At least one pilgrim a year, sent to Santiago
Paid in full — flights, every bed, luggage, hosting. Funded by a fixed amount out of everything we sell. Applications open 24 October 2026.
Camino for Good is a for-profit company. Contributions to this fund are not tax-deductible. We explain exactly what that means below.
The Camino is rarely a question of will
It is usually a question of money. Every year we meet someone who needs this walk — walking out of grief, illness, divorce, service, or a life that has just come apart — and who cannot find $6,000 for the flights and the beds.
The Pilgrim Grant sends at least one of them every year. Not a discount, not a voucher, not a partial subsidy. A whole place on a hosted pilgrimage, paid for, with Angela and me walking beside them.
It is funded by a published, fixed amount out of every single thing we sell. Not “a portion of proceeds.” An amount, in dollars, printed next to the price.
Everything, so that money is never the reason
Included in the grant
- ✓ Round-trip airfare from the recipient’s home city
- ✓ Every night’s lodging on the route
- ✓ Luggage transfer between towns, every walking day
- ✓ Hosting, briefings and the daily reflection
- ✓ Breakfast every morning and 15 group dinners
- ✓ The Finisterre, Muxía and Costa da Morte day
- ✓ James M. Gehrke’s books Becoming a Pilgrim and Walking as a Pilgrim
- ✓ The three-month training plan, packing list and pre-departure Zoom sessions
- ✓ Lifetime access to the Camino for Good app
Not included
- – Passport and any visa fees
- – Travel insurance, which we strongly recommend
- – Lunches, drinks and personal spending
- – Boots, pack and clothing
If any of those four is the obstacle, say so in the application. We would rather solve it than lose the right walker over a pair of boots.
Each grant is worth the full published fare — $4,558 on the 2027 Camino Portugués — plus the recipient’s round-trip airfare, usually $1,000 to $1,500 from the United States. About $6,000 in all. We count it at what the place actually costs, not at some lower internal number.
A number, next to every price
Here is every product we sell and exactly what comes out of it. These amounts are printed on the product pages too, so the page and the checkout always say the same thing.
| When you buy | To the fund | How often |
|---|---|---|
| A single route — $35 | $5 | Once, at purchase |
| The Pilgrim Pass — $59 a year | $10 | Every year you renew |
| A seasonal walk — $19 | $3 | Once, at purchase |
| The Group Pass — $199 a year, up to 20 people | $25 | Every year you renew |
| Pilgrim Patron — $199, lifetime | $100 | Once |
| A place on a hosted pilgrimage | $100 | Once, per place |
| The free Finisterre–Muxía route | $0 | It is free. It always will be. |
The ceiling. There isn’t one. When the fund takes in more than one grant costs, we open it to more pilgrims — a second grant, a third, as many as the fund covers. The surplus never comes back to us.
The part we have to say plainly
Camino for Good is a for-profit company, not a charity. These amounts are not charitable donations and they are not tax-deductible. Nobody will send you a receipt for your taxes, because there is nothing to receipt.
What they are is a published, fixed part of a price you pay us, which we have committed in public to spend on one thing. If you would rather give to a registered charity for the tax benefit, we think that is a perfectly good decision and we will not try to talk you out of it.
We publish the accounts
On this page, every January: how much the fund took in, broken down by product. Who walked. What their place actually cost. What is carried into the following year. If the number is disappointing, we publish the disappointing number.
A promise about money that is never audited in public is just marketing. This is the audit.
We are not looking for the saddest story
The walk matters
Something in your life makes this pilgrimage the right thing to do now, rather than a nice thing to do eventually. Tell us that, in your own words.
The money is the obstacle
Not the only obstacle, but the one you cannot get past. We do not ask for tax returns and we do not means-test. We take you at your word.
You can actually go
You can take the leave, hold a passport, and walk 12 to 25 km — 7 to 15 miles — a day for two weeks by the time we set off.
There is no essay length, no references, no fee, and no requirement to be a customer. You do not have to be religious. You do not have to be fit yet.
Four dates, one page of questions
Angela and I read every application ourselves. Nobody else sees them. If you are not chosen, you will hear from us directly rather than being left to work it out from silence.
The promise has not changed — only who it reaches
When we began in 2020, the Camino was closed and the albergues that keep pilgrims fed and sheltered had lost a full year of income. Part of what our members paid went straight to those houses.
They reopened. That need passed, and we stopped those payments, because the honest thing to do with a relief fund is to end it when the emergency ends. The need moved. This is where it moved to.
Twenty-four albergues and hospitaleros in Spain and Portugal received help between 2020 and 2022. Every one is still named on our Where your money goes page. We have not taken the list down and we are not going to.
The things people actually ask
Can I contribute directly, without buying anything?
Is this a registered charity or a non-profit?
What if more comes in than one place costs?
What if far less comes in?
Do I have to be a customer to apply?
Do you pay albergues any more?
Can I fund a whole place myself?
Somebody walks because you bought something
Every route, every Pass, every seasonal walk, every place on a pilgrimage. A fixed amount, published next to the price, spent on one thing, accounted for in public every January.
Camino for Good is a for-profit company. Contributions are not tax-deductible. Applications open 24 October 2026 and close 15 January 2027.
