Miles4Migrants

Miles4Migrants’ goal is to help refugees, asylum seekers, and their families reach safety and to reunite with their loved ones. We believe the financial cost of airfare should not prevent individuals and families from rejoining their loved ones. In addition, we believe that displaced persons have a much greater chance of thriving in their new communities when they arrive debt free. Mitigating the cost of resettlement allows displaced persons to more effectively focus on building their careers, raising their families, finding their first dream home, and assimilating in their new communities.

To help make a difference in responding to the critical need of travel support for individuals and families, a group of concerned Americans decided to test an innovative idea to remove the financial burden of resettlement. In 2016, Miles4Migrants was formed with the goal of helping families rejoin their loved ones as quickly as possible, and without undue financial hardship. We partner with other nonprofits to identify refugees, asylees, asylum seekers, and their immediate family members in need, and donations or airline frequent flyer miles, credit card points, and cash pay for flights for those who have legal approval to join their loved ones in their new country, but can’t afford the airfare. Miles4Migrants alleviates displaced persons from the financial burden of expensive airfare, and eases their logistical concerns in making complex travel arrangements.

For nearly the first three years of Miles4Migrants existence, the organization was run by an all-volunteer staff, many of whom have extensive knowledge in using airline miles and credit card points efficiently for the purchase of travel related expenses.

Miles4Migrants quickly established systems for operations and linked with NGOs and other agencies working with refugees to identify families eligible for resettlement. As Miles4Migrants sponsored more flights, an organic movement took hold as social media posts and then national and international media stories led to a spike in donations of over 40 million frequent flyer miles and credit card points. At the same time, fueled by new partnerships, demand for Miles4Migrants’ services grew substantially.

In 2019, Miles4Migrants received funding from both the TripAdvisor Foundation and The Shapiro Foundation. These two champions of refugees and asylum seekers shared our values and appreciated all we had achieved as a volunteer run organization. The generous grants they provided allowed us to hire our first paid employees - three of whom were already our volunteers - and begin to invest in the infrastructure to improve our donor and partner experience to fuel our growth.

Since flying our first family of heroes - Syrians - to safety and reunion in Belgium in November 2016, we have multiplied this impact year after year, from providing airfare for less than 100 individuals in 2017, to flying over 1,500 heroes in 2019. In total, Miles4Migrants has provided airfare for more than 2400 refugees, asylees, asylum seekers, and their families. These airline tickets have helped reunite over 865 families.

Along the way, we’ve been humbled by the generosity and support of donors who selflessly contribute their miles and points, changing the lives of our heroes forever. We’ve also built a network of connections with charities large and small across the globe, whom our small - yet fiercely dedicated - team at Miles4Migrants work with to safely reunite our heroes with their families.

Our goal for 2020 is to provide airfare for over 2500 displaced persons and their families.