Ensemble Travel Group held its seventh annual charity event last month to benefit Make-A-Wish, raising $259,000 in total donations, an all-time high for the organization. The event was held at Ensemble's annual international conference on October 18 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion.
The fundraiser’s donations easily passed last year’s then-record by more than $100,000. Ensemble’s executives attributed the jump in donations to process changes in 2017, like making it easier to donate and expanding the outreach to include Make-A-Wish Canada and Make-A-Wish's local chapter in Dallas.
Conference attendees donated at The Ensemble Circle of Excellence Gala, the conference's official title, through a raffle and live auction. In the last seven years, Ensemble members and partners have helped raise more than $870,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
An additional $50,000 was raised during the live auction to support hurricane relief efforts through several of Ensemble’s cruise partners’ foundations.
Almost 50 Ensemble partners donated raffle items and vacation packages for this year’s fundraiser, including complimentary air transportation to go with live auction items. For the third year in a row, Delta Air Lines donated complimentary air transportation to go with all the auction prizes to destinations served by the carrier or its partners.
Founded in 1968, the Ensemble Travel Group is a member-owned organization of approximately 850 independent travel agencies in the United States and Canada, with an expanded international presence in Australia and New Zealand. Each year, its members represent billions of dollars in travel sales, delivering high-volume sales to its preferred suppliers.
For more information, go to www.joinensemble.com.
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