A few years ago, while on a windsurfing trip with friends to Mauritius off the coast of Africa, Thomas Kohler saw a group of local kids sitting at the beach. Watching them, he had an epiphany.

“It dawned on us that we were privileged to go abroad and engage in our sports, but our travel didn’t really benefit the local community,” said Kohler, a marketing professor at Hawaii Pacific University.

So he asked himself, “What if there was a way for us to create a positive impact while doing our trip? What if we could do something with the local community we visit?”

Thus, the seeds for Travel2Change were planted, and now the Honolulu nonprofit offers free “voluntour” opportunities for visitors to Oahu and Maui.

An estimated 2,000 travelers a year sign up with Travel2Change. It expanded to Maui in April and is getting ready to launch on Kauai at the end of the month. Participants sign up online, choosing from more than 30 activities that include simply donating a can of food in exchange for a yoga class to doing a beach cleanup for a 20 percent discount on an outrigger canoe tour with We Paddle Maui.

The more committed can spend a day removing invasive weeds from Kawainui Wildlife Sanctuary in Kailua, for example, or hike 40 minutes to plant native species on the Manoa cliffs, or volunteer at Honolulu Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore.

Whatever the activity, it has to be fun.

“We still want them to have their mai tais on the beach, but while here they can take advantage of opportunities,” said Travel2Change board member Dusty Loffarelli.

“A lot of these are authentic, off-the-beaten-path opportunities. You connect with locals, and you have a more conscious impact just because of the way you’re going about it.”

He described Travel2Change as matching travelers with volunteer opportunities and, in turn, helping nonprofits reach a new audience.

“Most nonprofits are great at their mission,” he said, “but they aren’t good at reaching beyond their own community.”

WITH A $30,000 contract from the Hawaii Tourism Authority (and $20,000 awarded for 2018), Travel2Change maintains its website, conducts outreach and rents space for events at The Arts at Marks Garage in Chinatown. Student interns from HPU and the University of Hawaii at Manoa assist with operations in exchange for college credits.

According to Loffarelli, the target group is millennials, since studies have shown that members of that demographic most frequently sign up for activities online and readily share their experiences on social media.

It’s been a positive partnership for the Manoa Cliff Restoration, a project run by a group of volunteers working to restore part of the state-owned trail with native plants.

“We’ve had some good contributions from folks, even one long-term volunteer,” said spokeswoman Juliet Langley.

Stefan Poll, a 24-year-old student from western Austria interning with Travel2Change, said he learned a lot about native and invasive plants in Hawaii while volunteering with the Manoa Cliff project.

“For me it’s an opportunity to get in touch with locals,” said Poll, who was in Hawaii for three months.

Jonathan Nery of Yoga Love Mana offers vinyasa yoga instruction to visitors who clean the beach for about 30 minutes prior to the hourlong class at Queen’s Surf in Waikiki. He said he gets between 20 to 25 participants per class.

Nery was inspired to sign up with Travel2Change after attending a beach cleanup during a surfing camp trip to Costa Rica about a year ago. When he returned to Hawaii, he wanted to offer something similar.

“I’d been looking to get involved with ecotourism, and Travel2Change resonated with me a lot,” he said.

Carlos Gomez, 28, a recent participant from Mexico, tried yoga for the first time while in Hawaii. He said in an email that the experience was full of “good vibes” and that he found cleaning the beach inspired other passers-by to help out.

Learn more about the programs that allow tourists to volunteer while on vacation at travel2change.org.