8th Planting Fundraiser
Last update: June 3, 2022
Grand Total: $9,064.82 / $10,000 (93.52%)
From January 1st through June 3rd we raised $9,064.82 out of our goal to reach $10,000.
We ended up only spending $5,813.47 on 549 plants and $191.40 on 3 meals of vegan food for the 8th Planting.
Project Pitch
Hi! My name is Shreyans, and I am a Life Scout taking on The Guardian Project to save the Burrowing Owls in Shoreline Park. If I successfully enhance their habitat through raising funds and organizing volunteers to purchase and plant California native plants, which increases the prey base for these owls, I will earn the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouts of America.
Within the past 40 years, in Santa Clara County, the number of adult burrowing owls has gone from 500 adult birds down to just 33! The number of their breeding habitats has also been reduced from 250 locations to 4. The greatest threats to the Burrowing Owls are humans urbanizing land and climate change. With your help, we can counteract these threats and help them survive, even thrive, at Shoreline Park.
To accomplish this, I’ve partnered with the nonprofit organization Aisha with an Eye on their project to save the burrowing owls.
Today I am reaching out to you for your help to raise $10,000 to purchase and plant 600 plants, extend Burrowing Owl Billows by ~4000 sq feet, weed out invasive plants, and feed the volunteers during the work with plant-based fuel.
I humbly request that you donate any amount you can towards this campaign. Each 1-gallon plant costs roughly $12. Every dollar counts.
-Shreyans, Boy Scout of America
The weedings were scheduled for 1 Saturday in February and 1 Monday in April:
February 26th from 8am-Noon.
April 4th from 10am-Noon.
The plantings were scheduled for 2 Saturdays in April and May:
April 23rd from 8am-Noon.
May 21st from 8am-Noon.
Kids were at least 13 years old and attended with a parent or guardian.
If you are interested in volunteering, join our mailing list!
Donation Options
We fundraised across multiple platforms because each had different pros and cons for both the donator and the nonprofit.
Raised: $6,305
Pros: Googlers can donate up to $6000 a year and be matched by Google.
Cons: Only Googlers can be matched by Google for their donations. There is no "progress bar" or ability to create campaigns. You can't see individual donation amounts, even anonymously. There is another way to get a Google Match that is better for your taxes, but it's complicated.
Apple Matched
Raised: $300
Pros: Via the Benevity Report, we had a donor donate $100 and be matched by Apple with $200. Apple DOUBLED their donation in their match!
Cons: Burrowing Owl Billows is in Google's backyard in Mountain View and not in Apple's backyard in Cupertino, so the case to get Apple to support the owls more is a bit weaker. However, this donation came unexpectedly, and the owls used to be EVERYWHERE.
Starbucks
Raised: $13.77
Pros: Via the Benevity Report, a donor donated through Starbucks. Because they're not a newer tech company, I didn't realize they did donations.
Cons: The original donation was $15 and then $0.44 was taken out for "cause support fee" and another $0.79 was taken out for "merchant fee." There are ways to donate without so many others taking a cut for their for-profit organizations.
Raised: $50
Pros: Allows multiple videos uploaded to Youtube, from multiple accounts, attached to the same fundraiser. All funds donated go to nonprofit.
Cons: My Youtube audience is either broke or isn't interested in helping save the burrowing owls. You can only donate and check on the fundraiser in the desktop browser. Donations from Youtube aren't clear (Network For Good is probably the middle-man).
Raised: $138.84
Pros: Allows other users, like Shreyans's Instagram, or other accounts, like my personal Instagram account, to become "collaborators" so you can each add the progress bar to your page and create posts that drive attention and make it easy to donate to your fundraiser. All donations go directly to nonprofit.
Cons: Despite my number of followers, very few donations have occurred so far. You can only donate and check on the fundraiser in the mobile app. It's unclear whether donations are coming through Instagram's fundraiser or Facebook page.
Raised: $5
Pros: Users can buy stuff on Amazon using the AmazonSmile link. Amazon then donates 0.5% of user's purchase to nonprofit.
Cons: User must remember to use AmazonSmile link instead of normal Amazon. Nonprofit only gets a check once a minimum of $5 has been collected.
Raised (displayed/paid): $1,655/$1,614.69
Pros: Recognizable fundraising platform. Those whose location is enabled and are nearby will also see your fundraiser.
Cons: Asks for tips to "GoFundMe" service. It turns out they're just a front door for Paypal, so transaction fees apply, which is why you'll notice that I've displayed the "Raised" amount 3 different ways: the first is what is displayed to donators on the main GoFundMe page and the second is how much my charity has actually received The second amount is what is displayed in the Grand Total.
Raised: $33
Pros: Funnest way to fundraise, because of the in-person connect and spectacle of it all.
Cons: It (physically) takes a lot to pull off and requires a lot to prepare for each session. Can only stay up for max 1 hour. If the weather doesn't permit, no can do. Hasn't made a huge amount for how much effort it takes.
Raised: $20.60
Pros: The jar passively generates interest in the project, even if not collecting funds. Simple to set up if you've got the sponsor. Great coffee. Business gets good vibes from project.
Cons: Potentially takes away tips from T's Island Cafe by providing more than one target for change. Project isn't located on the island so it's a harder sell for do-gooders to donate (they like to fund locally).
Raised: $158.68
Pros: It's easy to donate through food because it's obvious the donation is going to a good cause (feeding the volunteers).
Cons: Only so much food is needed so it's not going to amount to a % of the donations. It's hard to track the food because, with the third meal, we used ingredients from the cupboard as well as what was purchased.
Raised: $425.24
Pros: Donators get something tangible back as a token of their donation. That tangible item can help spread the word about the burrowing owls.
Cons: Donators often don't want anything in return for their donation. It takes more effort to make things. My copy is confusing on the site so I started to make an Etsy so it's obvious you're buying something.
