Ecosystem Restoration Camps (ERC)

John D. Liu is an ecologist, film maker, and the visionary behind the Ecosystem Restoration Camps (“ERC”) movement. He is also Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and Visiting Fellow at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology.

Mr. Liu has studied and worked to promote the potential of ecological restoration, and has been championing the solutions for more than thirty years. He entered the public eye by documenting the legendary Loess Plateau restoration project, which features in his documentary ‘Green Gold’. The documentary narrates the restoration of a heavily degraded area of 640,000 Km2— almost the size of the Netherlands— into a green oasis. This experience had a life-changing impact on him and persuaded him that humans have the power to restore degraded ecosystems on a large scale. In 2016 John founded the ERC with the aim of catalyzing action towards rehabilitating natural systems to maintain the web of life. 

Healthy ecosystems underpin everything that humanity needs, but 75% of our Earth is degraded. Climate Disruption, the biodiversity crisis, desertification, flooding, loss of livelihoods, poverty and hunger are directly linked to collapsing ecosystems. Humanity is degrading and depleting its most important resource: functioning natural systems.

The need for addressing these crises and for a change to a resilient, regenerative and sustainable co-existence with our natural world is understood. Yet, worldwide, people feel powerless to turn the tide. ERC is, in response, is catalyzing a global movement for restoring and rehabilitating our degraded ecosystems and changing the way we live with nature through introducing regenerative productive systems. 

We empower people to restore our earth, bring back abundance, and realize the power of each individual to create massive positive change. We ensure a prosperous future through a simple concept: Let’s go camping and work together to restore our earth and communities.

Ecosystem degradation is a major threat to all living forms, including humans. About 80% of our forests are lost and deforestation continues at an enormous rate. The UNCCD says 12 million ha of arable land are lost to desertification annually, affecting 1.5 billion people in over 100 countries. Without immediate action, many parts of the world will become uninhabitable in the next 50 years. Problems such as food insecurity, loss of soil-fertility, loss of livelihoods, and conflict over resources such as water are now affecting rural, poor and indigenous communities the most, but will soon affect everyone. 

Yet, people from all over the world are aware of the magnitude of the problem and willing to take action but feel powerless and lack the information, knowledge and opportunities to do so.

We need to act collectively and engage people in this “Great Work of Our Time”. We need people to understand that they have the power to create massive positive change by restoring ecosystems and healing the land. Individuals need to possess the belief that their pro-environmental behavior will be successful (personal efficacy) and that it will produce the desired outcome (outcome expectancy).

ERC is a global, inclusive, bottom-up movement with a mission to work together to restore ecological functionality to damaged ecosystems all over the world. ERC is working on the ground to restore ecosystem services that are essential for life. We are changing the current agricultural system that depletes to one that regenerates. We do this by facilitating the emergence of Camps around the world. Camps are physical places for people to join in this work, learn about the importance of healthy ecosystems, and realize their power to regenerate. 

Our Camps, currently 23 and more being included, have an influence that impacts entire regions and offer essential knowledge and labor in areas that are badly degraded. We empower local communities to restore their livelihoods by providing them tools, skills, and knowledge to bring back abundance and increase their resilience. We empower individuals by giving them a route to change our world. 

At our Camps, life is re-emerging, streams are returning, carbon is being pulled from the atmosphere back into the soil and plants. Entire food webs are being re-established. People are having rich and meaningful life experiences that are changing the way they relate to our natural world.

The work of ERC primarily serves two communities: local and/or indigenous populations and all who are concerned about humanity’s sustainability. 

We impact the lives' of thousands of local communities' members near our Camps by involving them in the restoration of their own environment. We know that ecosystem restoration efforts that are owned and managed by local communities are the only ones that will last. Therefore, we ensure that the interests of local communities are taken into consideration and that the livelihoods of farmers, landowners and all populations residing around the Camps are improved. 

