Wanderful
The world's sisterhood of women travelers.
Project Description
Meet Wanderful. The world’s #1 sisterhood of women travelers.
We are a collaborative and inclusive community of women of all ages and backgrounds who help each other travel the world.
Here’s what we do
We are a community of over 40,000 women who love to travel the world. We host two annual global conferences to connect women travelers to the resources they need, run more than 20 local Wanderful chapters to inspire sisterhood across the globe, create content that dives right into the issues women travelers face, lead trips for women to destinations around the world, and run a women-to-women homesharing network.
Imagine you had a friend to guide you in whatever airport you landed in around the entire world. With our new crowdfunding campaign, you'll be able to do just that. Read on for more.
This is why it matters
Women around the world face more obstacles when it comes to traveling alone, ranging from safety to income. We believe every woman deserves to travel, and we encourage women to do so safely and confidently.
54% of women stay in a hotel over a traditional homeshare when traveling, half of them citing safety as the reason [Wanderful Survey]
72% of American women plan to travel alone this year [Booking.com]
80% of women have considered personal safety when planning a trip [Eric Mower + Associates]
That is why we are building the world’s number one community for women travelers. We want to increase the visibility of women who travel solo. We want to support women who explore the world, making it as safe and affordable as possible.
What we’re building
The next iteration of our technical platform is something unprecedented. It doesn’t exist yet in the world. But it’s about to.
Imagine that you could share your upcoming travel plans and immediately find other women who were traveling there at the same time. Or other women who live there. How would your travels change?
Imagine you’re planning a great trip to Goa, India. You type in your destination, and your travel dates. Then, suddenly, you’re connected to the world. You make plans to stay in the gorgeous home of Priya, and get to learn about her life. You get a chai date with Sruthi on the books and she helps you figure out the taxi system. You pick up all your best tips from Rachel who just got back from a visit.
With our new platform, you’ll be able to find, meet, and stay with other Wanderful women at home and when you travel the world. In real time. Wherever you are.
Why do we need your help?
More than ever before, we travelers need technology that moves as quickly as we do. Our next phase is to create a platform that connects thousands of women in real time while they travel the world, offering places to stay, arranging meetups, getting rides to the airport,and more.
This type of technology is new and exciting. To achieve this goal, we need to raise the funds to afford a technical overhaul of our platform.
We’ve chosen crowdfunding because so many women in our community - and fans of Wanderful around the world - have asked how they can help. Some have even asked when we’d be doing a crowdfunding campaign!
Every amount given will help us help women travel the world.
Meet the women behind Wanderful
Our CEO and Founder Beth Santos created Wanderful while living in São Tomé and Príncipe. She began writing about her experience as a woman traveling alone, inspired by the lack of useful travel content specifically for women. In 2014, Beth was named a Top 100 Travel Blogger by the Obama administration. Since then, Beth continued to build Wanderful into the platform it is today, hiring more women who believe in the mission of creating a global sisterhood of travelers and launching the Women in Travel Summit, Wanderfest, and the Wanderful homesharing network.
Marissa Sutera is Wanderful’s Program Manager. Marissa’s love for travel was sparked when she studied abroad, an experience that inspired her to launch her travel blog, Little Things Travel. Most recently she worked in marketing and served as an advisor in international education.
Kaitlyn Kirkaldy is Wanderful’s Digital Marketing Manager. She is a writer, marketer, and traveler. She’s led marketing at two Boston-based digital marketing software startups. As a traveler, she’s most recently visited Antigua and Barbuda, England, and Iceland. She is a Vermont native and studied International Relations at Wellesley College.
The team
Ariel Goldberg - WITS Program + Creative Director
Ana Dominguez - Business Development Associate, WITS Sponsorship Chair
Megan Stetzel - Business Development Associate
Sara Weiskotten - WITS Operations + Logistics Chair
Our amazing local organizers
Lauren Dolan - Austin, TX
Ashley Sullivan - Austin, TX
Gabriela Nivela - Barcelona, Spain
Jenna Thomas - Boston, MA
Katie Dickinson - Boston, MA
Sofia Martin - Chicago, IL
Megan Arzbaecher - Chicago, IL
Stephanie Spire - Dallas, TX
Sarah Key - Denver, CO
Kathleen Mills - Dubai
Alyssa Johnson - Kansas City, MO
Nailah Hayward - Los Angeles, CA
Karisma Shackelford - Los Angeles, CA
Laura Plasencia - Madrid, Spain
Kate Baxter - New York, NY
Beeni Jacob - New York, NY
Susan McGowan - New York, NY
Carrie Herrera Niesen - Phoenix, AZ
Priya Florence Shah - Pune, India
Kelley Smithey - Sacramento, CA
Lindsay Vogel - San Diego, CA
Lindsay Davies - Toronto, Canada
Jenny Stankowski - Washington, DC
Christine Simontacchi - Washington, DC
Sapphire Kharyzma - Wilmington, DE
Some of Wanderful's amazing city organizers, meeting at Wanderful's Women in Travel Summit (WITS) 2018.
The Campaign FAQs
Why have you chosen this amount of money to raise?
We are in a growth phase at Wanderful and want to empower as many women as possible to join our global sisterhood and travel on their own. To do so, we need to build a platform that can scale as quickly as our membership.
Where will the money go?
Into a brand new Wanderful platform. We are completely overhauling our user experience so that women travelers can find women they can trust to stay and meet with while they’re out exploring the world. To do this, we have to invest in our platform via technological development, and the money we raise will help us launch our new platform.
Why IFW?
