How You Can Help!
Together, we can make a difference!
Let's save our Rhinos! Together, we can make a difference!
What YOU Can Do
The International Rhino Foundation is working around the world to protect rhinos, but there’s so much each of us can do right at home, too – every day – to make a difference.
Learn more about how people just like you have hosted fundraising events to raise awareness and money for rhino conservation and help IRF to save rhinos from extinction!
If you'd like to receive additional information or request materials from IRF to help with your event, please contact us at
info@rhinos-irf.org
Bake Sale. The students in Mrs. Slavick's class at Cook Elementary School in Goshen, Ohio decided to make a difference! The students learned about endangered species and their importance and made a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo to get a closer look at the animals. The students in the class then decorated cookies and cupcakes that were sold at a bake sale to raise money for rhino conservation.
Change Drive. Several years ago, Loretta Platt, a third grade teacher at Como Elementary School from Columbus, Ohio, was looking for a school-wide project to heighten the students' environmental awareness. She decided on a penny collection as a project that would not only involve the participation of all of the students, but also parent volunteers. Como Elementary School contributed $100 from their penny collection to the International Rhino Foundation to help conserve rhinos.
Birthday Party. Jake Wallack, a 10 year old from Rhode Island loves Indian rhinos! For his birthday parties, Jake asks that his guests bring donations for rhino conservation instead of gifts. He has helped raise hundreds of dollars for rhino conservation! Eva Malone recently held a rhino-themed birthday party, where she gave out rhino bookmarks and temporary tattoos from IRF as party favors. Eva helped raise $400 for rhino conservation!
Raffle. The Demarest Middle School Environmental Club from Hoboken, New Jersey, headed by science teacher Ron Buzzanca, raised $225 to support the International Rhino Foundation's efforts to save the rhino. Students convinced local storeowners to donate items that were then auctioned off in a raffle sale, with all proceeds going to rhino conservation.
Create your own website. Jax Bittner is so committed to rhino conservation that he created his own website to talk about his love for rhinos and to educate people and raise money for rhino conservation. (Jax also designed his own rhino fliers for his fundraising campaign!) Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter are other great methods for spreading the word about rhinos!
Sell Rhino Artwork. Sam Glenn, a budding artist from Bristol, England, has two passions - rhinos and dinosaurs! After learning that rhinos around the world are now facing extinction, Sam decided to educate his family, friends and neighbors while also raising money for rhino conservation. Sam began selling his drawings of prehistoric animals to raise money to help protect rhinos, and handing our information about IRF along with his artwork.
Yard Sale. Staff at the Cheehaw Animal Park in Georgia held a “Rummage for Rhinos.” By pooling old and unwanted items and selling them, they raised $1,000 for rhino conservation!
Create awareness videos. As part of their extended study program, 20 dedicated 8th graders from the Jakarta International School's Rhino Club spent a week at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, visiting with keepers and learning all about the Sumatran rhino. As part of the program, teacher Cathy Craig divided the class into teams of four and made short documentary videos about their experience . These passionate young people are using the videos to raise funds for our Adopt-a-Rhino program , and to date, they have raised more than US $2,000 for the SRS.
Special Events. The Denver Zoo keepers raised $10, 000 for the IRF's Sumatran and Javan Rhino Programs by hosting a "Comedy Night at the Zoo." The evening included a bird show, silent auction and the main event, a visit by Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald of Animal Planet’s “Emergency Vet”.
Bowl-A-Thon. Each year the American Association of Zoo keepers (AAZK) sponsors a fund raising bowl-a-thon called "Bowling For Rhinos" (BFR). Over 60 AAZK chapters participate throughout the US and Canada, raising over $300,000 annually. Visit our calendar to see upcoming BFR events near you!
Organize a rhino day at your local Zoo. Ask some volunteers or keepers to talk to visitors about rhino issues in front of the rhino enclosure, or anywhere else in the zoo.
Science Projects. Four-year-old Avery Williamson loves rhinos! For her pre-Kindergarten science project, Avery visited several rhinos at a conservation facility near her home in Jacksonville, FL. She won first place with her poster showing the five different species of rhinos.