The second group consists of people of all ages, genders, nationalities, beliefs, etc. united by a strong concern about climate change and the ecological degradation of our planet, and by a desire to do something about it. This community has the opportunity to participate in training and hands-on experiences at our Camps. These experiences will transform them into agents of change, able to bring back new skills to their communities, spread the power of ecosystem restoration, and influence large-scale social and environmental change. 

Finally, ERC also indirectly serves humanity as a whole, ensuring a prosperous future to the generations to come. 

ERC connects restoration initiatives in a network and to the Camp-concept that has the potential to mobilize millions of people globally. Everyone can join in restoring and rehabilitating ecosystems. People that participated in these Camps realise we can solve the greatest problems our global society is confronted with. 

Our Camps are also training and research centers, increasing our understanding and creating a global group of leaders who will change their own communities. 

Through our communications-channels, our broad network, and our knowledge sharing platform, we will reach millions of people with our message of hope.  

Back in 1995, John D. Liu, was moved to action after a reporting assignment on the Loess Plateau of China – the cradle of Chinese civilization- reduced over the centuries to a vast desert. Although initially skeptical, John documented the government’s massive restoration project that transformed the barren landscape into a lush, productive and biodiverse ecosystem. He began to ask himself this question: "If it is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, why don't we do that?". He has been promoting and documenting ecosystem restoration around the globe ever since.

Inspired by the possibility of involving ordinary people alongside experts and local communities in the restoration of earth’s ecosystems, in 2016 John made a call on social media encouraging people to restore their local ecosystems. Thousands began to organize. 

Since then, a team of professionals has taken the idea to the level of implementation, growing from 1 experimental camp into 23 and moving forward towards a future with hundreds of Camps around the world. 

Decades of observing, documenting, studying and communicating about functional and dysfunctional ecosystems has made John aware that the Earth is a mega-organism and that humans are but one of billions of symbiotic living beings. These thoughts emanate from long consideration of time, differentiating Cosmic, Geological, Evolutionary and Human History.

From the formation of Earth, as a molten rock surrounded by complex non-oxygenated gases, ever more complex living beings evolved over time to self organize symbiotic relationships: creating, constantly filtering and continuously renewing the now oxygenated atmosphere and fresh flowing water circulating in the atmosphere and on the land. Each breath of the infinitely diverse living beings inhabiting our planet today is the sum of symbiosis of all life.

Over historical time human beings have through ignorance and greed massively damaged the, let’s face it, miraculous evolution of life systems on the Earth. This is to be understood, remembered and never repeated.

John has seen that degradation can be reversed at scale. 

“I can think of nothing more meaningful, more necessary or more joyful to do than what I do now with my life.”

As a film-maker, ecologist and environmental researcher at several institutions, John Dennis Liu possesses a unique set of skills that makes him a powerful inspirator of the ERC movement. 

After working for 15 years as a Television Producer and Cameraman, John began to study ecology. For the last three decades since, working in ecosystem restoration, he has obtained numerous achievements as a filmmaker, researcher and environmentalist. 

In the mid-1990’s he began a participatory process in Beijing that led to the creation of the Environmental Education Media Project for China (EEMPC). He has directed the EEMPC (now EEMP) from its beginning. 

From 2003 – 2006 John was a visiting fellow with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England. In 2006, he was named the Rothamsted International Fellow for the Communication of Science. Other important positions include Senior Research Fellow for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, associate professor at the George Mason University, and Visiting Fellow at Netherlands Institute of Ecology. John is also Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland foundation. His documentaries “Green Gold” and “Hope in a Changing Climate” won numerous international awards. John’s experience, communication skills and extensive network make him an inspirational and knowledgeable leader able to catalyze global action towards ecosystem restoration. The people that have formed the organisation around his idea, bring in the extra needed skill-sets to make the idea a success!

His experiences building educational television studios in an impoverished China in his 20’s, filming the rise of China from poverty and isolation, the Tian An Men tragedy, the Mujahideen in Pakistan and the collapse of the Soviet Union in Moscow in his 30’s, shaped his ability to persevere and succeed despite all odds.

