Fundraising for WWF Tiger projects and The Rainbow Trust thr
 

Hi

I am doing a fundraising event for WWF Tigers fund and Terminally Ill
children through the Rainbow Trust.

The event is to ride a Royal Enfield 350cc motorcycle through Southern India
for seven days from dawn to dusk. It is going to be very demanding, Indian
traffic is not exactly well organised, the roads are normally in a terrible
conditions with potholes, stretches of dirt road, crazy bus and truck
drivers and holy cows wandering around on the road. On top of that, the
gears and brakes are reversed on a Royal Enfield. The gear shift is on the
right and the back brake is on the left. Might not sound like much, but when
you ride a motorcycle a lot is done on reflexes, especially in emergency
situations. So with the chaotic Indian traffic this will be rather
challenging.

The motorcycle that I am going to ride will afterwards be donated to Indian
park rangers through WWF Tiger project and used to patrol the large Tiger
reserves and catch poachers. The royal Enfield is produced in India, based
on an English 50's design, so easy to maintain for the park rangers, which
is important. The remaining money will be split between WWF Tiger projects
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_...=25&LID=1&FH=E
and The Rainbow Trust fund http://www.rainbowtrust.org.uk/, The Rainbow
Trust helps families of terminally ill children in Britain.

There are 100 bikers taking part in the event which will donate the 100
bikes to the park rangers and raise around a quarter of a million pounds for
these charities. The charity event is organised by Enduro India
http://www.enduroindia.com/

Donation details can be found on my fundraising website
http://www.theroadwarrior.net/enduroindia.htm where money can be donated by
creditcard, on a pledge form directly to Enduro India or by check to me. US
dollar, Pound sterling and Danish Kroner accepted.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Leif


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Cheers

Leif
Http://www.theroadwarrior.net

Hi

Did you successfully complete the Enduro Challenge?

What is this Enduro thing - is it a charity?

Yes I did and it was a fantastic experience. Enduro India raises money for WWF Tiger, Pallative care and the Rainbow Trust.

Mark asked the following by email and I thought the answer might interest others that are interested in Enduro India.

"Hi Leif,

I am making some enquiries about your views on Enduro India. I had hoped to go on this ride but have been left with some unanswered questions as to the status of this event.

My questions are regarding the funds that were raised for charity - what percentage went to charity, did it get paid directly from you to the charity. Are you satisfied that funds are handled in a transparent way?

If I am able to get satisfactory answers to my questions then maybe I will go for next years ride."

Reply:

"Can understand your questions, I had the same reservations when signing up for the event. I asked Simon and he said that they strive to donate 50%.

What to remember is that it is not cheap to arrange a big event like Enduro India, a very complicated logistic operations that limits your choices that was done very professionally. For instance it is only big hotels that can accommodate 130+ people etc.

I can give you the facts as I know them:

1. April Simon sent us an update and I quote from this

"WWF received bikes worth nearly £70k for their conservation work in India, PPCS received bikes to the value of nearly £20k plus a cash donation of £10k (money currently being moved through a UK registered trust to ensure it is used properly) and we yet again exceeded our 20K target to Rainbow Trust, having donated 30k to them so far this year. This figure is still going up.

Well done, and thanks again for all your efforts.

A Full cost breakdown of Enduro India 2005 will be available from July; anyone that wants a copy for sponsors or personal interest is welcome to ask me in that month."

There were 100 bikers attending the rally paying in at least £3,200 each totalling a minimum £320,000. Total charity donations as per above £130,000 giving a percentage of 40.6%. This is still going up as stated above.

As per your questions, the money was paid into Enduro India and distributed by them. As to my personal opinion I think it is transparent enough, Simon and Graham is very genuine, enthusiastic, stand up guys and honest. It was a fantastic event, a onetime experience and I can totally recommend going.
Just treat it as it is, there is an element of personal experience/holiday in this package, just pay the actual cost 50-60% yourself, so whatever you raise from your donors goes 100% to the charities. As it came around, I only succeeded in raising £900, so I am happy that whatever I collected went to charities."

Cheers

Leif