American Express Partners in Preservation (PIP) aims to increase public awareness of the importance of historic and environmental conservation, preserve global historic and cultural landmarks, educate visitors on sustainable tourism, and strengthen local communities through preservation efforts.

Through  a partnership with The National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring America's historic landmarks and communities, American Express is able to build upon its long history of supporting preservation efforts such as its decade-long support of the World Monuments Fund and its campaign to restore the Statue of Liberty in 1983.
 
American Express has worked with the NTHP to identify sites in targeted areas where historic sites are eligible to receive PIP grants from a fund of $1 million in San Francisco and Chicago, and $400,000 in New Orleans. PIP is a unique program because it actively solicits the input of the community in deciding which sites are most important to them and should receive funding.
 
This input is gathered through an online voting process in which anyone can vote. The site with the highest number of votes is guaranteed to receive its grant request. In order to give everyone in the community a chance to visit, tour, and learn about the historic sites, public open houses are held at all locations.
 
After the online voting period is closed, American Express, NTHP and a special Advisory Committee comprised of influential community members from each  area  determine the preservation grant awards.
 
Though online voting may be found in other industries, very few philanthropic programs have engaged in allowing the public to decide where grant funds should be directed. American Express has brought the power of the internet to philanthropy in the interest of culturally historic sites. Whether it was the Berkeley City Club (San Francisco), the On Leong Merchant Association Building (Chicago), or the Odyssey House (New Orleans) hundreds of thousands of participants have voted and spoken up for their favorite historic sites.