In his 40’s John catalyzed the creation of the Environmental Education Media Project for China which transferred over 1000 environmental and ecological films for broadcast and educational use, built the Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Center for the Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency, and helped to create the China HIV – AIDS information Network (CHAIN), which became the UN HIV-AIDS information Center for China.

His life is one long adventure of problem solving without a manual of how to do it. Overcoming adversity is what John does. John has gathered a team of like minded people around him. Humility in knowing what one cannot do is as important as the ability to collaborate with those who can make it possible for ERC to become a success.

“My understanding of leadership has been transformed as I have grown older. I’ve learned that it is necessary to lead through example. The Ecosystem Restoration Camps Movement is a life’s work. I have sought to inspire and lead by example how anyone and everyone can participate in ensuring survival and abundance by collectively restoring ecological function on a planetary scale.

I am writing this in a 13-foot tent on the foothills of Mt. Shasta in California where the great forest biome absorbs the moisture from the Pacific Ocean and through respiration creates, constantly filters and continuously renews the atmosphere, hydrological cycle, fertile soils and the biodiversity to the continental divide and beyond. On my current project in California, I am working to communicate this to the local people and the authorities. Before, I had the opportunity to do this in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South/Central America, Europe and Australia.”

John is aware that he cannot on his own restore the Earth’s natural ecological systems. He is also aware that if restoration of the Earth’s natural systems is humanities’ shared intention then together we can survive and thrive.

His life is in service of the common good.

To make ecosystem restoration fun, effective and simple. 

Ecosystem restoration has so far been managed by inspired individuals that changed a piece of land they own, or large institutions who set up overwhelming stakeholder processes and large expensive projects. The result: lack of global impact or slowness and inefficiency both financially and on the level of implementation. 

We help local initiatives from all over the world. Experts are involved in designing restoration plans. The ERC provides both the ‘people power’ and a network and platform for knowledge exchange and innovation in ecosystem restoration on the ground for ‘ordinary people’ who want to restore natural systems. Further we create a common voice through John and our marketing channels. Group activities, hospitality skills and business models underpin the long term success of the Camps. 

These Camps become simple low cost living laboratories where in a large variety of biomes and contexts optimal restoration techniques are developed, tools are designed and agricultural practices are (re)discovered and improved. Through a knowledge platform we create a database of open source impact data, techniques and skills that can be used and improved by everybody who wants to participate.  

The ultimate key lies in the engagement of masses of “ordinary people” in ecosystem restoration activities, as this is a deeply transformative experience. We help people to undergo a transformation process in order to become empowered individuals that know they can restore ecosystems and to ensure that whatever we do becomes part of who we are.

ERC’ purpose is to work together to restore ecological functionality, to build Research, Training and Innovation Centers for Ecological Restoration, to engage people in inquiry into ecological restoration, and to train people in how to restore degraded lands.

We address the following problems through a variety of strategies: 

• Land degradation

Strategies: Work Camps where local communities, international supporters, and experts join together to restore and rehabilitate.

Target Stakeholders: Affected local communities/farmers, interested audiences, experts.

Short term outcomes: Gradual improvements in water management and soil health, an inflow of investment in land and communities.

Long term outcomes: Substantial improvements in water-management, robust natural functions of the land/ecosystems in play.

• Unsustainable agriculture

Strategies: Build demonstration sites at Camps for regenerative agriculture.

Target Stakeholders: Affected local communities/farmers, interested audiences, experts.

Short term outcomes: Increase in productivity and lowering of costs, a growing list of examples in different biomes that can inspire more to step into regenerative agriculture as a business model.

Long term outcomes: Health and abundant global regenerative agricultural system forming the basis of a healthy and abundant circular economy. 

• Disempowered people

Strategies: Build work and demonstration sites for people to find personal efficacy, hope, empowerment, and a sense of purpose.

Target Stakeholders: Local communities/farmers, interested individuals.

Short term outcomes: A strong sense of purpose and impact, creation of a  global community, individual empowerment.

Long term outcomes: An educated global community that is able to collaborate and live in harmony with the natural world.

