Travel blogging with a purpose: Help build a village in India

If you’ve ever doubted that travelers have the power to change the world, take a look at Passports with Purpose, an annual program through which travel bloggers join forces to raise money for a good cause.

Passports with Purpose (PwP) was started in 2008 by four Seattle-based travel bloggers, Beth Whitman of Wanderlust and Lipstick, Pam Mandel of Nerd’s Eye View, Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby, and Michelle Duffy of WanderMom, with a goal of bringing together the travel blogging community to give back to local communities. In 2008, its first year, Passports with Purpose raised $7,420 for Heifer International. Last year, the organization set a goal of $13,000 but ended up raising nearly $30,000 to build a school in rural Cambodia, pay for a school nurse, and plant a kitchen garden to ensure each child receives at least one healthy meal per day.

This year, the goal is even more ambitious: to raise $50,000 to benefit Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI), an organization that works to improve the lives of India’s Dalits, or “untouchables,” through land distribution and cultivation, adult training, youth housing, and housing construction. In addition to providing a stable source of income and raising living standards, LAFTI projects are designed to strengthen communities and promote empowerment, especially for women.

For roughly $2,000, LAFTI can build a home, with the title given to the woman of the household. Passports with Purpose aims to raise enough funds to build an entire village – 25 homes – in Karunganni in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The idea is simple: Bloggers procure prizes from sponsors and publicize them and PwP on their blogs. Using a secure online donation system, readers make donations in $10 increments to PwP’s cause; for every $10 donated, they receive one raffle entry toward the prize of their choice. Donors who give more than $10 can choose to divide their entries among various prizes or increase their chances for a single prize.

The 2010 Passports with Purpose raffle opened yesterday and runs through December 13. Winners will be selected in a random drawing on December 17. Thanks largely to the generosity of its sponsors – BootsnAll, LiveMocha, Round the World with Us, HomeAway, Traveller’s Point, Hostelling International, Quintess, Raveable, TravelPost, and Uptake – this year’s Passports with Purpose fundraiser is off to a roaring start, with nearly $30,000 raised in the first day!

Click here to donate

Please help keep the momentum going by making your donation today. Remember, for every $10 you give, you receive one prize entry. The amazing prizes you could win include a seven-day coastal cruise for two on Norway’s famous Hurtigruten, a round-trip ticket voucher on Delta Airlines for travel within the 48 contiguous United States and Canada, an Amazon Kindle e-book reader, a Kodak PlaySport HD waterproof pocket video camera, a gift certificate for a Zeppelin flight in California, a three-night stay at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on Hawaii’s Big Island, a Sierra Designs Zolo 3 tent, a three-night guest ranch vacation for two in Arizona…and much, much more!

Imagine how many lives you could change. Help build a village in India by supporting Passports with Purpose today!

Watch the video below for more on LAFTI: