As the profits of Hal Taussig's successful travel business, Untours, grew, he decided that instead of accumulating wealth for himself, he would do what he could to shrink the growing gap between the rich and the poor. In 1992, he and his wife, Norma, created the Untours Foundation, funded by 100% of the profits from Untours. Over the course of its 15 year existence, the foundation has given away over $5 million in low-interest loans to economically deprived entrepreneurs both locally and worldwide. The foundation's motto is to give people 'a hand up, not a hand out', and the goal is to promote social capitalism that can benefit the poor and improve their lives. Hal lives a truly simple life on Social Security and with modest savings from when his wife worked.

Examples of local businesses that Hal has funded include Greensgrow, a self-sustaining urban farm located in inner-city Philadelphia; Home Care Associates, a Philadelphia-based cooperative that trains former welfare recipients to provide care to the homebound; Second Act Access, a construction company that hires unemployed workers to build handicap-accessible housing in the Philadelphia area; Iron Man, a Chester-based business creating beautiful iron fences and specialized iron products; Damon's Carpet & Floor Care offering "green" carpet cleaning in addition to its many services; and The Reinvestment Fund for a child care program.

Hal and his foundation have also funded TransFair USA, the only independent U.S. certifier of Fair Trade products. The "Fair Trade Certification" assures that farmers receive a fair price for their products. Fair Trade enables developing world communities to survive keeping everyone fed and sending children to school. It also means that only sustainable farming practices are used thus preserving the land and providing healthy food products for consumers.

As a longtime supporter of Fair Trade and its principles, Hal advocated for Media to become 'America's First Fair Trade Town'. After just six months of planning, garnering support from local businesses and national Fair Trade companies such as Equal Exchange, and working with the Media Borough Council to pass a resolution in active support of Fair Trade, Media did indeed become 'America's First Fair Trade Town' in June 2006. Media is now the model for other cities and towns across the United States. To become a Fair Trade town, Media met five requirements established by the British Fairtrade Federation, including having a certain number of Media retailers selling Fair Trade products and a certain number of local businesses using Fair Trade products.

Over 25 businesses now sell Fair Trade products in Media, including Ten Thousand Villages, one of the largest organizations in North America selling fairly traded items, and which has helped tens of thousands of artisans in over 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Ten Thousand Villages opened its store in Media simply to be in America's First Fair Trade Town. Hal has also inspired Media to add a 'Buy Local' feature to its Fair Trade work.

Hal's ongoing commitment to promoting social justice is carried out through his foundation, the Untours Foundation, which strives to shrink the gap between the rich and poor and give those who are economically disadvantaged the capital and/or skills to become self-reliant, prospering individuals.

Hal's foundation invests dollars into sustainable businesses that not only seek to improve lives but also directly effect social structures. For example, the foundation seeks social equity by loaning to the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil, which Noam Chomsky calls the largest social movement in the world. This movement has reclaimed land for over one million landless Brazilians using a promise from their country's constitution that all are guaranteed land. Another socially conscious project that the foundation supports is Speak Shop, developers of new software that allows for interactive language lessons offered by women in the developing world. This is a vastly improved product at bargain prices for students but significantly higher pay for teachers. An added feature of Speak Shop is that its profits are used to pay the teachers for matching hours to teach children in their own country how to read: a truly sustainable model of development.

Hal is equally concerned about the impact capitalism has on the environment, and with this in mind, has loaned money to projects that respect Mother Earth and her future including loans to: NativeEnergy, which sells 'green tags' to fund wind, solar, and methane power; the Rosebud Sioux Reservation for straw bale housing construction; many Fair Trade businesses, like Equal Exchange and ForesTrade, since Fair Trade products are farmed in sustainable ways; and Bionatur, an heirloom seed company born out of the efforts of the Landless Workers Movement.

The effects of Hal's lending are lasting and deep. They not only create self-sustaining businesses which promote social equality and environmental consciousness, but also provide economic vitality for the owners and employees of these businesses. For example, IceStone, maker of exquisite recycled glass counter tops, to whom the foundation loaned $100,000, is located in a low wealth neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY and employs and trains people from that neighborhood. It provides employees with many levels of support from ESL classes to assistance in securing Green Cards.

Over the course of 15 years, Hal's unique approach to business has touched hundred if not thousands of lives. The loans, which have interest rates in line with the U.S. inflation rates range from $1,000 to $300,000 and include:

1. Home Care Associates, a business cooperative of former welfare recipients who work in health care, $275,000 repaid.
2. Craftlink in Vietnam, a now thriving shop selling handmade crafts from Vietnamese villages, $8,000 repaid.
3. Second Act Access, a Media construction company that builds handicap-accessible housing while providing jobs to the unemployed, $275,000 repaid.
4. Belu, a water bottling company in England that produces a biodegradable and compostable water bottle and donates its profits to clean water projects in developing countries, $130,000 not repaid yet since it is expanding rapidly.

Hal's effort to make Media 'America's First Fair Trade Town' has caught fire in other towns across the country. Brattleboro, VT became the second Fair Trade Town, and Amherst, MA, just became the third. This past summer, Milwaukee, WI became the First Fair Trade City. Hal's efforts have also crossed the border. Just after declaring Media a Fair Trade town, Wolfville, Nova Scotia contacted Hal asking how to become a Fair Trade town. Wolfville has since become Canada's First Fair Trade Town, and now there is a second.

The broader stroke results of Hal's work are in some ways even more impressive than the specific ones. For example, Hal was one of the first to even try microlending in the developed world. Loan amounts are much larger in the developed world, due to all the legal requirements to start and maintain a business. Hal took the chance on these larger loans and added another feature by loaning to people who have no collateral. Through risking his own money, Hal has helped design a paradigm that assists people, who are tramped near the bottom of the economic pyramid.

Hal also inspired another paradigm. Through having a business that uses its profits for social good, Hal provided a clear model to the founders of the B Corp movement. Untours is surprised and proud to be the first B Corp!Hal's influence is most clearly seen ,Aei and hardest to measure ,Aei through the letters and calls that come to our offices. Words of appreciation and admiration come regularly from strangers, friends, and Untourists. They express Hal's influence on their lives, how Hal has restored their hope in humanity, and how he has challenged them to take more active steps in following their hearts and minds

Hal is constantly moving forward in his life, in his thinking, and in his actions, and so he is truly baffled that others see him as they do. In his mind, his mistakes carry more weight than his successes. He considers himself merely a work in progress with more questions than answers. But indeed, actively living the questions is part of Hal's guidance to us as is his willingness to take the risks to try some of the answers. He succeeds in all this with love, integrity, and humor. He has no idea we are nominating him, because he would ask us not to. He is humble to the core.