Save the Rhino

Post #91: Tuesday 18 December- Nearly Christmas...

2007-12-18T11:12:00.001Z

Hello there rhino fans, it has been a busy few months hasn't it? We have been trying to sort out the office so we can all take a few days off over the festive period. This includes all the exciting things like backing up emails, sorting through old action points, and later this week, a proper down and dirty session with the stockroom. The stockroom has got an almost mythical status attached to it at the moment; it currently contains all our precious rhino costumes, as well as back copies of The Horn and all the paraphernalia associated with saving those rhinos. At the moment it is all piled up making it impossible to get in the door, and if you do manage that feat it tends to lead to a krypton factor-style course dodging envelopes, magazines and large plastic rhino heads to find what you need. Going to the storeroom is less of a chore than an expedition. However, we are going to send in a team this friday and brave it together. Save the Rhino; known for its extreme endurance events.

I know it can't get more exciting than hearing about this, but the fun event this week was the delivery of our new lovely merchandise product: stylish logo shopper bags. Unbelievably environmentally friendly, easily folded and, let's face it, pretty cute, they are the new star product of our shop. Watch this space for some more exciting modelling of the bags by our professionals currently displaying wares in the online shop. Email henry@savetherhino.org for an up-to-date portfolio.

Merry Christmas all,

Hx

Post #90: Thursday 289 November- Whoops...

2007-11-29T10:16:00.000Z

Hey rhino fans,

Whoops! It has been gently pointed out to me by a big fan of the blog that we have failed to post anything for quite a while now, which is shamefully lax. All I can say is that we have been very busy saving rhinos, and have let it slip somewhat.
This month has actually been a very busy one, with most of us being away at various times on courses, meetings and project visits. There was one day when I was the only one in the office! So lots of dancing round, drinking beer and singing...uh, no. Sadly, I sat and wrote a proposal and then answered all your emails. We are a dedicated lot here, and I know how upset you would have been if we hadn't answered your questions and comments straight away.

I haven't really been participating in these trips away, but I did get a couple of days out of the office at the beginning of this month. Cathy and I went to a Symposium on conservation trade-offs, with lots of different speakers from all over the world. It is good to meet up with other people in the field, and make sure we are up-to-date on all the recent debates and issues. Cathy was also asked to give a presentation at the end of the conference, which meant we were able to talk about the problems facing fundraisers as well as field workers and policy makers. All in all, a good use of a couple of days, and it was at London Zoo so we spent lunchtime wondering round with the animals. No rhinos unfortunately, but not a bad way to spend your day!

Some of you may also have seen us on the BBC News the other night, after the poaching in Zimbabwe. Three rhinos were shot dead at the Imire ranch, which is a worrying development for the wildlife of Zimbabwe, particularly as they were dehorned and the poachers only got away with an inch of horn from each. You can read more about the story on our website, and on the bbc news website. It just goes to show that we are needed more than ever if these amazing animals are to stand any chance of survival.

Keep up the good work!

Hx

Post #89: Wednesday 31 October- It's been a while...

2007-10-31T10:12:00.000Z

I've had a busy time since we last spoke. I spent a very productive evening last week at a meeting for all charities who have runners in the London Marathon, and learning about all the new plans for next year, as well as having a bit of a gossip with some other charity workers. Apparently the highest amount raised by a single runner last year was over £29,000! A phenomenally good effort, but if you think you can better it, feel free to sign up for a Gold Bond place on our team. We'd love to have you.

We are all winding down now after the excitement of Horn stuffing days. We stamp, stuff and label every envelope by hand to make sure you lot all get a copy of the magazine, so hopefully you feel it is worth all the effort. Henry and I then have great fun pushing trolleys full of postal sacks through Borough market to the post office, making ourselves really popular with the post office workers there. Despite our best efforts though, some copies do come back with the wrong address on. If you do move house, please remember to let us know. After all, you wouldn't want to miss out, would you?

Hx

Post#88: Our new magazine is here

2007-10-19T17:35:00.001+01:00

Hello all,

Henry here. The magazine has been printed, and despite some stationery-related mishaps of my own device, we've sent out all the copies. So if you think you should receive it and you haven't by next week, let me know and we'll see what the problem is.

