Baraza

If you haven’t made a donation yet on WildlifeDirect, consider this

There are days when can not sleep because of fears that WildlifeDirect  cannot survive this disastrous economic crisis. Fund raising has not been easy nor fun lately – and it’s affecting or ability to do effective conservation of endangered species.

Because everyone is affected by the economic crisis, many of our donors are telling us that they can’t contribute anymore, and the average donation of those generous donors who have continued to support us have declined by about 50% from an average donation of $100 to $47.

Despite the drop in funding, our bloggers remain convinced. We now have over 80 conservation blogs from the frontlines in Africa, Asia and South America. Half of these bloggers get funds every month and every month more people inquire and ask to join our network. It is so rewarding to know that good conservationists believe in us. This is what keeps us going at WildlifeDirect.

Here are some reasons why you should support projects on WildlifeDirect

1. It’s direct – you can choose the blog, item and place you want your funds to go to
2. It’s accountable – you can see your money working by reading the blogs
3. It’s easy  - we use paypal and you will get a tax receipt
4. It’s quick – you can respond to any wildlife conservation emergency and make ….But what I like most about this is that
5. It’s cost effective – a little money goes a long way in Africa where $100 can pay for a rangers salary for a month! Our bloggers only ask for essential things –rations, petrol for patrols , critical equipment, food for animals and basic field costs. They are working on shoe string budgets – many of them volunteer.

Watch our video and Join us

WildlifeDirect has had a far greater impact on bloggers than we ever imagined. Next I will be interviewing Anthony Kasanga (lionguardians) about how his life changed after he started blogging on WildlifeDirect.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS STAYED WITH OR RECENTLY JOINED WILDLIFEDIRECT.   YOU ARE ALL AMAZING PEOPLE:)

We are bringing the Pride of Kenya to life!

The making of the Pride: lion statues at Kuona Trust, Nairobi

We have partnered with the Born Free Foundation in Kenya to raise funds for lion conservation. Our campaign will focus on ending lion poisoning using Furadan. The centrepiece for this campaign will be a life-sized lion statue made of fibre glass. But it is much more exciting than that!

There shall be fifty such lions in different locations in Kenya forming the campaign which has been named the Pride of Kenya. Each a plain canvas for artists to create their masterpieces on. Our lion will be at our office in Nairobi, Kenya, where it will be in display before and after it gets its beautiful artwork.

Then, in November, all the lions will come out of their dens and prowl the streets of Nairobi followed by an auction in which each lion will be sold to the highest bidder. Proceeds from the sale of each statue will go directly to lion conservation work. The Pride of Kenya will be all in the same place at the same time. I can’t wait for that! But, first things first: we need to make our lion the best looking lion of them all. We need artwork.

This is where you come in. We need ideas for the art we shall create on this ‘canvas’.  I know you have lots of ideas. Send them to us. We are thinking that it would be great if we could send a global message about lion conservation with our lion. You can be as creative as you want. You can even suggest modification of the lion – as long as it still looks like a lion. But we cannot put advertising. No logos.

You can start sending your suggestions now. We have to ‘pimp’ our lion by the end of August.

A few lines about lions

The lion is the fabled kings of the jungle. But lions are losing their kingdom. Lions are virtually extinct outside of Africa except for the 80 or so ‘Gir’ lions that remain in India. Kenya has lost 90% of its lion population most of which has been lost in the last 20 years. There are now only 2100 lions left in Kenya.

Recently, Kenya lost an estimated 75 lions to poisoning – mostly by Furadan. The Kenya wildlife Service estimates that more than 200 lions have been killed in this recent period due to intolerance followed by killings through poisoning and spearing. Lion habitat is also shrinking. Human-lion conflict is also quite high due to human invasion into lion territory.

The Maasai community are best known for their warrior skills. They are also famous for co-existing with wildlife for millennia. They however have never tolerated lions mostly because – I believe – the lions prey on their cattle. To become a moran (warrior) the young Maasai man has been required to kill a lion. A group of progressive morans have refused to kill lions and have become Lion Guardians. This is one of the groups we support and they are now preaching the message of tolerance and value of lions. We also have the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Campaign against Furadan and other poisons.

Some lions of the Tara Pride monitored by Lion Guardians

Lions are the most valuable species for Kenya’s tourism – the number one foreign income generator for the country. Kenya cannot afford to lose the lion.

Who’s involved?

Kenya was home to Elsa – the star of the Born Free movie series written by Joy Adamson and acted by Virginia McKenna. Virginia’s son Will runs the Born Free Foundation. It’s their 25th year anniversary in November hence the timing of this event. Virginia will come to Kenya for the auction.

The Kenyan business community is quite excited about the idea and some have taken up their own fibre glass lions. With your help, ours will still be the best.