• Lack of Education

Strategies: Educational activities online, camps which are demonstration sites.

Target Stakeholders: Local communities/farmers, interested audiences, experts.

Short term outcomes: New knowledge regarding the importance of healthy ecosystems to be used in experimenting ‘what works locally’, and in shedding the light on the ability of individuals to change the future of humanity.  

Long term outcomes: Deep understanding of the functioning of ecosystems, advancement of a global collective consciousness on ecosystems and humanity, new agricultural strategies.

By implementing these strategies, ERC will attain the following impact:

• People empowered, 

• Ecosystems restored, 

• Positive proof that regenerative agriculture is the agriculture of the future, 

• Livelihoods restored, 

• A future for humanity.

People we serve:

Now: 15.000

Year 1: 25.000

Year 5: 110.000

ERC is currently facilitating a network of 23 Camps over 6 continents. With an additional 32 Camps that applied over the last 3 months alone. Each Camp has its own peculiarities and operates in a unique geographical, environmental and social context. 

Some of our Camps, such as Camp Contour Lines in Guatemala, Camp Mombasa Mangrove in Kenya, Camp Sekem in Egypt, and Camp Chocaya in Bolivia, reach out to thousands of local beneficiaries, as their work is crucial to improve the livelihoods of surrounding communities. 

Other Camps, such as Camp Altiplano and Camp Paradise are more focused on the scientific and technical aspect of ecosystem restoration. But all these Camps have also been educating thousands of individuals, both local community members and international campers, on the importance of ecosystem restoration in ensuring a prosperous future for all living beings on this planet. 

Our big goal is to have one million people come together by 2030 and restore degraded ecosystems in over 100 Camps around the world. These people will be directly exposed to the work of Ecosystem Restoration Camps, learning through transformative hands- on experiences that we human beings can become regenerative powers and contribute to the creation of an abundant, peaceful and biodiverse earth and again impacting millions by their new found hope.

ERC’s long term goal is to provide 1 million people with a transformative experience at an Ecosystem Restoration Camp by 2030. In order to facilitate this, we want to expand our network to at least 100 new Camps. This will allow us to restore the natural function of thousands of hectares globally, while enhancing local communities resilience, providing livelihoods and engaging people from all over the world in restoring the health of our planet. 

In order to achieve this audacious goal, within the next 5 years ERC aims at:

• Developing a strong mechanism for efficient knowledge sharing between Camps and the experts in our Advisory Council;

• Growing our network by 10 to 20 Camps per year on all continents, so that we can restore more land all over the world and build a broader knowledge base for ecosystem restoration techniques and methods; 

• Developing an online tool that matches Camps and Campers according to variables such as interests, experience, skills and geographical location to manage a flow of volunteers to restore agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Our short term objectives include: 

• Providing educational tools to Camps in support of their work with visiting campers;

• Implement a CRM system that helps us grow our member base; 

• Undertaking first steps in the design of a digital Camper/Camp matching system;

• Designing of an initial prototype of knowledge exchange mechanism; 

• Strengthening ERC operations to ensure ongoing support to our network of Camps; 

• Grow our network to at least 40 Camps in the next year.

Financial

Next year

• Lack of funding to onboard all projects that currently want to join our growing movement,

• Adapt our educational work and business model to COVID 19 restrictions: adapting our camping experiences to follow recommendations. Offering online seminars and workshops. Seeking new funding to support camps who lost hundreds of paying visitors during Covid-19.
  

Next five years

• Lack of long term commitment from funders to support a 20 - 30 year restorative model. Most funds have a funding horizon of 3 years after which they will review their commitments again. Of course after 3 years a land is not restored, but the concept of very long funding is still alien.

Technical

Next year

• Lack of funding for knowledge sharing mechanisms,

• Lack of funding for camp - camper matching system.

Next five years

• Technical challenge to match the skills of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world to the needs of restoration projects, so that we can keep the overhead low on the organizational level.

