Hungry for Travel? Check out tripwolf!-an online social travel guide

tripwolf is an online social travel guide and my newest client! I know I said I work with nonprofits, but these guys are so cool I couldn’t resist (and we all know I’m a sucker for traveling!).

tripwolf pairs the knowledge of a conventional travel guide with the power of social networking. The foundation of the content on the site comes from MairDumont – Europe’s largest travel guide publisher. But that is where convention and “old school” ends. tripwolf acts almost like a wiki, where the users can upload their own content- reviews, pictures, even videos! The site grabs content from wikipedia, flickr and youtube to further flush out the experience. Check out their guide to NYC to see what I mean!

But all that is basic. There are a ton of travel sites out there that do similar things. But here are a few things that for me really made me appreciate this platform: trip gurus and custom printable guides.

Trip gurus are self identified experts for a certain area: I’m a trip guru for Pondicherry in southern India – the city closest to where I lived in India. If there are multiple gurus for a specific location, a lead guru is identified. This is based on how many people that guru has helped.

What is the point of a trip guru? Who better to ask about a location than someone who has been there (more than once)? Instead of only knowing what you can find written down in a book or somewhere in the interwebs, you are given access to a real human being to answer your questions!

Next time you take a trip, ditch the heavy travel guide. With tripwolf’s printable travel guide, you can compile one of your very own using peer reviews, advice, photos and videos to inform your choices. When you come across info that is interesting to you, drag and drop it in your scrapbook. When you’ve got all the guidance you need, print it, throw it in your bag, and sigh with relief that your backpack is 5lbs lighter than your last trip!

If all that weren’t enough, tripwolf helps you get social! You can write a blog during your adventures, connect up with fellow travelers, suggest location to your friends and share your stories and advice in the forums: going to Peru? Worried about getting your stuff stolen? Check out my advice on travel safety on buses in Peru! (change this info to be something someone else wrote….)

So, check it out! (did I mention that the made it really easy to sign up?! All you need is your Facebook login info to create an account – it will even pull info from your FB account to populate your tripwolf profile!) and let me know what you think!

Post-It Notes - There’s a Note for That! Epic Change Style

Post-it Notes is holding a contest for original videos that feature Post-it Notes. Judges will pick the top ten, and then it is up to YOU the viewers to vote on your favorite. The winner gets $10K!

Epic Change (I wrote about them in a previous post) created a great video with the kids at a school in Tanzania. They used the Post-Its to say thank you to the donors that have helped fund the rebuilding and expansion of their school. Check it out!

[Voting begins September 12th. I will post a link here once I know where to direct people!]

My First Baby: Epic Change.org

As the proud owner of a new consultancy, I thought it would be months before anyone would seek out my expertise. Oh was I wrong. I hadn’t even launched yet when @StaceyMonk and I began chatting on Twitter. When she told me about Epic Change (in conversation, not as a pitch) I fell in love. Having grown up in India, development projects are near-and-dear to my heart.

Epic Change is a 501(c)(3) whose mission states:

Epic Change believes that people’s stories are assets that can be used as resources to improve their lives. We help people in need share their “epic” true stories in innovative, creative and profitable ways to help them acquire the financial resources they need to create positive “change” in their communities.

Basically, they are a micro-finance nonprofit who gives loans intended for social entrepreneurial efforts. Because the receivers of the loans are using the money for social causes and not to start a business, the repayment system is unique:

Our somewhat novel funding model is based upon the best practices of other successful businesses and charities. We use donations to provide interest-free loans to local partners to finance their community improvement efforts. We then facilitate loan repayment by collaborating with our partners to share their stories through projects that generate income. Finally, we “pay it forward” by recycling repaid loans to help fund Epic Change in other communities.

So, the day I launched Media Awaken I had my first client! Their first project is to rebuild and expand a small pre- and primary school in Tanzania. We hope that by the end of 2008 Epic Change will have raised enough money to help purchase a school bus (as of right now the kids don’t have one), to build a playground (the kids currently play on a dirt field) and to build another classroom (the 4th graders need to become 5th graders!). I am so excited to be involved with this organization and I hope that you will check out their site www.epicchange.org and consider getting involved too!