A Word About MEP Fundraising

We are pleased to report that over the last few months Mara Elephant Project has been able to move forward with a number of fundraising initiatives including our MEP Pamphlet. This marketing piece will be a great way to promote MEP and the work we’re doing in the Mara not only to our current supporters, but to the guests of many hotels and camps nearby and worldwide. We are currently in six camps and hotels, but are working on expanding our exposure and reach. Please contact MEP’s Development Director if you’re interested in having copies to give to guests, friends or potential supporters of MEP.

The MEP Pamphlet.

 

We held our first supporter engagement event in April at the Tribe Hotel in Nairobi. We invited key Kenyan stakeholders including business leaders, international NGOs, bi-lateral funders and foreign dignitaries to hear a brief presentation about MEP.

The MEP event question and answer session. 

 

 

Additionally, we hosted children on Easter break from The Maa Trust at MEP HQ. We gave them a presentation from MEP rangers and they got to speak directly with MEP CEO Marc Goss and see the helicopter up close and personally. The joy in their faces was priceless and we hope to do more of these events in the future to promote a new generation of conservation activists.

The Maa Trust children with MEP CEO Marc Goss.

 

 

To celebrate Earth Day on April 22 we planted 100 seedlings at Ngoswani School and were able to interact with both the students and teachers to teach them about the importance of having and maintaining a sustainable woodlot in this high human-elephant conflict area.

 

Two pupils from Ngoswani School holding a seedling they are about to plant. 

 

We are hugely grateful to have received several significant donations over the last few months including from Alice Yu to fund an elephant collar in the Loita Hills area and from Erica Hoyng and John Dillow toward MEP helicopter flying hours. We have also recently been awarded a grant from For Rangers for ranger welfare and salaries. Another big boost to our fundraising efforts came from a fantastic donation from Lori Price to fund our entire school fence and tree-planting project at Ngoswani School, enabling us to provide protection for both the children and the elephants that roam in the surrounding area. These donations are hugely essential to keeping our programs and operations running and are greatly appreciated, thank you.

The new Ngoswani School gate.

In the last quarter we have been delighted to welcome a number of visitors to MEP HQ including Davina Dobie and Andrea Frey from The Minara Nature Foundation in early May. Having visitors to MEP HQ gives us the opportunity to update supporters first hand on our recent program achievements, show them round our headquarters, meet the ranger team and even track a collared elephant.

 

We continue to update our Amazon Wishlist page with essentials MEP rangers need in the field. This list gives a wide price range of items and a variety of ways you can contribute both large and small amounts that go directly to the frontlines at MEP. It gives donors the opportunity to recognize the very important role of our rangers who work day and night in all types of weather to protect both elephants and the communities who live alongside them in the Mara.

A tactical backpack is one of many items found on MEP’s Amazon Wishlist.

 

 

We are also looking forward to celebrating World Elephant Day on August 12 and are very proud to have been recently accepted as an Associate of World Elephant Day.

World Elephant Day not only gives us the chance to reflect on what we’ve achieved over the last year but also to look to the future and how we can continue to be effective in protecting elephants. An urgent priority for MEP is to raise further funds to keep the only helicopter in the Mara flying, a vital part of our human-elephant conflict prevention toolkit.

DONATE TO HELICOPTER FLYING TIME

CEO Marc Goss piloting the helicopter to guide an elephant into safety. 

Another way you may consider supporting MEP is through making a regular gift. Regular giving is hugely beneficial to MEP as it enables us to plan more effectively for the future and gives us a solid foundation of support. If you would like to support MEP through making a regular gift, please contact our Development Director to get set up.

Finally, we would like to say a huge thank you to those supporters who have recently started a regular gift to MEP and to everyone who has generously supported us over the last few months!