Dear amazing Avaazers,
Ever wonder what happens
to the money we all donate to Avaaz? Scroll down to find out
the latest!
Start with this beautiful
video about
the nature reserve we funded with a threatened Maasai
community to protect their very existence on the land!
"I
may not know you personally, but I could feel your spirit and
my community feels your kindness.
Thank you. Asante
sana!"
- Nelson Ole Reiyia,
Nashulai Maasai Conservancy leader
This
reserve happened because
55,000 of us took an amazing leap
of hope and trust to donate to Avaaz. Many of us take this
leap each year, and we are changing the world in beautiful and
jaw-dropping ways!
Like the lives we just saved in
Myanmar:
Thousands of Rohingya families were trapped when the
Burmese military began a massive ethnic cleansing assault on
them. So over 47,000 of us paid for relief and a rescue
mission, with boats working around the clock to bring them to
safety in Bangladesh.
"In
the midst of horrific persecution and ethnic cleansing, the
Avaaz global movement’s generous response is bringing hope and
help to Rohingya families!"
- Claire Gibbons,
Partners Relief and Development
And it’s
not just in Myanmar -- Avaazers raised over 2 million dollars
to help civilians trapped in Syria, funding the
White Helmets, a
brave volunteer rescue brigade for families trapped under the
bombs.
And we supported conservation heroes too -
helping bring hundreds of wildlife poachers to justice!!
Over
64,500 of us funded brave undercover
investigators to infiltrate poaching rings in Africa, to
gather the evidence to hold them to account. And it led to 218
arrests!
"The
illegal wildlife trade has pushed elephants, apes, lions and
many other animals to the brink of extinction. The Avaaz
global movement helped defenseless wildlife fight back,
putting hundreds of traffickers and many corrupt officials
behind bars."
- Ofir Drori - EAGLE (Eco
Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement)
And we’re doing amazing things in politics too --
like taking the fight to the far-right wherever they are on
the march!
See the full story here.
We ran sophisticated election campaigns to
stop the far-right taking power in France and across Europe,
and organised massive rallies for tolerance in the Netherlands
and Germany.
And that’s just scratching the surface --
here's a couple more examples of what we've done together this
year:
We’ve got Monsanto on the run.
When scientists linked Monsanto’s biggest pesticide
with cancer, we were THE driving force behind a global
campaign for a ban. 50,000 of us donated to power a
hard-hitting media and advertising campaign -- and Europe is
now on the cusp of a
glyphosate ban! 
And we funded a
global
seedbank to fight back against chemical agriculture! Now
any farmer anywhere can source a wide variety of plants for
free, giving them an alternative to genetically modified
seeds.
We powered a network providing safe
houses and support to help gay people escape Chechnya’s
crackdown. When reports emerged of gay people being
dragged off to torture camps, we funded groups on the ground
organizing rescues and protection.
Plus we’ve taken journalists into war
zones, funded scienctific studies to save bees, and paid for
education for Syrian refugees.
Our gifts funded all of
this to happen in 2017, ON TOP of the
hundreds of online
and offline campaigns for a better world that land in our
inboxes every week! Over the years we've become incredibly
effective on each and every one of these campaigns. That story
is for another email :)
But it’s not just the money we
raise. It’s HOW we raise it that makes Avaaz such a powerful
force for good in the world. Here’s four things that make us
special:
- Avaaz members are in charge - we don’t take money
(ever!) from government, foundations, corporations or large
donors. Only our members are in charge of Avaaz, meaning we
can fund high-impact work that is too risky for others, like
our undercover wildlife stings!
- We get political to get things done -- Our
donations are not tax deductible -- so we can get involved
in politics, like campaigning in elections to help hope
defeat hate.
- We’re lightning fast -- We can raise a million
dollars in hours, and spend it straight away, helping us
save lives in places like Myanmar and Syria with hardly any
bureaucratic delays.
- We give away millions -- When a great idea to
change the world needs funding, we make it happen. We’ve
given away over 24 million dollars to those best placed to
help us win -- from funding scientific studies to buying a
rainforest for orangutans.
Some people worry that the nonprofit
sector can be wasteful and slow. But Avaaz moves at lightning
speed. Our movement has won awards for its effectiveness, and
our campaigns are held up all over the world as shining
examples of people power in action.
When Nelson first
shared his vision with the Avaaz team, of that Maasai-managed
nature reserve -- we knew right away that Avaazers would love
it. Not just because brilliant ideas like these are
infectious, but because the optimism and solidarity and
generosity of this community is one truly remarkable constant
in these crazy times.
Thank you, so much, to everyone
in this movement, for being who you are, and doing what you
do.
With respect and gratitude,
Ricken and the
whole Avaaz team
PS. Let others know about the
everyday magic the Avaaz community makes -
share the video report back here!
