Do you want to travel to Morocco?!

Modoration

By Cara

Would you like to win a trip to Morocco? As part of their Annual Prosperity Campaign, Whole Planet Foundation is giving you a chance to experience the sights, sounds and tastes of this unique travel destination while learning about the transformative power of microcredit.

Transforming Lives

Microcredit – loans that are typically around $200 with no collateral or contract – provides entrepreneurial women around the world with an opportunity to create or expand a home-based business and change their own lives. What makes microcredit so transformative is its long-term sustainability – the loans are repaid and that money is loaned again and again.

Born out of the desire to address the persistent problems of world poverty and hunger, the mission of Whole Planet Foundation is to help alleviate poverty by funding microcredit in the United States and 54 other countries around the globe where Whole Foods Market® sources products.

Since the Foundation’s start in 2005, we’ve supported more than 1.5 million people by helping women use their skills, energy and creativity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Through trusted microfinance partners, Whole Planet Foundation currently funds microcredit to more than 259,000 clients (89% of them women) with a repayment rate of 97%. To date, the foundation has committed more than $34 million and disbursed more than $24 million.

Giving Opportunity

During Whole Planet Foundation’s Annual Prosperity Campaign — going on now through March 31^st— we hope you’ll join fellow shoppers, Whole Foods Market team members, Supplier Alliance for Microcredit vendor partners and online donors to raise $5.7 million and give financial opportunities through microloans to more than 35,000 impoverished people. Whole Foods Market covers all operating expenses for Whole Planet Foundation, so 100% of contributions benefit microcredit clients.

How can you help? Donate at the registers in our stores, donate online and even start your own fundraising campaign on Whole Planet Foundation’s website to spread awareness and encourage friends and family to participate.

Win a Trip to Morocco

Starting an online fundraising campaign is your ticket to a chance to win a five-day trip for two to Morocco, courtesy of Intrepid Travel. One lucky winner and a guest will travel to Morocco to learn about the Souss Massa Draa region, where Whole Foods Market sources spices and herbs, and to witness firsthand how microcredit has changed the lives of so many women just like Zaharra (pictured above, in pink). Whole Planet Foundation partners with INMAA to provide financial services to rural populations in southeastern Morocco.

Your own online campaign page is your trip contest entry, so set your page up by March 15 and share the importance of microcredit! Feel free to include links to web pages that help tell the story. Entries will be judged on:

• Total dollars raised
• Campaign outreach
• Creativity of the submission
• Clarity of the description of the entrant’s efforts
• Impact of the entrant’s efforts

Visit the Whole Planet Foundation website to create your donation page  to enter the contest and to get additional details, and a full list of contest rules and criteria.