Built into the price of every volunteer project that we offer here at The Great Projects is a monetary donation. These donations are absolutely crucial to allow these projects to continue their fantastic work in animal rehabilitation and conservation. They are used for animal feed, enrichment materials, veterinary care for the animals and animal release to name but a few. This donation is only possible due to the fantastic volunteers that signed up to join one of our projects in 2013.
Due to every volunteer who joined us in 2013 we were able to have a total donation of £132,951. This was split by the a donation to projects in Africa totalling £41,457 and a donation to projects in Asia totalling £91,494. As you will know in 2013 we branched out into South America and Europe, however, they were only launched in the later part of 2013 which is why they have not been included. Lets hope we can achieve a higher figure in 2014 with the addition of the wonderful projects on offer in these continents and more volunteers opting to join the projects in Africa and Asia. We will also be running our 2014 sponsorship promise this year whereby every quarter we will be giving a donation to a project which is in need of funding for a specific project. For more details on this please click here
Below you can see a split of where the donations went and underneath some quotes from the project managers of some of the projects we offer.
The Great Elephant Project
The Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society initiated its volunteer program in 2002. Since then the Society has had the privilege of working with some of the most recognized volunteer placement companies in the world. In 2012 The Great Projects became one of our partners and we consider them one of the best volunteer placement companies to work with. Today The Great Projects provide us with the most number of volunteers to our program. We appreciate their professionalism as well as their commitment to support our wildlife conservation projects in Sri Lanka.
Ravi Corea, President, Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society
The Great Turtle Project - Sri Lanka
The Great Projects is an excellent organisation to work with, By co-ordinating the administrative side of things before the volunteers' arrival in Sri Lanka, for example processing all the necessary documentation, forwarding any queries they may have to us then replying on our behalf, it means that things are able to run smoothly until the moment we pick volunteers up from the airport. The Great Projects website, along with the "Know Before You Go" document also means that volunteers have a clear understanding of what our projects entails and what they'll be doing as part of it. Finally, we would like to thank Michael, Harriet, Hannah, Ben and the rest of the Great Projects team for their help and support.
Dudley Perera, Project Manager, The Great Turtle Project
Victoria Falls Conservation Experience
The Victoria Falls Conservation Experience, initiated its volunteer program in 2012. Since then, the Programme has had the privilege of working with some of the most recognized volunteer placement companies in the world. In 2013 The Great Projects became one of our placement companies and we consider them one of the best volunteer placement companies to work with. Today, The Great Projects provide us with the most number of volunteers to our program as well as their great initiative in offering a once in a lifetime ten day voluntour in our beautiful area of Victoria Falls. We appreciate their professionalism as well as their commitment to support our wildlife conservation and community development projects in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and look forward to many successful years ahead working together to make a real difference through the integration of conservation, education and community
Brenda Lightbody, Project Manager, Victoria Falls Conservation Experience
Desert Elephants in Namibia Project
Elephant Human Relations Aid has been running an award winning volunteer project for the past 10 years in Namibia. We rely on agents to help us recruit volunteers for our conservation project and due to the nature of our work we need to work with companies who have the right ethos, that 'fit' with EHRA, The Great Projects have the right ethics and as such send us volunteers that are passionate about conservation and the desire to really make a difference on a practical, realistic level
Rachel Harris, Project Manager, Desert Elephants in Namibia Project
Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary
The Naankuse Volunteer Project initiated its volunteer program in 2007 with the purpose of providing volunteers an opportunity to help preserve and rebuild Namibia's wildlife and community. Since then Naankuse has had the privilege of working with some of the most recognized volunteer placement companies in the world. Since we started working with The Great Projects they have become one of our most trusted partners. Today, The Great Projects provide us with many volunteers to our program. Volunteers who book through The Great Projects rate our projects 9/10 on average. We appreciate their professionalism as well as their commitment to support our wildlife and community conservation projects in Namibia.
Leah Llach, Manager, Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary