Tribewanted: Vorovoro

This is also posted on the Forum, posting here also for those who can’t or don’t access it…...

So, a month has passed since the end-of-series party for Paradise Or Bust TV programme, and what a night it was !! One of the key objectives for the evening was to raise awareness of the Tribewanted Dream Foundation (or TWDF for short) and also raise as much money as possible for some very worthy projects we are looking to undertake in the near future. The evening was a very successful one for us on both counts. Helen Lang providing an overview of TWDF, it’s goals and recent activity. David Natale (the infamous Gilligan) hosted a raffle with a wide range of prizes – top prize being a free week on Vorovoro (flights not included !!). Stuart Kimberley (Kimbo) was auctioned off to the highest bidder for whatever purpose the winner could find for him. All in all the evening raised £920 for the TWDF coffers, so a huge “Thankyou” to all of you who dug deep over the course of the evening.

To keep the momentum going we will endeavour to give regular updates on our activities going forward, and that is the purpose of this update.

As Helen mentioned during the party a large proportion of what we are doing right now is pretty tedious. Over the weekend preceding the party the Trustee’s met face-to-face to review where we are, and where we are going, to ensure we have the correct framework in place to make TWDF a long-term success. This involves wading through and completing a lot of documentation to satisfy Charities Commission guidelines and legal requirements. Progress is steady rather than speedy, an unavoidable consequence of us being geographically dispersed and also being volunteers with our ongoing daily lives to manage. The key pieces of documentation at this time are called the Memorandum and Articles Of Association, and is important because it covers the whole range of who / how / why / what / when type of questions as to the existence and functioning of TWDF, the Trustee’s, and it’s members.

A “virtual” office space is being set up in order to have a permanent non-residential address for TWDF. TWDF will be registered as a Not-for-Profit Company, so this avoids individual Trustee’s having a company registered at their home address, which for most of them is subject to change in the foreseeable future anyway !!

Money is a whole lot more exciting !! The TWDF bank account has been up and running for quite some time. The proceeds from the party and subsequent donations meant we were able to deposit £1014 into the TWDF account a couple of weeks ago. Anyone with a UK bank account can make donations direct by electronic transfer to:

Account Name  : TW Dream Foundation
              Account number: 65253025
              Bank sort code: 089299
              Bank Name     : The Co-operative Bank

This is our preferred method for UK based donations.

Donations can also be made via PayPal (to dreamfoundationtrustees@tribewanted.com) but these incur a fee which is paid by TWDF, so use electronic transfer to allow us to get the most from your donations if you can !! Please note that at the moment the PayPal links on the TWDF blog page are directing payments to Jonny’s personal PayPal account – this will be fixed shortly by Aaron. Rest assured that donations received here have been transferred to TWDF !! If you prefer cheques then simply donate over the counter at your local bank, making cheques payable to the account details above.

Since we are still in the process of getting Charities Commission registration we are unable to implement Gift Aid at this time, whereby we can claim back income tax from your donations to make them go even further.

As a reminder, here are the projects we are currently raising money to support, each of which will have an extremely positive effect on the local community:

• To provide professional advice to look at the potential to construct seawalls for three villages. Rising sea levels mean that many of these communities are at much higher risk of flooding – a seawall would provide a way to preserve livelihoods. Cost: £9500 tbc.
• Provide water tanks for two villages. This will give the local people a regular supply of fresh drinking water. Cost: £8000
• Provide composting toilets for three villages. This will provide safe and sanitary toilets for two communities of 50-100 people. Cost: £2000
• Construct a community hall. This will provide a community space for 100 people it will be used for local groups, enterprises, families to meet, work and better support their needs. Cost: £10500

A stack of items is steaming its way towards Suva as we speak, including a large collection of National Geographic magazines for the school/library, other books and assorted items. These should arrive early April, at which point we need to work out the logistics of getting them to their intended location.

As well as regular blog updates we are planning a TWDF membership scheme with newsletters dedicated to TWDF news, ideas and updates on fundraising, and volunteer opportunities for those of you who want a closer relationship with us. This is in the early stages of planning right now and will be implemented once registration is complete.

For those of you with any questions or ideas about fundraising, donations, or volunteering you can e-mail us here:

dreamfoundationtrustees@tribewanted.com

There is also a Facebook group ( http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6336016586 ) that has been set up for TW members and non-members alike and will be opened up for general use shortly. The Trustee’s will merge collate ideas and discussions together in our regular updates, which will be posted here on the forum and on the Facebook group. We would be more than happy to hear from you through any of these routes.

And we’d also be more than happy for you to spend 2 minutes making a donation too !! And if you’ve already donated, why not ask your friends and family if they would like to make a donation ? With the recent publicity from the TV programme many TW members will know people who are far more interested in TW now than at the start of the year, so strike whilst iron is hot !!

Many thanks to you all for your continued generosity,

The Trustees.