donation – Weekly thoughts

Last year I decided to blog and share only positive news. Well, they were plenty, but somehow all negative and devastating news just sank in, and dark clouds were more visible than golden ones. So I try again, I cannot promise only joyful blogs, but at least I will try to post, something.

At the moment there is an urgent need for our help in several countries. UN and the government of South Sudan have declared the state of famine in the area. Starvation is a real for too many children, and why? Many other countries are under the threat of famine, especially the most vulnerable are children. Horrible war in Syria has been in our minds and hearts, but also Yemen, Somalia, Eastern Nigeria suffer from the effects of war. All starvation and famine, shortage of food is man-made. No almighty nature has caused catastrophes, only acts of wars. In Yemen over 14 million people are in the brink of famine. In South Sudan almost 5 million need help, meaning safety and food. Nearly 12 million Syrians are displaced, living in inhuman conditions suffering from starvation, war actions, fear – this has been going on six years! There are too many other countries suffering from chronic famine, like Philippines: over quarter of children aged 0-2 are severely undernourished. The list is overwhelmingly long.

Sometime ago I talked with my Dad on the phone, and he said wisely that all these horrors are mainly caused of arms industry. I agree. Well, money talks, greediness for power also talks too often. My father’s solution was to strip arms, and instead of fist-fighting in the field. Nice and full of hope of thought, it would at least be more equal and not so awfully monstrous than current situation.

My heart is bleeding for all dying and suffering children. They haven’t done anything to deserve the cruelty they have to live in. It is our adult duty to help.

There are several ways to donate, some are more secure than others. UNICEF helps directly in war zones (whenever they have access into crisis areas). Pick your own, but act.

A few of weeks ago I posted of my digital experiment as a part of my digital marketing specialization program, and I submitted a picture onto threadless.com. Unfortunately my submission was declined. Totally my bad, because I just submitted a picture, nothing else. So my intention was to create a new submission linked to Threadless product line. Intended for too long, Threadless reached me before my action. The company suggested me to create a webstore of my own. My first reaction: what a… never. But then a couple nights after I had an idea to open webstore to sell Threadless products with my own design, and to donate 50 % of my sales share to organizations, which preserve wildlife, especially elephants.

Two more weeks, and I got untold help from my dearest, I decided to open online shop. Threadless offers an opportunity to create an online shop to sell its products, but designed by anyone. Online shop model is called Artist Shop.

The design of mine is my tattoo. I drew it about 15 years ago, and got tattooed. So to me it is very personal, private I could say, but also something larger. Why elephant? Elephants are gentle, they communicate in several ways – touches and sounds and gestures and moves, they live in herds lead by matriarch taking care of each other, they are essential to our ecosystem, they don’t have any natural enemies (except poaching humans), they wander thousands of kilometers annually and they are able to share drinking spots and food fields with other species (if not too threatened). Elephants are playful, learning, sentient creatures.

We humans exploit elephants many ways: we think they can entertain us and live in very unbearable conditions (circus, tourist attractions, zoos), some even think to have elephants as pets at the back yard (!), etc. Touristic elephants are mainly ill-treated, must live in such circumstances that not even close to their natural habits. Elephants rides might seem to fun, but most of those elephants work almost 24/7, having some food, some water, but nothing else than a huge work load. Elephants yearn to wander around freely, having their own speed, space, communication to their peers. Not walking around a circle getting hit every time turning off the road.

Back to my objective. I opened an online shop to sell t-shirts, hoodies, baby clothes (products by Threadless). I will donate 50% of my sales share to the organizations preserving great mammals, especially elephants, but also rhinos, orangutans – all species under the thread of becoming extinct. My target is to sell so many t-shirts that I can donate at least 1000 US dollars to 1-3 organizations mentioned annually. I will donate quarterly, or when there is at least $100 to donate.

How Threadless manages Artist Shops? If I sell a t-shirt at the price $25, Threadless’s share is about 75% ($18). My share is $7. Threadless has all rights to any additional expenses, so my share can be less. But ideally every t-shirt I sell via my online store transfers $7 onto my account. Of the sum ($7 x ?) I shall donate 50% to the selected elephant sanctuaries and trust and organizations helping wildlife to survive. I will publish the sales statistics monthly or quarterly – depending, how the sales keeps ongoing. Why I don’t donate all? I have some expenses to cover, my intention is not make business, my only target is to donate. I will analyze the business flow continually, to fix donation percentage more consistent.

I wish sincerely you can share this message (even if not buying) to reach as many we can together. Save great mammals! No poaching!

The link to my online shop: https://norsumarketing.threadless.com/

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am glad to answer.

Book I recommend highly: An African Love Story by Dame Daphne Sheldrick.

#savegreatmammals #nopoaching # norsumarketing #elephantsanctuary

Tag: donation

Time to help!

Save great mammals, Digital experiment further, part 2