Donation Doubling Days!
Dear friends and followers of BRC,
Today – March 1st 2022 – marks the start of our 3rd and final spring count in Batumi. A historic day, which also marks the start of our final sprint to complete the crowdfunding for the BRC autumn count of 2022. Of course, it feels strange to make this announcement while Ukraine is suffering an invasion from the same aggressor that invaded Georgia during the summer of the first Batumi Raptor Count in 2008. However, it is precisely by celebrating our common values, such as the love for nature and birds, that we can create strong friendships across national and cultural borders, and build a more peaceful future.
Since we started our campaign late December, we have been fortunate to receive 192 donations totalling 17.200EUR. That means we are tantalisingly close to reaching our 20.000EUR target. Close … but no count just yet!
In order to help us reach our fundraising target, our long-time friends at the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia (OSME) now generously offered to match all donations made between March 1st – 15th, up to a total of 2000EUR!
In other words: by making a donation in the coming days, you can make every euro you donate count double! More than ever, now is the time to step up and support your favourite raptor migration project.
The BRC community already showed great strength by helping us get so far in our crowdfunding efforts. But we do need to reach the 20K target in order to continue our long-term raptor migration monitoring in Georgia – which offers a unique tool to monitor raptor populations in the East African-Eurasian flyway, and remains the backbone for all the other good work we do in Georgia. The sooner we reach our fundraising target, the sooner we can guarantee the autumn count for 2022, and the more energy and time we can invest in additional efforts to counter raptor persecution in Georgia.
Yours in raptor research and conservation, for the love of birds and people,
The Batumi Raptor Count team