WHERE JOURNEYS BECOME IMPACT:
INTRODUCING ENIGMA PHILANTHROPY

Making a Difference with Enigma Philanthropy

For years, Enigma has taken travelers on transformative journeys through Peru. But behind every carefully curated experience lies a deeper commitment—one rooted in community, conservation, and cultural respect. In 2025, that commitment takes on a new form: the launch of our non-profit organization, Enigma Philanthropy. 

This initiative has been in the making since Enigma’s early days, born from our desire to extend the impact of tourism beyond the experience itself. With Enigma Philanthropy, we are building a transparent platform to support causes that matter: not just to us, but to the people and ecosystems that host our travelers. 

Why Now?

After years of quietly supporting small projects, funding educational efforts, and giving back where possible, we realized a more structured, transparent model was needed. We’ve learned through experience that real, sustainable impact takes more than good intentions. It takes accountability, long-term vision, and collaboration. 

Enigma Philanthropy allows us to formalize our values (honesty, respect, conservation, and sustainable freedom) into real action. The name “Philanthropy” reflects our broad scope: we’re not tied to a single cause or community. Instead, we’re opening space to support initiatives that are local, trustworthy, and built to last. 

 

Our Focus Areas

Through Enigma Philanthropy, we’ll be investing in four core areas:

-Improvement of our Operations

-Social Support, especially for women, children and the elderly

-Environmental Respect and Conservation

-Protection and preservation of Cultural Heritage

A Different Kind of Model

Funding will come directly from a portion of Enigma’s annual profits, and every initiative will be tracked and reported publicly on our website. We believe trust is built through clarity, and that meaningful impact must be measurable, ethical, and transparent. 

Whether you’re a traveler, a partner, or a friend of Enigma, your journey can now be part of something larger: creating a future where every trip supports something enduring. 

In Conversation with Silvia Rico, Founder of Enigma Peru

What inspired the creation of the Enigma Non-Profit Organization, and how does it align with Enigma’s mission? 

Since its foundation, Enigma has been appreciative of the environment, the people and the culture it works with and operates in, aiming at establishing long-standing, trustful partnerships that would allow us all to grow together. Hence, since our inception, we have wanted to make sure our employees had the best working conditions and treatment, and that we also projected our work and results towards taking care of the people, place and culture we build our experiences upon. 

As soon as we started seeing profits, which was fortunately in our very early stages, we have searched for initiatives and projects to support, to further extend our positive impact by helping, assisting, respecting, conserving. During this process, while we have experienced reward and gratitude, we must say we have also perceived several disappointing situations, such as ones in which we donated funds but we did not clearly understand their allocation, and the organisations receiving them would not be open to sharing the details. Or just simply seeing how many organisations are built around the need to permanently seek for donations, not really thinking of a sustainable solution, one which would give the needed financial freedom to the supported collective, training them to work, assisting in the creation of small businesses, and more. 

Through Enigma Philanthropy, we wish to be and show transparency versus needs, fund allocation and all the process involved, supporting causes that allow for financial independence and true freedom, not dependency from donations. We actually do not perceive donations as help if there is no total transparency in fund allocation and a future project that allows for a sustainable financial independence of those receiving.

It is important to note that we have called it Philanthropy and not “Foundation” or any other specific name because it will not just focus on one specific aspect but rather, we wish to support different-angled trustworthy causes, including children, women, education, environment and also culture. Also, we wish to support and highlight small initiatives that sometimes don’t receive the funds that already-established ones do: these people, with great hearts in their small corner of the world, fighting to do good and being unheard because they are small, unheard, or they do not provide tax-exemption certificates are sometimes leaders of amazing causes. We wish to help them to grow and be heard.

This totally aligns with our mission to operate responsibly in the very rich but also very delicate social, cultural and natural environments of Peru. 

Can you share a personal experience that motivated you to focus on sustainability and community empowerment? 

