One initiative that makes me proud to be a member of the travel community is the annual Passports with Purpose (PwP) project which brings together bloggers, travel industry professionals, and nonprofit organizations in an effort to support various worthy causes since its inception in 2008.

Last year, with all our collective help in raising over $89,000, Passports with Purpose was able to build libraries in Zambia.

This year, Passports with Purpose is teaming up with nonprofit organization Water.org to raise $100,000 (yes!) to build wells in Haiti. You can follow fundraising efforts and conversations on Twitter at #PwP.

Where I Come In

I openly advocate ground-level travel which means traveling as slowly as feasible so you can adequately and respectfully soak up the local culture as best as you can. Whenever I travel with my family for more than three days, I usually prefer rental apartments that allow us in a sense to develop temporary roots in a place and move through it like a local.

Sometimes while traveling, just staying in eating your own cooked pasta while dirty laundry tumbles in the background with a view of the Mediterranean out your kitchen window beats a turndown service.

This year, I’ve partnered with Wimdu, a fantastic apartment and bed rental company with a sweet tagline “Travel like a local” to bring you an equally sweet $500 voucher you can use to cover lodging on your next trip.

Where You Come In

From November 28th until December 11th, you can make donations of $10 or more to the cause. In addition, you can choose which prizes you’d like to win when making your donation including the $500 voucher from Wimdu for renting apartments while traveling like a local.

Please reach into your pockets and give what you can. Special thanks to Wimdu for supporting this effort.

Please Donate Here

Previous PwP Efforts

To learn more about previous projects, please check out the links below.

2011 – Room to Read – Building libraries in Zambia

2010 – LAFTI – Building a village in India

2009 – American Assistance for Cambodia (AAC) - Building a school in Cambodia

2008 – Heifer International - Donating lifestock

2008 – Giving Back: Passports with Purpose