Get involved

You want to get involved? You can send us a design suggestion for the artwork that will be interpreted by a Nairobi-based artist on the lion ‘canvas’. But we also need to raise funds. So you can donate here (look out for the Pride of Kenya donation item). We need to raise at least US$25,000 for this particular lion. If you suggest a design, you can support it with your donation of any amount. The higher the donation the better the lion will like you.

Here is more excitement: We need to name our lion. Do you have a name for him? Suggest a name and support your name suggestion with a donation. Who says you can’t have fun while saving lions?

On the Fourth of July, America will be celebrating their great country’s birthday. This is a time to appreciate freedom of the American people.

We should join them in celebration.

But our wildlife also need freedom from persecution, and extinction. On this important day, therefore send our Independence Day greeting card to an American and contribute to the freedom of our wildlife. When you make a donation, you will be giving WildlifeDirect the strength to support the more than 100 projects that blog on this platform. You will also get a card sent to your email so that you can send to your family and friends.You dont have to be American send this card…you can send to your American friends this beautiful card that shows you care not only about them, but also about the wildlife of this planet.So why not CHANGE today and send a card with a cause? Afterall, Independence Day has been arround for 233 years a little change ($25) will make a great change.Happy Independence Day!

It will be Fathers Day on Sunday 21 June 2009 throughout the USA and in 52 other countries. What are you doing for your father, your grandfather or the father of your children?

Fathers are the icon of strength and protection for the family. Instead of all those electronics and tools that he already has, why not give your father the opportunity to protect the earth this year? You can donate only $20 and give your father the satisfaction of having protected the wildlife of the world for his children, and his children’s children.

WildlifeDirect has provided a platform for more than 100 conservation projects to communicate with the world about their work. Through communication, these projects, which otherwise would have remained unknown, have been able to raise awareness about the plight of wildlife in their locality and at the same time raise much needed funds to continue with their noble work.

WildlifeDirect gives this service for free to these projects. To meet the need of keeping this service available to this deserving projects, we need the support of those who care. We need fatherly protection too. Without you, we cannot help these conservation projects That is why today, we are asking you to give your fathers a chance to protect us like the good father he is

Here is how you can give your father the feeling of protection. Just donate only $20 in the donation item that we have created on the right. Once you donate, leave a comment stating the name of your father, grandfather, or other fathers that you would like to honour on fathers day. We shall then write a blog post on this blog on Fathers day to thank you and your father for being protective of our wildlife.

If we all give, we shall make history by raising the most funds in the shortest time here at WildlifeDirect. What are you waiting for? Let’s make Father’s Day the most successful and protective day for fathers and the wildlife.

Dear friends there is a crisis facing bonobos at Lola ya Bonobo .

In the last six days 6 bonobos have died of flu. Another ten are sick.

Claudine, Vanessa and all the staff have launched an appeal to raise funds to enable them to respond to this emergency. The center which is facing a financial crisis – there is no time to lose. If we can reach 10,000 people each of whom give just $100, we can avert this crisis and save the bonobos.

You can help by doing any or all of the following things

1. Make a donation now
2. Appeal to your friends, networks and family (facebook, myspace,twitter, local news agency, call your )
3. Hold an emergency fund raisier to raise more funds
4. Send Claudine, Vaness and the staff at Lola a message on their blog right now, tell them that you care, and what you are doing to try and help.

Thank you everyone, we really appreciate your support
Paula

Searching the web is something we do everyday whether it is search for a particular item or if its random searches for photos and videos. I would like you to look at the option of using Goodsearch as you search engine.

Goodsearch has an option of supporting charities as you search, you just go the site: www.goodsearch.com and download the toolbar and fix it onto your browser, then you use the toolbar to search as you would normally use Yahoo or Google. In the toolbar you’ll be asked to specify which charity you are supporting and if you choose wildlifedirect, we’ll get some money for every search you do.

Goodsearch also has an affiliate, Goodshop which is an online store you can purchase stuff from and like their search engine if you specify that you want to support a certain charity, that charity will get a percentage from your purchases. Check out the site.

Wildlifedirect Inc can earn a donation every time you search the Internet and shop online!!!

Although WildlifeDirect raised almost half a million dollars last year for our projects, we were unable to raise enough funds to pay for our core costs for 2009. The economic downturn at the end of 2008 made us reschedule some major fundraisers that would have taken us well beyond 2009.

We don’t take a percentage from any of the money we raise for our projects. As such all the money raised is remitted to the bloggers through the partner organizations that they are associated with. Only bank charges are deducted from the funds raised. We want to keep it that way. To do so however we need to raise funds to cover our core costs: bills, salaries, etc.

In the past we have relied on large donor organizations for this, but they are also tightening their belts. We now need you more than ever. WildlifeDirect has to survive this crisis so that we can continue to provide a free service to conservation projects.

It is really bad. Our budget this year has a deficit of US$ 150,000. As early as the end of this month, we will already be in the red. That’s why we are appealing to you to act fast.