Organisational

Next year

• Align all Camps to a shared strategy and give them a common sense of purpose to build a solid, decentralized organizational structure, and achieve a similar level of effectiveness and efficacy at all levels (ecosystem restoration, creation of regenerative agricultural systems,empowerment of people all over the world, ability to equally benefit from and contribute to the knowledge center).

Next five years

• Create a form of autonomy as hundreds of camps will be hard to manage from a centralized organisation.

Financial

• Grow our membership base to secure a stable income. Investigating carbon offsetting schemes. We have launched an online course that exceeded our expectations. Further we have paid Camper-visits, corporate training/retreats, and eventually the sale of produce which should ensure the 20 year sustainability of the restoration/rehabilitation project. Finally we have received considerable interest from larger donors that would like to support our work. In between we are raising funds with a team of 4 professionals. 

Technical

• Implement Hubspot’s CRM and marketing system and raise funds to develop our technical platforms. The Knowledge Centre allows Campers to exchange knowledge online, get immediate practical support, and store data to be shared with a global audience. Knowledge exchange is currently done via in-person meetings, training videos, and Zoom calls. We believe that success around the world is achieved when lay-people and farmers can access the knowledge out there on a lay-person level. Further we will develop an online Camp - Camper matching platform where Camps can publish their activities or needs for support and the broader audience can select where and how they want to contribute to restoring our earth.  

Organisational

• Create a strong onboarding process and make sure that we add value to the projects through knowledge, finance, marketing and labour. Camps will start as seed, then seedling and end up as an established Camp that will help the younger initiatives. From the established projects some Restoration Hubs will appear that will function as coordinating projects in specific regions. 

ERC is currently partnering with many different organizations. ERC is being recognised as an authority on ecosystem restoration projects and a global network of like minded people thus attracting a lot of attention. See the full list on our website. 

• Our most important partners are the local initiatives that are restoring the earth. These are autonomous independent organisations that have joined the Ecosystem Restoration Camps movement like Sekem, ViaOrganica, Camp Altiplano, Camp paradise etc. 

• We are collaborating with tree-planting schemes Ecosia, Gone West, WeForest, IGiveTrees, Dollar Donation Club etc. There is now a general understanding that just planting trees is not enough anymore, the trees need care for a longer period and we can offer that increasing the survival rate by 300%.

• We work with Commonland Foundation, EnScope, our Advisory Board and Universities for collaborating on knowledge development.

• We work with Earthbanc to help us build successful financial models.

• Burning Man Festivals and the South Africa based Greenpop support ERC not only with donations, but will help make the camp-locations places of fun where people want to come and participate. 

• This spring we have launched our first online Ecosystem Restoration Course in cooperation with Gaia Education. 

• We have strengthened our partnership with the Global Ecovillages Network where we collaborate on the ground and share our knowledge resources. 

• Finally, through our Advisory Council members, we are collaborating with more organisations, such as the Permaculture Research Institute, Regeneration International, Kiss the Ground, Rocky Mountain Institute, Alvelal and Gaia University.

Ecosystem restoration projects take a long time, between 15 to 30 years. Regretfully we cannot depend on charitable donations from large foundations or subsidy schemes. They vary over time as new hypes emerge. So for our Camps to succeed they need to be financially self-sustaining through revenue-generating models and ensuring local community involvement. 

The business model in that sense is simple. We kickstart the restoration or rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems, showcase and help implement regenerative agricultural models and as such help revive degraded lands, livelihoods and dying communities. All this with a simple low cost model: the Ecosystem Restoration Camp. This entices local people to volunteer their time and labour and frees up resources with local businesses and farmers. But this is not enough. The global community needs to be persuaded and seduced to participate. Camps implement a variety of attractive services, such as education and training, hospitality and experiences, business management courses, organization of festivals and events, and after a while the production of a variety of produce and products made regeneratively. 

Camps can be very different, and this of course creates significant variations in the nature of activities that each camp can carry out. We will help each Camp to identify the most suitable options. As support and participation of the local community is crucial, we support Camps in developing initiatives that will involve the communities and educate them in understanding the value of what Camps are doing locally.

