#Fundsfor50 is my family’s fundraising and awareness campaign for 50 organizations in 50 days. Each day of our lockdown we pick a organization helping people and wildlife, specifically in response to the fallout of the African tourism industry as a result of COVID-19. We donate as well as share details with our social network.
The concept is basic: even $5 counts when compounded by many.
Below are all the organizations we’ve supported so far.
If you have one you’d like to recommend, please send an email to Caitlin
The Courage Initiative
The Courage Initiative was born out of crisis and the need to stand together as one in order to triumph. We bring together heroes, communities and NGOs to work with solidarity to overcome difficult times. Our focus is on pooling people, funding and resources in the most cost-effective and impactful way to address the most dire needs of affected communities.
Natural Selection Village Support
$75 USD will feed a family of six for one month
Tourism is recognized globally as a vital contributor and mechanism for poverty alleviation, job creation, socio-economic growth and environmental protection. In Africa, this couldn’t be more true.
At Natural Selection we take this responsibility seriously. We recognize that tourism operations are vital to many livelihoods in and around wildlife areas, and the abrupt decline in tourism revenue, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has the potential for far reaching impacts on communities. This is particularly the case in woman-headed households and single income households, of which there are many in the Natural Selection family. And the virus itself could have a devastating impact on these communities where there are very high rates of HIV.
FZS De-snaring program
Poaching remains a major challenge to conservation in Tanzania. In the Serengeti, tour operators are now supporting Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) by funding Frankfurt Zoological Society’s De-Snaring Program in the Serengeti.
Masiphumelele Creative Hub
Masiphumelele Creative Hub was founded in 2017 by Yandiswa Mazwana. The organisation aims to provide a safe, supportive and educational environment where community members can use the power of creativity and art to overcome their daily challenges.
We focus on sport, art and after-school care classes. We encourage the participation of Masiphumelele youth in preserving and nourishing their own resources.
Our volunteers also assembles vegetable boxes and deliver them to elderly people in the Masiphumelele community. Around 140 boxes are packed and delivered every week.
As of 26 March 2020, when the national lockdown started in South Africa, we put all our energy towards running a feeding scheme for young children up to grade 5 and vulnerable elderly people in Masiphumelele.
Ultimate Safaris Conservation Travel Foundation
The Conservation Travel Foundation was founded in 2006 by Tristan Cowley, later also a co-founder of Ultimate Safaris. From the onset, the objective of the Foundation was to partner with Conservation Travel to bring about tangible, positive impacts on ecosystem conservation and on the socio-economic development of rural communities in Namibia.
Ultimate Safaris is a significant contributor to the Foundation in both finance and administration services. All safari guests, friends and partners of the company are invited to make contributions to the Foundation and its projects. Safari participants receive a Conservation Travel Foundation information booklet and a donation form in the travel documentation they receive on arrival for their safari. Foundation projects range from support for desert-adapted rhino and predator conservation projects to improved school infrastructure in rural areas.
The early efforts of the Foundation raised a mere few hundred dollars a year. It now raises, and deploys, in excess of US$ 250,000 a year for conservation and rural development projects in Namibia.
One People Fund
~25% of South Africa's ~60 million people live in townships and >50% do not have enough money to buy food at the moment. In response, the OnePeople Fund was formed by Capstone Property Group & Exemplar REITail, in partnership with Click Foundation (a Section 18A registered, non-profit Trust). The Fund aims to deliver up to 1 million portions of food (maize) to the most vulnerable each week for ~2 months. 100% of all donations received are channelled directly into distributing food to those who need it most.
Mdzananda Animal Clinic
It all started with a community hero who wanted to help his neighbours pets. Mr Jo from the Khayelitsha pushed a trolley and water bucket around the community, bathing and feeding community pets.
Mdzananda Animal Clinic is a veterinary council registered, NPO animal clinic treating up to 700 pets per month in Khayelitsha. We offer consultations, hospitilisation, surgery, continuous sterilisations, mobile clinics, an animal ambulance, pet rehoming and humane education.
Saruni Adopt-an-Acre Appeal
We believe that the best, most effective and most immediate way to help both the conservation of wildlife and the interests of the communities who own the land where safaris take place is to visit us. Through the payment of daily conservation fees – money that Saruni collects on your behalf and then transfers to the Maasai and Samburu landowners we work with – you finance conservation and you give the communities a tangible incentive to protect the wildlife, the flora, the land. Making nature a profitable business is an important way to ensure its long-term survival. Your presence at Saruni also creates jobs (85%-90% of our staff come from the communities), creates income for Kenya Revenue Authority through the taxes we pay and provides Kenya with a balanced perspective on development and modernisation, which can continue without damaging its amazing natural resources.
Following the outbreak of the pandemic, we have seen a total (hopefully temporary) collapse of tourism in Kenya. This is having a devastating impact on the Conservancies which we support financially through the conservation fees that you pay when you come on safari and through the wages of our employees. Saruni directly employs over 100 members of the local Maasai and Samburu families. We also pay hundreds of Maasai and Samburu families for the land they own in the four conservancies where we are involved: Mara North Conservancy and Lemek Conservancy in the Masai Mara and Kalama Conservancy and Sera Conservancy in Samburu.
Virunga National Park
Learn more here about this complex park and its incredible value to global biodiversity.
The Big Life Foundation
Protecting over 1.6 million acres of wilderness in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa, Big Life partners with local communities to protect nature for the benefit of all.
Since its inception, Big Life has expanded to employ hundreds of local Maasai rangers—with more than 30 permanent outposts and tent-based field units, 14 patrol vehicles, 2 tracker dogs, and 2 planes for aerial surveillance.
Co-founded in September 2010 by photographer Nick Brandt, conservationist Richard Bonham, and entrepreneur Tom Hill, Big Life was the first organization in East Africa to establish coordinated cross-border anti-poaching operations.
Tanzanian Children’s Fund
It is our firm belief that solving just one part of the poverty equation would only leave the people we serve desperate for more instead of propelling them forward.
We are committed to a holistic solution. We don’t just focus on one piece of the poverty puzzle. Instead, we address the challenge from all sides by providing education, healthcare, economic opportunity, and a home for children. We equip a geographic area, home to 10,000 people, with all the tools and systems that it needs to realize a brighter future.