Well, Peru has actually changed my life. Brought up in Europe, daughter of a Bolivian dad most of whose family moved to Lima over 60 years ago, and a Spanish mom, I fell in love with Cusco, the mountains, its people, it is really hard to express in words. 

As we started operating in natural protected areas, with local communities, growing together, and fascinated by it all, it is only natural to work with utmost respect and will to protect and maintain that which we love. I believe we started practising sustainability well before it became so in vogue, and empowering communities would rather be expressed as a will to share and grow together, through ethics and respect, education and financial independence on both sides.  

How does the Organization plan to measure the impact of its projects and ensure long-term benefits? 

The benefits we wish to generate would be for the causes we support as a non-profit. Unlike what we have seen, we plan to manage the support as we would manage our own company, with transparency. We wish to communicate how much are we getting, what the context or background information of each project supported is, why we have chosen to support them, what we are investing and how (ideally directly investing with the needed suppliers to provide for what is required), and then also very openly and transparently showing results. There needs to be a commitment from those supported versus the project, to make sure it delivers. And we plan to assist in whatever is needed, beyond the initial financial push. 

Hence, anybody supporting would know where the funds are invested, accounts and details would be shared with investors and also publicly online, and causes supported would also need to deliver to receive further support. The aim is for initiatives to be supported until they run on their own, but not on a scheme that creates a permanent dependency on donations, as we don’t believe this helps in the long run. In any case, total transparency is very needed to generate trust. 

What role do Enigma’s travelers and partners play in supporting the Organization’s initiatives? 

Enigma Philanthropy is aimed at being our non-profit, in which we will supply an amount per year, depending on the company results, with obviously a higher funding potential, the higher our profits be. The need to fund will also depend on the causes to support and the projects that may stem from this support. Partners, agents, stakeholders and clients may be invited to support if they wish as well, but the non-profit and its projects may continue as long as our mother company, Enigma, is profitable.  

Even Enigma staff may support a specific project by mentoring it. Any staff who feels close to a project, or has access to support it, or a special interest is warmly invited to participate, to mentor it, in whatever way is possible. For example, a very touching project regarding children with limited capacities of vision and hearing will be supported by a member of our staff, who also has a child with a specific syndrome. 

Can you highlight a specific project or initiative that excites you most for 2025? 

It would be really hard to say, as truly all of the projects, causes and ideas shortlisted have touched our heart in one way or another. From simple solutions such as reciclying the used oil or composting our food remains, to writing a book on the phenomenal conservation effort that an incredible family of master weavers have been carrying on for years. 

I would also like to mention Dante’s project: a deaf, dumb and soon-to-be blind child, who was adopted by Holly, an outstanding guide from the US but having worked in Peru for years. Holly met Dante in Q’eros, a community in the south of Cusco, hiding in the mountains since the Inca times, and never touched by the conquistadors. Encountered only in the middle of the 20th century, they are said to keep the traditions as pure as centuries ago. It was studying the music of the Q’ero people that Holly came across Dante’s family. Seeing how his education was impossible in the remote village in which he lived, Dante was taken to Cusco, where he encountered the same problems: lack of support for education of special-ability chidren. Holly ended up adopting him, with the permission of his parents, and taking him to her native US, where he was brought up and studied. 

Every year, they visit Peru and Dante has been in touch with children and people of similar problems. Now both are working on an incredible documentary about his life and achievements so far with the aim of generating awareness of their difficulty and hopefully achieving that the peruvian government considers education centers for special children to have opportunities in their future lives. 

What message would you like to share with those who want to contribute to or get involved with the Enigma Non-Profit Organization? 

I would first like to thank them for their interest and for believing in / trusting us. And then also, promise them honesty, the best handling of funds for the interest of each cause, and total transparency in allocation of funds and results obtained. We really want to act as booster for their sustainable continuation, and not a source of co-dependency. If anyone appreciates a truly altruistic approach and support, with total honesty, making a difference for the better, then please contact us.