Our founder and CEO, Beth Santos, founded Wanderful with the vision of creating a global sisterhood of travelers. The vision of IFW to empower women entrepreneurs to build their own businesses is a natural fit with our company values.
Why crowdfunding?
Wanderful members and even people who hear about what we’re doing have often asked us how they can help us grow. Some have even asked if we’d ever do crowdfunding! Given our passionate membership, our mission of creating a collaborative global sisterhood, and our current needs, crowdfunding was a perfect fit.
Can I donate less than $25?
Of course! We are so grateful for any contribution and support, regardless of amount. We have an option to give anything you’d like without a reward, even if that means simply helping to spread the word! We’ve even got some suggested social media posts:
Join the campaign! @sheswanderful is crowdfunding to help more women travel the world + find sisterhood. @ifundwomen #wanderful ifundwomen.com/projects/wanderful
Help me support Wanderful - the world’s sisterhood of women travelers! They just launched a crowdfunding campaign. You can donate to help even more women travel the world (and get some pretty cool rewards)! ifundwomen.com/projects/wanderful
Support the world’s #sisterhood of women travelers - @sheswanderful! They just launched a crowdfunding campaign. You can donate to help even more women travel the world (and get some pretty cool rewards)! ifundwomen.com/projects/wanderful
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#wanderful #crowdfunding #travel #womentravel #sheswanderful #ifundwomen #rewards #womenwhotravel #girlstravel #girlswhotravel #wanderlust #girlslovetravel #womanpower #sisterhood
Can men donate?
Yes! While we are building a community of global women, we also truly appreciate the men supporting our vision.
Will you keep us posted on your progress?
Absolutely! We will regularly post updates to the Updates & Comments section on our IFW page. You can also follow our progress via our social media channels: @sheswanderful on Twitter and Instagram or Wanderful on Facebook, or sign up to receive our newsletter directly to your inbox.
How can I get more involved with Wanderful?
Head over to sheswanderful.com to learn more about becoming a member (it’s free to join!), listing your room or house on our homesharing network, getting involved with your local Wanderful chapter, and more!
We appreciate whatever you’d like to give without a reward - we’re so grateful that you want to help Wanderful grow!
We will give you an appreciative shout-out on the Wanderful Twitter account to our thousands of followers.
A limited-edition, handmade, turquoise Wanderful leather bracelet.
Tell us where you want to go, and we’ll put together an eBook of custom travel recommendations from the Wanderful sisterhood, just for you!
Two Wanderful mugs, fair trade coffee and tea, and an eCookbook of global recipes from the women of the Wanderful community.
We will connect you with a fellow Wanderful traveler and buy you both dinner, wherever you are in the world.
A free two-night homestay in our Wanderful homesharing network and the Wanderful guide to the city you’re staying in. For you or a woman you know who'd love it!
Four free tickets to Wanderfest, our annual conference for travelers in Austin, TX and a meet and greet with the Wanderful team. For you and three friends, or four women in your life who'd love to attend!
Dinner with Beth Santos, our CEO and Founder (the Obama administration recognized her as a top 100 travel blogger!). She’ll come meet you and three friends in your city and take you all out to dinner!
An all-expenses-paid spot on one of our bi-annual, international Wanderful trips and a brand new suitcase set. Our next two trips are to India and Cuba! For you or a special woman in your life!
Two sponsorships for girls on the next international beGirl.world trip! The organization uses travel and global education to empower teenage girls to think bigger than their neighborhood. Your contribution will fully fund two spots on the next trips to either London or Spain.
Take a special person on a once-in-a-lifetime dream trip! We’ll plan a custom, all-expenses-paid, four-night trip built just for you and a friend to the destination of your choice within the Wanderful homesharing network. You will visit, stay, and interact with women from around the world! Or you can choose a customized one-day training workshop for your company, taught by Beth herself!
Rewards
We appreciate whatever you’d like to give without a reward - we’re so grateful that you want to help Wanderful grow!
We will give you an appreciative shout-out on the Wanderful Twitter account to our thousands of followers.
A limited-edition, handmade, turquoise Wanderful leather bracelet.
Tell us where you want to go, and we’ll put together an eBook of custom travel recommendations from the Wanderful sisterhood, just for you!
Two Wanderful mugs, fair trade coffee and tea, and an eCookbook of global recipes from the women of the Wanderful community.
We will connect you with a fellow Wanderful traveler and buy you both dinner, wherever you are in the world.
A free two-night homestay in our Wanderful homesharing network and the Wanderful guide to the city you’re staying in. For you or a woman you know who'd love it!
Four free tickets to Wanderfest, our annual conference for travelers in Austin, TX and a meet and greet with the Wanderful team. For you and three friends, or four women in your life who'd love to attend!
Dinner with Beth Santos, our CEO and Founder (the Obama administration recognized her as a top 100 travel blogger!). She’ll come meet you and three friends in your city and take you all out to dinner!
An all-expenses-paid spot on one of our bi-annual, international Wanderful trips and a brand new suitcase set. Our next two trips are to India and Cuba! For you or a special woman in your life!
Two sponsorships for girls on the next international beGirl.world trip! The organization uses travel and global education to empower teenage girls to think bigger than their neighborhood. Your contribution will fully fund two spots on the next trips to either London or Spain.
Take a special person on a once-in-a-lifetime dream trip! We’ll plan a custom, all-expenses-paid, four-night trip built just for you and a friend to the destination of your choice within the Wanderful homesharing network. You will visit, stay, and interact with women from around the world! Or you can choose a customized one-day training workshop for your company, taught by Beth herself!