Lots of online travel magazines have published articles about National Geographic’s Geotourism Challenge 2009, but few have fully explored the changemaking resources offered by Nat Geo’s partner, Ashoka’s Changemakers.

Photo: David Reece

If your RSS feed or Reader includes the usual online travel mag suspects–World Hum, Gadling, and Vagabonding–then you’re probably already aware of National Geographic’s Geotourism Challenge 2009, a

“global search for innovative ideas in tourism that celebrate the distinct destinations of the world by honoring culture, cherishing history and enhancing the environment.”

You can find the full details of the contest here, and submit your own nomination for geotourism hero.

But as long as you’re online, take a few minutes to visit Nat Geo’s partner in the Geotourism Challenge: Ashoka Changemakers.

In a nutshell, Ashoka’s Changemakers program is “the world’s first global online open source community that competes to surface the best social solutions, and then collaborates to refine, enrich, and implement those solutions.”

What that means concretely is that the Changemakers website offers lots of practical tools, resources, contacts, funding sources and competitions to get your own creative changemaking juices flowing.

So… if you’ve read our articles about starting your own NGO or non-profit, of if you’re inspired by stories like this one by Matador’s own Misty Tosh and are ready to tackle your own big international project, head on over to the Changemakers site to meet other people like you!