One problem may be that you're no longer a member of Save the Rhino, a benefit of which is subscription to the magazine. Since it's a brilliant issue this time, if I do say so myself, you really do want to receive a copy. Sign up as a member by going to our website and clicking on the 'Support Us' tab - you get tons of benefits, and your money goes to a great cause, and it's a mere £3 per month. Come on.

To all the current members - thanks as ever for your really important, continuing support, and I hope you like the magazine. Let me know what you like about it, or if you have any ideas for next time.

Back soon.

Post #87: Stuffing the Horn

2007-10-17T17:53:00.000+01:00

Hi, it's Cathy. Today the new issue of The Horn arrived, our lovely magazine that comes out twice a year, and it's full of great articles from the projects we support. So tomorrow is set aside for stuffing - we'll all be sitting round the table, with piles of labels, stamps and envelopes in front of us, and then Santa-like (yipes, another Christmas reference already) we'll drag sacksful off to the Post Office.
We decided we need some suitable music to accompany The Horn stuffing, and so the challenge was on to find some animal-related tunes. The playlist so far: Gorillaz, Howlin' Wolf, the Leningrad Cowboys, the best of the Eagles, Eek-a-mouse, and Youssou n'Dour's album, "The Lion". That's quite a mix...
If you want to be sure of getting your copy of The Horn, then make us a nice donation, sign up for the London Marathon, or become a member. Our website, www.savetherhino.org has all the details.

Post #86 - Christmas already?

2007-10-15T17:57:00.000+01:00

Cathy here, a little freaked out because in our fortnightly action points meeting this morning, there were two mentions of Christmas. Blimey, I've got so much to do before the end of October, let alone 25 December, yet we're talking about it already.

Reason being that we've decided to get some sexy new merchandise - some Save the Rhino logo'd recycled fabric shopping bags - perfect for the High Street and even better for New Bond Street. Think I'll be buying a few myself, nothing like being a walking billboard for my favourite charity.

And a kind person has offered us lots of rhino greeting cards to sell and raise money for the cause. How nice!

So it's not quite tinsel round the pc time, but it's all looking a bit real.

Post #85: Friday 12 October - The Good Life

2007-10-12T17:15:00.000+01:00

Phew! It's Friday. I have spent the day sorting out our finances and running to the bank, which was terribly exciting. I am contracted to spend every Monday and Friday on admin, which seems to be neverending. Who knows how Henry did it all before the internship came along, but at least now he has more time to be on the phone chatting to the Inland Revenue.

It has been a busy week, as I have been writing my first proposal for funding. We apply to various trusts and charities for funding for projects, and need to get across how important and beautiful these animals are, and why they need saving. It is my job to get funding for one of our projects in Namibia, who need money to look after their camels.
The camels are used by the Save the Rhino Trust in Namibia to patrol the rugged terrain, and track the population of black rhino they are protecting. Unfortunately, the lions in the region appear to have started to view the team as a ready supply of food, and we need to find some secure housing to make sure the camels are safe for the night. At the moment, only the trackers stand between the lion and dinner, which isn't a pleasant situation!

A lot of the projects use innovative methods like these to do their job in sometimes pretty hostile terrain. Although I may have a lot of fighting with our database in this job, at least I have a warm lion-free bed at night...

Hannah x

Post #84 - Thursday 11 October - Talk to me!

2007-10-11T17:51:00.000+01:00

Henry here. I'm back!
It's my first blog on blogger, which we're using because it's totally interactive and you, the reader, can post comments on our entries. If I'm entirely honest, my previous blogs on everything from writing our monthly ezine to Save the Rhino's current VAT situation haven't met with a fantastic response from you, the audience. Even that piece on charities reclaiming tax from a couple of months ago, which I thought was a barmstormer, resulted in very few emails to my inbox. I'd like that to change please, starting today.
As well as being here to entertain the general public with stories of working behind the scenes of a small charity, I want to speak to others in the charity sector. I don't think we share information enough, and we could make things easier by asking each other for advice. For example, I've just started claiming Gift Aid on membership payments, and it's taken me months of wrangling with HMRC to sort it out. I'm sure it doesn't have to be that hard - and I'm sure there are hundreds of us out there who have had to do the same thing from scratch.
So let's get talking, charities. And you too, non-charity people. Let's use this interactivity to start something cool.

Post # 83: Wednesday 10 October - My first blog!!

