{"id":200785,"date":"2023-12-18T11:31:53","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T11:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/?p=200785"},"modified":"2023-12-18T15:07:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:07:43","slug":"a-letter-from-our-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"A letter from our Founder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Certified_Facebook-1201x629-85f4dbba-7c00-4b9d-801e-c2c02b9e5a04-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-200787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Certified_Facebook-1201x629-85f4dbba-7c00-4b9d-801e-c2c02b9e5a04-1024x536.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Certified_Facebook-1201x629-85f4dbba-7c00-4b9d-801e-c2c02b9e5a04-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Certified_Facebook-1201x629-85f4dbba-7c00-4b9d-801e-c2c02b9e5a04-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Certified_Facebook-1201x629-85f4dbba-7c00-4b9d-801e-c2c02b9e5a04.png 1201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In February 2022 I remember sitting round the kitchen table with a small group of Swoopers and asking for their advice. Swoop had finally arrived at a watershed moment when it was clear that we were going to survive the challenges that Covid had thrown at us. The hard work and difficult choices had paid off, and now it was time to think again about Swoop\u2019s purpose, our relationship with our destinations, and indeed our relationship with our fellow employees and the wider community. When I asked what the most meaningful next step forward might be, I heard a resounding call for Swoop to do what it takes to become a \u2018B Corp\u2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This would require us to meet B Corp\u2019s guidelines across our employment policies, our environmental stewardship, our contribution to communities and our service to our customers. It would also require us to establish governance protocols that were new to a founder-owned travel company. Importantly, it required a level of transparency, commitment and accountability that, whilst initially daunting, now seems to be something we should expect of any company we do business with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 22 month journey since then has been challenging, but it has also been inspiring, as the B Lab questions and standards have led to the introduction of policies and practices that we would not have considered had we remained introspective. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/b-corp\">Becoming B Corp certified <\/a>was a collaborative effort and I&#8217;m so thankful for all of those people that have been on this journey with us both people within Swoop and external to us. This was no small task and certainly one we would not have been able to achieve alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that we proudly host the B Corp logo on our website, I\u2019m committed to holding up those standards, even when other pressures might previously have inclined us to protect our profitability over our responsibilities to people or planet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope that the sharing of that logo will encourage other companies to consider following the same path.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope that our customers will feel proud to have booked their trip to Patagonia, Antarctica and the Arctic with a company whose articulated purpose is to serve the environment and people, not just shareholders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope those who work at Swoop feel proud to be part of the global B Corp community and I encourage them to seek out opportunities for us to continually raise our standards of environmental stewardship, community involvement and customer service from one season to the next.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is just the beginning of our B Corp journey and the best is yet to come.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"486\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-15-at-10.46.55-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-200788\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2.1130434782608694;width:272px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-15-at-10.46.55-1.png 486w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-15-at-10.46.55-1-300x142.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Luke Errington<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/b-corp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT-1024x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-200808\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT-1024x500.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT-768x375.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT-1536x749.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT-1200x585.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopersPAT.jpg 1640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In February 2022 I remember sitting round the kitchen table with a small group of Swoopers and asking for their advice. Swoop had finally arrived at a watershed moment when it was clear that we were going to survive the challenges that Covid had thrown at us. The hard work and difficult choices had paid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":200786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[311],"tags":[338],"class_list":["post-200785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-and-inspiration","tag-b-corp"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A letter from our Founder - Swoop Patagonia Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A letter from our Founder - Swoop Patagonia Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In February 2022 I remember sitting round the kitchen table with a small group of Swoopers and asking for their advice. Swoop had finally arrived at a watershed moment when it was clear that we were going to survive the challenges that Covid had thrown at us. The hard work and difficult choices had paid [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swoop Patagonia Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/swooptravel\/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-18T11:31:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-18T15:07:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopers.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Errington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SwoopPatagonia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Errington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Errington\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2d28a66600d0e30464d10260dea0f8bb\"},\"headline\":\"A letter from our Founder\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-18T11:31:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-18T15:07:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/\"},\"wordCount\":447,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"B Corp\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Stories &amp; Inspiration\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/\",\"name\":\"A letter from our Founder - Swoop Patagonia Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-18T11:31:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-18T15:07:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A letter from our Founder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Swoop Patagonia Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Swoop Patagonia Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/swoop-patagonia-logo-blog.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/swoop-patagonia-logo-blog.svg\",\"width\":1220,\"height\":108,\"caption\":\"Swoop Patagonia Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2d28a66600d0e30464d10260dea0f8bb\",\"name\":\"Luke Errington\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Luke-Errington-Swoop-CEO-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Luke-Errington-Swoop-CEO-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Luke Errington\"},\"description\":\"Luke fell in love with Patagonia when he first trekked through the Andes some 15 years ago. In 2010 he founded Swoop Patagonia and since then has trekked, ridden and paddled thousands of miles throughout the region. At home in Bristol he's a dad of three, and a keen trail runner and adventure racer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.co.uk\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/swooptravel\/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SwoopPatagonia\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/author\/luke\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A letter from our Founder - Swoop Patagonia Blog","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A letter from our Founder - Swoop Patagonia Blog","og_description":"In February 2022 I remember sitting round the kitchen table with a small group of Swoopers and asking for their advice. Swoop had finally arrived at a watershed moment when it was clear that we were going to survive the challenges that Covid had thrown at us. The hard work and difficult choices had paid [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/","og_site_name":"Swoop Patagonia Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/swooptravel\/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel","article_published_time":"2023-12-18T11:31:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-18T15:07:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1640,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/BCorpSwoopers.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Luke Errington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SwoopPatagonia","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Luke Errington","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/"},"author":{"name":"Luke Errington","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2d28a66600d0e30464d10260dea0f8bb"},"headline":"A letter from our Founder","datePublished":"2023-12-18T11:31:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-18T15:07:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/"},"wordCount":447,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["B Corp"],"articleSection":["Stories &amp; Inspiration"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/","name":"A letter from our Founder - Swoop Patagonia Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-18T11:31:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-18T15:07:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/a-letter-from-our-founder\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A letter from our Founder"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/","name":"Swoop Patagonia Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Swoop Patagonia Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/swoop-patagonia-logo-blog.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/swoop-patagonia-logo-blog.svg","width":1220,"height":108,"caption":"Swoop Patagonia Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2d28a66600d0e30464d10260dea0f8bb","name":"Luke Errington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Luke-Errington-Swoop-CEO-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Luke-Errington-Swoop-CEO-96x96.jpg","caption":"Luke Errington"},"description":"Luke fell in love with Patagonia when he first trekked through the Andes some 15 years ago. In 2010 he founded Swoop Patagonia and since then has trekked, ridden and paddled thousands of miles throughout the region. At home in Bristol he's a dad of three, and a keen trail runner and adventure racer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.co.uk\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/swooptravel\/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel","https:\/\/twitter.com\/SwoopPatagonia"],"url":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/author\/luke\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200785"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200809,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200785\/revisions\/200809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swoop-patagonia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}