Product Sales. Several small businesses interested in rhinos and wildlife have agreed to send out materials about IRF's rhino conservation programs to their customers along with their products, and to devote a percentage of their proceeds for rhino conservation.
IRF works around the world to protect endangered rhinos and conserve their habitats. But wildlife conservation begins with each of us - and you too can make a difference. Learn more about ways you can help to save rhinos!
Raise Money for Rhino Conservation. IRF depends on donations from individuals like you to fund rhino conservation programs around the world. You can support our efforts to save rhinos from extinction by making an online contribution today.
You can also help to raise money and awareness by hosting a fundraising event for IRF within your school or community. Host a bake sale or rummage sale and donate the proceeds towards rhino conservation! Instead of birthday gifts, ask friends and relatives to adopt a rhino on your behalf, or donate money to IRF! Visit this page to get more great fundraising ideas and learn about how people just like you - including kids - have raised money for rhino conservation.
Use GoodSearch.com to help Rhinos! What if the International Rhino Foundation earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support rhino conservation? Well, now it can!
Every time you do an online search, just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter the International Rhino Foundation as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word!
Combat Illegal Wildlife Trade. The primary threat facing rhinos today is poaching. Endangered rhinos throughout Africa and Asia are slaughtered for their horns, which are used in China as traditional medicine, and in the Middle East to make ceremonial daggers. Rhino horn is traded throughout the world on the black market, where an individual horn can often fetch more than $20,000. This trade is illegal - it is restricted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement signed by more than 160 countries, including the U.S. Unfortunately though, due to high demand and high prices, trade in rhino horn continues.
You can help combat illegal wildlife trade in rhino and other endangered species! Be careful about what you purchase, especially when traveling overseas. Don't buy animal products that might threaten the survival of a species, including rhino horn, ivory, turtle shell, caiman or crocodile skin, bird feathers, coral and sea shells.
Reduce Habitat Destruction. Rhinos are in terrible peril from forest loss and habitat conversion. Because rhinos are herbivores and browse for vegetation, they require a large area of land in which to live - an individual rhino territory can be anywhere from 25 to 100 acres. As forests continue to be cleared at alarming rates throughout rhino ranges in Africa, Indonesia and India, rhinos and other species are left homeless, without enough food or shelter to survive in the wild.
Much of this habitat destruction is being driven by the international market and human demand for timber, paper, and other forest products. About 2.3 million square miles of forest are harvested annually to supply global consumption. As a consumer of these forest products, you can make a difference! Don't buy illegally harvested wood and paper products. Look for products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative to ensure that you are supporting responsible forest management. And recycle everything you can!
Spread the Word. Make your voice heard! Write to your Congressional representatives and urge them to support legislation and funding to protect rhinos and other endangered species, combat illegal wildlife trade, and reduce forest destruction. Visit www.congress.org to look up contact information for your representatives.
Tell your family, friends and coworkers about your interest in rhino conservation and urge them to visit IRF's website.
Stay Informed. Sign up for IRF's e-newsletter and receive regular updates on our work to protect and conserve rhinos! You can also visit the Rhino Resource Center to search through thousands of references on the five living rhino species.
Lessen Your Impact on the Earth. The Earth is heating up because gases produced from vehicles, power plants, deforestation, and other sources are building up in the atmosphere, acting like a thick blanket over our planet. Climate change is beginning to alter life on Earth, and could have disastrous consequences for many species already fighting to survive, like rhinos.
Rising temperatures are changing weather and vegetation patterns across the globe, forcing animal species to migrate to new, cooler areas in order to survive. The rapid nature of climate change is likely to exceed the ability of many species to migrate or adjust. Experts predict that one-fourth of Earth's species will be headed for extinction by 2050 if the warming trend continues at its current rate.
Looking for a way to make a difference?
ADOPT A RHINO!
"If I can show kids how cool rhinos are, they will love them just as much as I do, and their parents will want to help them..." ~ Jax
Get your RHINO BANDS!
Me and Adam Eyres at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center