2007-10-10T16:48:00.000+01:00

Hi, Fiona here, the new Events Manager at Rhino HQ. I can’t believe I’ve been here 2 weeks. The time has just flown by - learning all about the projects we support, the different rhino species, how to use the databases in the office, all the previous events and most excitingly all the events we have coming up!! There’s so much going on and it’s good to be getting really stuck into it all now.

Cathy and I had lunch with Chloe Chick today, who is one of our patrons and also was the founding member of 3 Peaks 3 Weeks (Mt Kili, Mt Kenya and Mt Meru). It was so lovely to meet with her after reading all about the challenge and hearing so much about her. We talked all about the upcoming 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Film Premiere which is taking place at the Royal Geographical Society in March 2008. I’ve seen clips from the film but can’t wait to see the whole thing. It looks like it’s going to be very emotional watching the team struggling on the climbs but what a sense of achievement when they make it to the peaks! To watch it for yourself just click here. Tickets will be on sale soon so keep an eye on our website.

Fiona

Post # 82: Tuesday 9 October - VAT evasion!

2007-10-09T16:45:00.000+01:00

Hi, Cathy here. I should have been at a VAT and charities seminar this afternoon, hosted by Saffery Champness, the lovely people who are helping us to go VAT registered and thus reclaim lots of even lovelier money. But a meeting with a potential funder this morning threw up lots of questions that I have to find answers to, and quickly, and I'm also supposed to be writing the Annual Report for 2006-7, so that we can get it printed in time to mail out to donors etc with the next issue of our magazine, The Horn, next week. Henry is at the VAT seminar so hopefully he will come back with all the gen...

Meanwhile Petra has been inducting Hannah and Fiona in all things rhino - what the five species look like, why they're endangered, and what field projects we support to help conserve them. Hannah's now in week 6 and Fiona in 3, so about time they found out what makes us tick!

Post # 81: Monday 8 October - Trusts and Foundations galore!

2007-10-08T16:56:00.000+01:00

Hi - a very happy Petra here.

We have finally been sent the Directory of Social Change's new books of UK Trusts and Foundations. These beauties list all grant-giving bodies in the UK, together with information about their funding preferences, contact details, lists of previous year's beneficiaries and a lot of other useful information that makes life easier if you are planning to approach a Trust for project funding.

They call it the fundraiser's bible, and I can't think of a more fitting description. I was actually a bit lost for a while after we'd given our old books to Duncan Purchase of the Zambezi Society to take with him to Zimbabwe and before the much-awaited new edition arrived.

I've already started reading volume one, trying to find funders that might warm to saving rhinos. I'm on page 24, so another 853 to go and more updates to follow, no doubt!

Petra

Post #80 - Jennie's last day :(

2007-10-05T17:40:00.001+01:00

Hi! Jennie writing (membership volunteer). Jennie’s last day at Save the Rhino! Booooo. New job at PETA! Yaaaaay! Whatever. I think getting paid for your work is over-rated. Ha ha. Boy will I miss the SRI office. Everyone has been so great, and it’s rare to find an office with such a friendly and lively bunch of people. And they all love rhinos! What more could you ask for? Doing volunteer work here has given me the experience I needed to get my new job with PETA, where hopefully rhinos will fit into the animals that I will be helping to save. Maybe at my new job I will be able to stop rhino-skin handbags from becoming the next big thing. You know all the movie stars and fashion icons love the leathery toughness and lovely, wrinkly greyness of the rhino-skin handbag, complete with fly zipper accessories (made from real flies!). I will definitely have to put a stop to that in advance. My favourite part of my volunteer work has been organising SRI’s picture collection (where I got to see photos of some of the rhinos and other wildlife at various SRI projects in Africa, busses stuck in the mud, giraffe’s posing for the camera, and various friends of SRI looking tipsy at fundraising events), doing various research projects on a wide variety of subjects, and personally lending a hand in bringing in new members for Save the Rhino. With an easy-to-use membership database up-to-date and running, I think my time is done here. I hope to work closely with SRI in the future, as my ultimate goal is to run conservation projects of my own. So in the future, they may see me riding past on a white rhino and waving hello. I heart Save the Rhino!

Post #79: Friday 21 September - The end of the lollypop

2007-09-21T15:46:00.000+01:00

Well here I am on my last day at Save the Rhino. It's been such an amazing year and I've really loved working at Rhino HQ and getting to know the extended rhino family.