We have an idea of a simple way to help us raise the funds. Why not host a fund raising event at your home or in your community? Take the example of Sheryl who converted her fiftieth birthday celebration into a fun fundraiser for WildlifeDirect. Now, get imaginative and design something unique and fun – but not illegal.

We have figured out that if 150 events each raising US$ 1,000 were held, we will survive this year. Paula has already launched her event and her target is US$ 2,000.

Here is Paula’s idea: A fund raising dinner at her home in the outskirts of Nairobi on 7 March 2009. She used Facebook to invite all her friends to the diner dubbed My Dinner with Richard Leakey. Paula says that if you are too far to come, sponsor someone by donating to WildlifeDirect. She’ll be talking about her dinner on the new dedicated blog we are creating called My Dinner with Richard Leakey.

You can also create your own event. It could be anything. We’ll help you by providing some ‘tools’. Here is the list:
1. A signed invitation letter from Richard Leakey that you can use to accompany your own customized invitation
2. A template that you can customize to invite your guests
3. Links to information about WildlifeDirect
4. A video – hosted at YouTube – about WildlifeDirect that you can show to your guests

We are a conservation organization so we want you to save paper. We therefore encourage you to send your invitations by email, on Facebook, MySpace or even your blog. Link your invitation to the video about WildlifeDirect and our Facebook cause – which means it will help if you joined our cause.

Make your event fun and memorable. You can for instance create a digital video invitation card, a fancy digital menu, and share photos of your event in your blog, in Facebook, MySpace and with WildlifeDirect.

One thing though, we don’t want you to have to hire security officers to protect your friends donations, so don’t collect cash. Simply ask your friends to make donations online at http://wildlifedirect.org

Or make check donations sent to

WildlifeDirect Inc.
306 5th St. SE
Washington, DC
United States 20003

Now you can start planning your event. Remember it is for the wildlife. Feel free to email us anytime for anything using donations@wildlifedirect.org. Use that addresses also to tell us about your progress: how much money you raised, who has donated, who will attend. We will, with your permission, do blog posts about your event and acknowledge you and your friends for their support.

Good luck and remember to have fun.

For the past month, we have been offering Christmas Gift Certificates for you to send to your family, friends and loved ones by making a donation to WildlifeDirect, we are happy to say that the response has been extremely positive and we have managed to raise a fairly good amount of money to help in our office operations.

I would like to thank the following people for donating:

• Sarah Boyle
• Wanda Harris
• Joanna Howson
• Ivan Tucakov
• Darren McRonald
• Peter Vander Veld
• Connie Archea
• David Li
• Karen B
• Helen B
• Sarah Vasicek
• Alison B
• Janice W
• Simon B

Thank you very much for your support.

If you donated and have not received your gift certificate yet, please do not hesitate to send me a email on victor@wildlifedirect.org and I’ll send it to you promptly.  And also if you have not purchased your gift certificate yet, there is no time like the present, donate and send me an email and I’ll make sure you get your gift certificate in time for Christmas.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays.

Looking back on the last year I can’t help but feel extremely grateful for all the support that we have received for WildlifeDirect. The economic crisis came as a big shock for everyone, it has an enormous impact on Africa, prices of fuel have doubled in Kenya, the price of ground maize, the staple for many, has tripled. People are starving in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, northern Kenya and Somalia. Many have resorted to harvesting what they can from the wild – seeds, berries and of course bushmeat.

This photo taken by David Ngala in coastal Kenya reflects how people are depending more and more on bushmeat due to rising food prices. 

Trees are also suffering as the demand for fuel wood and charcoal for cooking has rocketed due to escalating prices of Kerosene and butane gas. We have witnessed rising prices of charcoal as well as increased rates of logging in many areas. This can be stopped if we help our conservation partners to keep up the vigilance. During this economic crisis, you help is needed more urgently than ever.

Perhaps the best thing you can do this Christmas and holiday season to help, is to make a donation towards a project of your choice, or perhaps buy a Christmas gift certificate for one of your friends.

We look foward to hearing from you

Dear Friends,

It’s that time of the year when we all get shopping crazy. We struggle to find the perfect gifts -well we are here to make it easier for you. Why not make a donation to WildlifeDirect as a gift to any of your friends and loved ones?

It’s particularly important at this time because the global credit crunch is robbing conservation projects of much needed funds. We need your help as we fear that the crisis threatens to close down many vital conservation projects. Our task is more critical now than ever to raise funds to keep these projects going and doing their important work.

We are offering you an opportunity this Christmas/holiday season to give a gift to yourself, or your friends and loved ones for only $33. The gift is a donation to WildilfeDirect. We will send you this lovely certificate to give to the person you are making the donation for.

After you make your donation simply send your email address to  victor at wildlifedirect.org

We look forward to hearing from you

Wishing you all a wonderful December and holiday season

The WildlifeDirect team