 Day Junior Kayaker Training; focused on kayak technique.
- Swift Water Rescue Program; combined sponsorship with The Swift Water Safety Institute and Join Adventures. (Fully Sponsored)
- 2 x 3 day Junior Kayak course; re-capping kayak techniques and Introduction to teaching kayaking. (Fully Sponsored)
- Computer courses: Resume Writing and Internet Navigation (Fully Sponsored)
- 2015 Earthquake Relief
- Made our team & built the Join Adventures Expeditions
What we do right now…
On Expedition
- Offer amazing trips that benefit loads of people
- Support paddlers from around the world to get involved in international paddling adventures no matter what their skill level or challenge by welcoming and including everyone who would like to join us, both on river adventures and in community goals
- Continue to build our teams skills so that we offer the best support possible.
- Join Adventures' Trip Leader and Head Instructor, Dipesh Gurung is currently in New Zealand to further enhance his teaching skills. Dipesh we bring these skills back to Nepal to help teach a team of local kayaks and prepare the crew for assessment with NZOIA (The highest standard of Kayak Instruction Assessment in the world and international recognised)
- In 2018 the Join Adventures Team joined with the Nepal Kayak club. To offer more Nepali paddlers more training opportunities, Join Adventures training programs will now run through the Nepal Kayak Club which is a registered organisation for Nepali Paddlers.
- Supporting and sponsoring guides in competition events
- Employing higher guide ratios thus creating more positions and offering our participants higher levels of support.
- Bringing affordable equipment to Nepal for local guides
- Providing individual mentoring and support to upcoming Nepali paddlers
- Laura gives presentations to schools, universities, and training institutes (Currently in Australia) that use Join Adventures as an inspiration example. She talks on topics such as “Paying Forward” & “Walking your own path in life”
Where are we heading...
- More amazing trips...which are just super fun, bring people together from around the world, and finance the community fund.
- More fully sponsored training courses in Swift Water Rescue and Kayak Instruction.
- We are working to sponsor a team of 5 Nepali kayak instructors to complete their international NZOIA qualifications, to become the first Nepali team to be internationally recognised as kayak instructors.
- Develop practical Leave No Trace practices for local Nepali businesses and offer this knowledge in free training courses
- Work with other community groups in Nepal and around the world offering more opportunities to more people...stay tuned to what we can make possible...
Financial Transparency
Sustainable Fundraising
The Join Adventures Team believes we have something to give. We have great skills on white water and love paddling with people from around the world. We wanted to create a system that would allow a sustainable income which supports the community fund and projects for generations to come. We “set” an amount that goes to the community fund rather than saying we use the profits. Participants never know what ‘profit’ really means or equates to in money, it is easy for organisations/companies to take all the profits in wages or costs on paper. So we wanted to create a transparent system that participants would know exactly how much would go to the community fund as a minimum.
The Paddle Crew & Income
Expeditions are approximately 2 to 5 weeks straight, which for each Nepali crew member this provides and equivalent wage to a season of work, giving our team members freedom to support community courses and projects. The only team member that cannot earn a wage on expedition is Laura, because she is Aussie and Nepal wont let ‘foreigners’ legally work on the rivers. Laura’s pretty important to us and we like having her around, so Laura joins expeditions as an extra and we have a full ratio of Nepali guides/instructors. But Laura also needs to eat (it really helps her paddling when she eats), so she earns a commission, which we think is pretty fair since she does all the paperwork, is our program coordinator, our team leader, as well as the awesome chick you will often chat to on email.
As a team we have full transparency with expedition money, each team member has access the knowledge of who was paid what amount, how much went to community funds, how much goes to transport, food, equipment, wages and how much goes to the local company. We believe that this transparency is essential in any team.
The Local Company: Rapidrunner Expeditions Pvt Ltd
Next is our local company Rapidrunner Expeditions Pvt Ltd, they are a legally registered and tax paying white water company based in Pokhara, Nepal and an awesome crew of people! Yes they also make money from our expeditions because they need to pay there sensational admin people like accountants...because as paddlers that’s not our skill set. But lets be really honest, Rapidrunner run our trips even when our number are to small to make money, they give us gear, they support our dreams and they have given us additional sponsorships to help our bigger projects (They sponsored the team an additional $1000 in 2017 to help send our trip leader Dipesh Gurung to the New Zealand Kayak School). So really, they get what’s left at the end of an expedition. If we for some reason a Join Adventures Expedition doesn’t run during the season, Rapidrunner Expeditions also employ our team members on their own trips so we can all afford to eat and pay rent, well except Laura, she has to work in Australia for money.
The Join Adventures Team believes we have something to give. We have great skills on white water and love paddling with people from around the world. We wanted to create a system that would allow a sustainable income which supports the community fund and projects for generations to come. We “set” an amount that goes to the community fund rather than saying we use the profits. Participants never know what ‘profit’ really means or equates to in money, it is easy for organisations/companies to take all the profits in wages or costs on paper. So we wanted to create a transparent system that participants would know exactly how much would go to the community fund as a minimum.
The Paddle Crew & Income
Expeditions are approximately 2 to 5 weeks straight, which for each Nepali crew member this provides and equivalent wage to a season of work, giving our team members freedom to support community courses and projects. The only team member that cannot earn a wage on expedition is Laura, because she is Aussie and Nepal wont let ‘foreigners’ legally work on the rivers. Laura’s pretty important to us and we like having her around, so Laura joins expeditions as an extra and we have a full ratio of Nepali guides/instructors. But Laura also needs to eat (it really helps her paddling when she eats), so she earns a commission, which we think is pretty fair since she does all the paperwork, is our program coordinator, our team leader, as well as the awesome chick you will often chat to on email.
As a team we have full transparency with expedition money, each team member has access the knowledge of who was paid what amount, how much went to community funds, how much goes to transport, food, equipment, wages and how much goes to the local company. We believe that this transparency is essential in any team.
The Local Company: Rapidrunner Expeditions Pvt Ltd
Next is our local company Rapidrunner Expeditions Pvt Ltd, they are a legally registered and tax paying white water company based in Pokhara, Nepal and an awesome crew of people! Yes they also make money from our expeditions because they need to pay there sensational admin people like accountants...because as paddlers that’s not our skill set. But lets be really honest, Rapidrunner run our trips even when our number are to small to make money, they give us gear, they support our dreams and they have given us additional sponsorships to help our bigger projects (They sponsored the team an additional $1000 in 2017 to help send our trip leader Dipesh Gurung to the New Zealand Kayak School). So really, they get what’s left at the end of an expedition. If we for some reason a Join Adventures Expedition doesn’t run during the season, Rapidrunner Expeditions also employ our team members on their own trips so we can all afford to eat and pay rent, well except Laura, she has to work in Australia for money.
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Want to be part of our team?
There are so many ways you can be part of our team! We offer international paddling adventures for beginners to advanced paddler. Develop your Kayaking, Join us on a raft, and paddle with an amazing and diverse community of people.
- Become a Team Leader
- Take equipment to Nepal.
- Donate Equipment.
- Contact us if you are an employer.
- Teach Workshops in Nepal
- Sponsor a Nepali Competitor
_________________________________ Superstar Sponsors _____________________________
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