Never again will I experience the joys of cash batching, or wrestle with eTarget's latest "fix". Never again will I spend half an hour trying to get the security shutters to close over the front door. And never again will I lose all of Henry's special pencils. It's a sad day.

Still, I'm not gone for good. I'm going to be volunteering at the Surfin' Safari in a few weeks, and I'm sure I'll still pop in from time to time and bother everyone when they're trying to do their work. So it's not really goodbye.

Lizzie

Post #79: Thursday 20 September - Visitors from London and Zimbabwe

2007-09-20T15:45:00.000+01:00

We had the most lovely visitors to the office today, Neil Bridgland, our former Events Manager, and Ness Buxton, longtime rhino friend, and then Duncan Purchase from Zimbabwe, back in London briefly from his conference in Oxford. It's such a treat to meet the people who are actually helping us to do our work. (Sigh. Now I'm at it. Please make it stop.)

It's been such a flurry of proposal-writing and trip-creating that I haven't had a chance to tell you about Tuesday evening, when Petra and I went along to an auction at Holt's in aid of Safari Club International Foundation and Hluhluwe Game Reserve, once of the projects Save the Rhino supports. The auctioneer rattled through over 50 lots in an hour, and succeeded in raising a terrific amount for us - just totting up the final figure and then I'll let you know. Fingers crossed it'll be enough to buy the two new motorbikes and 18 Landcruiser tyres needed by the project.

Off home now, still on Kamchatka time I think, so have been doing some funny hours this week...

Cathy

Post #78: Wednesday 19 September - a question for you

2007-09-19T15:44:00.000+01:00

Hello all. Our magazine is well and truly on its way now. The images are all there, all the articles are with our graphic designer, and it's looking good. And I've been doing the accounts!

In other news, I'm still working on our first ever direct marketing appeal. We've been canvassing opinion in the office and considering how we should word our appeal letter: and I'd like to open this up to you, our readers. Which charity appeals have you been impressed with? Ones that ask nicely? Or the ones that metaphorically pin you against a wall and say 'DONATE NOW, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY'?

I prefer the nicely-nicely approach, but with a hint of emergency. What do you think?

Next time, I might tell you all about our website optimisation strategy, so stay tuned.

- Henry

Post #77: Monday 17 September - back from the bears

2007-09-17T10:23:00.000+01:00

Wow, my heart is still with the rhinos but I do love bears! Kenneth (husband) and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Kamchatka in the far east of Russia, where we saw brown bears, an early pair of Steller's sea eagles, arctic hares, ground squirrels and 1,000s of reindeer. What an amazing place Kamchatka is - volcanoes, tundra, taiga, lakes, and sunsets (and sunrises) to die for.

The return to the office was sweetened with a couple of bars of yummy Russian chocolate for the team so I don't think they mind that the big bad wolf boss is back too much. And by all accounts, it's been a bit of a social whirl while I've been away...

Haven't quite got brain into gear just yet, still recovering from 12 hour time difference issues, but at least I've read everything in my inbox once, even if there are quite a few replies still needed.

Wish me a good night's sleep. Cathy

Post #76: Friday 14 September - No more visitors

2007-09-14T23:27:00.000+01:00

No more visitors today, but lots of little things going on. It is that time to sort out all the loose ends that have gone on all week, and chase up people who haven't yet got back to us.

A nice highlight of today was an order for a load of poo planters as gifts for wedding guests. Bit more exciting than those sugared almonds that no one eats, and pretty unique. If you would like a more eco-friendly and rhino themed wedding (and lets be honest, who wouldn't), then I still have some left in stock: just give me a call...

Also got another membership application through the post today. Only £3 a month, the price of a sandwich, and you can get all the exciting goodies and intangible benefits of being an official member of the Save the Rhino team. All the cool people are doing it now. And I expect to see that certificate framed when I next come home Dad...

H x

Post #75: Wednesday 12 September - Vistors from theatre land

2007-09-12T21:34:00.000+01:00

We had a most lovely visitor to the office today, Paul Handley from the Royal Court Theatre in London's Sloane Square! It's such a treat to meet the people who are actually doing the work in the field...(of theatre).

