These companies may not think they're revolutionaries, but they are. By offering Masai youth, Vietnamese orphans, Caribbean kids, and at-risk urban teens an education, they're providing opportunity—and sparking social change

Ol Seki Mara Camp
Empowering The Mask
While tourism has improved Kenya's economy in the last few decades, those benefits haven't always trickled down—even in the areas most popular with foreigners. In the Masai Mara National Reserve, famous among safari-goers for its annual wildebeest migration, 80 percent of the guiding jobs are held by outsiders. The Koiyaki Guiding School is trying to change that by training local Masai, and Ol Seki Mara Camp is one of the school's largest donors. Encompassing six luxury tents that overlook the reserve, the camp donates a portion of every booking to the school ($12,960 last year), provides scholarships and student internships, and has hired three graduates—including two of only ten Masai woman ever to work as guides in Kenya. The camp also supports a local primary school. Says Sue Allan, Ol Seki Mara Camp's owner, "We need to make life better for all who live here." For many Masai, she's already done just that (olseki.com).

Buffalo Tours
Village Classes
Buffalo Tours has built a school in the village of Xo, in Vietnam's impoverished Mai Chau Valley, and also supports education at the Binh Luc Orphanage (buffalotours.com).

Marriott
Teaching Hope
Marriott has teamed with the Youth Career Initiative to create six-month training programs in hotel management and life skills for underprivileged kids, with 150 graduates in Australia, Brazil, Poland, Romania, and Thailand so far (marriott.com).

Sandals
Adopt-A-School
Sandals requires all of its properties to adopt at least one school—improving academics, extracurriculars, and infrastructure—and to provide scholarships for two high school students annually (sandals.com).