It's been a hectic week, with several new potential corporate sponsors calling the Trust and one coming to the offices to discuss in detail the form their sponsorship should take. And I have just had lunch with writer and WLT Council member Simon Barnes to discuss his forthcoming visit to India with the World Land Trust partners, the Wildlife Trust of India.
Corridors created for elephants also protect tigers. (Photo © Vivek Menon)I am taking Simon with me to visit the next potential elephant corridor, which is in the area surrounding Corbett National Park. In Corbett, the tiger population is increasing, but they need somewhere to expand into, and consequently elephant corridors also have the potential to act as tiger corridors.
We will soon be launching an appeal (with Simon Barnes writing about the project in The Times) when we know exactly how much it will all cost, but if you have any spare cash and would like to help tigers and elephants (and a lot more) in a really concrete way, we are ready.
On the way from lunch with Simon I saw a Common Buzzard, a bird that is not so common in this part of the world, but is beginning to make a comeback from the gamekeepers' persecutions of a century ago.
Posted by John Friday, February 27, 2009
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I am constantly being asked how the World Land Trust is holding up in these difficult economic times, and when I tell my enquirers that so far we have not seen any significant drop income, I am usually asked what we put this down to, when everyone else is talking of gloom and doom. My response is that the reason we are successful, is simply because we are successful and transparent. The simple fact is that we have a clear track record, and we can demonstrate (to use a cliché) that we do what it says on the packet. Our message is simple: donate to us and we can save land, we can save endangered species. The proof is out there: thousands of acres, stronger local partners. All visible and visitable. And not many charities can demonstrate such clear cut results.
We still need all the support we can get, and we still need to increase the budgets we can give to our partners. Places like the Dry Chaco are more threatened than ever, but with your help we can save at least some parts.
Posted by John Thursday, February 26, 2009
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Meeting our supporters
Today is a typical day in London for me -- meetings pretty well back to back. I normally start my day soon after 6 a.m. by feeding the llamas, sheep, hens and pigs, taking the train to London at 07.15, where I can start writing.
The African Violet, or Saint Paulia, is a common houseplant. WLT's new project in Tanzania will help conserve its wild ancestor. (Photo by Overduebook.)My first meeting today will be with Sally Birch, a botanical artist who has offered to donate some of her artwork to the WLT for fundraising purposes. I would like to enthuse her about our new project in Tanzania, which is helping conserve the habitat of the wild ancestors of the African Violet (together with a mass of other endemic and interesting wildlife).
I will then be meeting with Mark Stanley Price, an respected international conservationist, who has been involved with conservation in Africa for several decades, in addition to working on the Arabian Oryx reintroduction, and more recently Director of Jersey Zoo. He and I first met around the time when I was starting up the Mountain Gorilla project back in the 1970s.
At 2 p.m. I am meeting with the Head of Marketing for Travel Republic. This is a company that has been extremely generous in supporting the World Land Trust projects, and their donations have made possible the purchase of large areas of wetlands in Paraguay.
After Travel Republic I am off to meet Sophie Stafford, the Editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine. Until recently I sat on the Statutory Editorial Board of the Magazine, but finally had to resign, as WLT was taking up too much of my time. It was sad to make the break, as I had been Assistant Editor of Animals Magazine, which was later taken over by the BBC, back in 1971/72. And I have written something or other for the magazine almost every year ever since, even if it's only been a letter. In fact it was BBC Wildlife Magazine that in 1989 raised one of the first donations for Programme for Belize, the WLT's very first project.
After meeting with Sophie Stafford, I'm off to meet with the staff of the Elephant Family -- with whom we have been working on fundraising for our partners' Elephant Corridor projects in India. Elephant Family have just launched the brilliant 'Kissing for Conservation' with a bunch of celebs donating an auctioned kiss for elephant conservation. And with any luck, I will catch the 19.30 train home and be back around 22.00.
Why the WLT has not signed up to the Fund Raising Standards Board
On the train I read this week's Third Sector Magazine. And I read the arguments in favour of the Fund Raising Standards Board, and its hallmark. Some supporters of the WLT may well be wondering why we have not signed up to this initiative. The answer is relatively simple. The standards and the codes of practice are so voluminous that I really don't see how I could sign up to it with any degree of confidence of actually knowing what I was committing the WLT to. In my view policies should always be as brief and simple as possible and memorable. The FRSB code of practice certainly is not -- it would probably need a dedicated member of staff to keep on top of it!
Posted by John Wednesday, February 25, 2009
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