Paul and co are putting on a production of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros and they're interested in using our costume. Of course they had to see what they look like on, so I volunteered to model one for them. I quite enjoy being in the rhino costume, but every time I wear one my respect for our marathon runners grows. It was actually getting a bit painful after 10 minutes, so five hours plus is truley heroic!

Coincidentally, an early 90s production of Rhinoceros is responsible for our infamous London Marathon rhino costumes, which we were donated after the show ended. Our costumes were designed by Gerald Scarf and made by the Jim Henson Creature Workshop, and they've held up pretty well given that they were originally designed for just half an hour on stage! They will need replacing at some stage though, and we're currently looking around for companies or individuals who'd like to sponsor a new rhino costume or two for us. If you know anyone or might be interested, please email petra@savetherhino.org.

All from me today, apart from to say that we'd really love you all to come to our boat party in October, Surfin' Safari. Find out more about it and order tickets here.

Lizzie

Post #74: Tuesday 11 September - Visitors from Zimbabwe

2007-09-11T20:34:00.000+01:00

We had a most lovely visitor to the office today, Mr Duncan Purchase from Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe! It's such a treat to meet the people who are actually doing the work in the field...It was great to meet Duncan at last, since through the technology of Skype I've got to know him and the project he works on quite well (see the 'What We Do' section above for more details). As Petra just said, it's great to meet people from the projects because it really brings things to life - we hear about the measures the projects are taking to really protect the rhino where it's found in the wild, and makes all the work sitting in the office in London seem really worthwhile.

Otherwise, there are some cool things in the pipeline here - this week I'm going to see people at 23red, a creative design agency, to discuss the direct marketing appeal, and I've just sent the copy for our magazine to Jim at the graphic designer's. We've finally completed reorganising our membership records. And I'm doing some accounting too. It's all go.

Back soon - Henry

Post #74: Friday 7 September - Visitors from Kenya

2007-09-08T03:33:00.000+01:00

We had a most lovely visitor to the office today, Mr Richard Bonham from the Chyulu Hills! It's such a treat to meet the people who are actually doing the work in the field; and to hear the good and bad news; and to chat about future developments and initiatives. When you're fundraising for a project somewhere in the bush in Kenya, it’s really useful to hear the stories first-hand, and it works wonders for your motivation.

I can’t wait for Duncan Purchase’s visit next week, he is here from the Zambezi Society so we'll hear all about the rhino in Zimbabwe, and get to put a face to a name. Think Mr French here will be especially pleased, him and Duncan work closely together, so over to him....

From a very motivated Petra

Post #73: Wednesday 5 September - Surfing Rhinos

2007-09-05T22:33:00.000+01:00

Lizzie here again. I'm still here even though Hannah's started, as it seemed a good idea to have a bit of a handover for a few weeks. Plus, we need someone to keep all our events ticking over until Fiona starts.

The main event I'm working on at the moment is our boat party, the Surfin Safari, which is going to be fab. We've hired the tallest boat on the river, the Dutch Master, and we're going to pack it full of free drinks, music (courtesy of the Bikini Beach Band and our friends from White Rhino in Brighton), games, rhino costumes and yet more drinks. Click here to find out more and to download a ticket order form. We'd love you all to come.

Lizzie

Post #72: Monday 3 September - Dawning of a new era...?

2007-09-04T00:32:00.000+01:00

It's a bit of an odd time at Save the Rhino at the moment. Cathy is on holiday, Zoe has left, Lizzie is heading off to more academic pursuits in a couple of weeks...and I'm in. I'm Hannah, the new Michael Hearn Intern, so will be acting as the new Lizzie. And it seems I'm going to have a hard act to follow.

Today is my first day in the Save the Rhino office, meeting everyone and finding out what this is all about. It is a pretty busy organisation for such a small office, so I am going to have my work cut out trying to get on top of everything. Fortunately, it is such a good cause that it will be worth all the effort in the end.

I'm being kept busy already, receiving applications for the London Marathon. A good effort from a lot of keen people who are crazy enough to want to run a ridiculous distance dressed as a rhino in order to raise pots of cash. Let's hope the rhinos appreciate it. If you want to join them, then we still have plenty of places left but you might want to get in early so you can start all that training; just email me and I can send you an application form.

Other than that, everyone in here is very helpful, I'm allowed my own stapler, and people have been making tea for me all day. I suspect this final one isn't going to last...

H x