October 2012: International conservation charity, World Land Trust (WLT), is taking on the 2012 Big Give Christmas Challenge for a second year, in an ambitious attempt to raise £120,000 for their Keepers of the Wild project.
The Christmas Challenge is a concept developed by an innovative philanthropic trust which brings together Charity Champions to ‘match’ funds raised through charity pledges and donated during a window of online giving.
This year, the Challenge will take place from the 6th-8th December. Existing WLT supporters have already pledged £30,000 of matching funds, and WLT will be competing for further matching from the Big Give’s Charity Champions. If online donations to Keepers of the Wild reach £60,000 before these funds run out, the Challenge can successfully raise £120,000.
WLT works tirelessly to raise funds to protect threatened habitats and has saved over 500,000 acres across the world since 1989. But WLT’s overseas project partners, in whom the ownership of the land is vested, have the task of protecting the reserves and the wildlife they support.
Vital funds to support rangers on the ground
Protecting all of this land (from illegal poaching and logging, for example), puts a huge strain on our partner organisations. Keepers of the Wild aims to help relieve this strain, by raising vital funds so our partners can put Rangers in the field, better protecting vulnerable habitat and the wildlife that depends on it.
Rangers are hired from the local community and become excellent ambassadors bringing with them exceptional knowledge of the wildlife and habitat. Some rangers were once hunters but once they’ve been involved in conservation they never revert and are pleased to be able to earn a regular wage and be able to look after their families in a far more sustainable and reliable way.
WLT’s patron, Sir David Attenborough, encourages the public to support the work of WLT, saying ‘I have been immensely lucky that my profession work has taken me to all corners of the world, where I have been able to see first-hand some of the rarest and most spectacular wildlife on earth. But the fate of these creatures which share our planet lies entirely at the hands of mankind – it is within our power to protect them or watch them become extinct. Let us choose the first route.’
More Information
Full press release:
http://www.worldlandtrust.org/documents/news/press-release-big-give-2012.pdf (0.1 MB)
For further information please contact: Sophie Chong at Emma Beckett PR
T: 0207 637 296
E: schong@worldlandtrust.org