We are now 3 years old and are walking the pathway of institutional fundraising, corporate sponsorship and private recurring donations. 

We want to reach a massive scale, and so we will continue increasing our potential support base. We will continue to work on our global fame through social media, press and film. We are actively seeking influencers to help us reach new and larger audiences, and we are investing in social media advertising and search engine optimisation. 

We are building a Camp-Camper matching platform. This will be a combination between a booking-platform (such as Booking.com and Airbnb) and a job-vacancy platform. Corporates, academia and individuals can browse the platform to seek opportunities at Camps to contribute to or book retreats, training or ‘impact-holidays’. We believe that this will be a major revenue-generating model for Camps, with a small percentage maintaining the central support structure.

We are offering a variety of educational opportunities, such as online courses and opportunities at Camps themselves. Again these will generate an income. 

We are partnering with several carbon-offsetting organisations that provide budgets for the purchase and planting of trees. We are investigating if we can use these offsetting schemes ourselves. 

After a while, Camps will have had success with rehabilitating degraded land and other ecosystems. Regenerative agricultural models will allow them to start selling produce. Other models are implemented by camp Mombasa which is restoring mangroves, while also building aquaculture ponds to support local fishermen who then contribute to the restoration of the mangroves.

Funding Sources

Mustardseed Trust, grants in 2020 and 2019, 150.000 USD

Fondation Resurrexit, donations in 2019 and 2020, appr. 75.000 USD

Fondation Les Enfants Heureux, donation in 2019, appr. 28.000 USD

DEME, Corporate Sponsor in 2019 and 2020, appr. 60.000 USD

Roskilde Festival, donation in 2019, appr. 25.000 USD

Le Slibard, Corporate Sponsor in 2020, appr. 1.500 USD

Patagonia, Grant in 2019, appr. 6.000 USD

Burning Man Festival, Donation in 2019, appr. 1.500 USD

Memberships, donations in 2019 and 2020, appr. 150.000 USD

Revenue Sources

Course income in 2020, appr. 50.000 USD

Other small donations (Facebook birthday donations etc), appr. 20.000 USD

Tree-schemes in 2019 and 2020, appr. 1.200 USD

With only a relatively small budget we have built a global organisation. In 2020 we are still growing the number of Camps. In order for us to do this, we are looking to raise another$ 50,000  in donation capital by the end of October 2020. Our organization is seeking to bridge this funding gap through grants, major gifts, donations, CSR and business partnership.

Next year we want to raise 1,1 million USD from donations, charitable grants, course revenue, tree schemes, Campers fees and corporate sponsorships. We have been approached by funds that would like to double our budget once we reach this milestone! You could play a crucial role here.

Finally we aim to raise and generate 3 to 10 million USD per year in income in the next 20 years to meet the needs of our Camps, maintain a small central staff, and invest in the restoration of the entire planet. Yes, that is low cost!

We are not seeking equity, nor debt. Grants, donations and revenue will be our funding model. 

Please see the list below for our budgetary ambition for 2020

Directors

$67.800,00

Administration/Overhead

$28.250,00

Fundraising costs

$16.950,00

Knowledge Exchange and Education

$90.400,00

Camp Support

$180.800,00

Total

$384.200,00

The media exposure could help us grow our membership base, which will greatly enhance our financial sustainability and build a global community of ecosystem restoration champions. 

The financial contribution will help build our support tools for Camps (CRM, Knowledge Centre and Camper-Camp matching platform), which will be essential for managing an expanding network, expected to grow to 100 camps within 5 years. 

The Knowledge Centre will be crucial in helping all Camps become a success and elevate the most accomplished camps to regional, national and global knowledge hubs. The vast majority of online resources are academic and/or targeting a specialist public. We aim to involve all people in ecosystem restoration, which requires lay-person focused support material. Moreover, for camp coordinators that are dealing with daily practical challenges, an online support system where they can reach in real time fellow camp coordinators dealing with similar issues to ask for advice, tips, and tricks, and consult some of the world’s leading experts will be invaluable. We will link the centre to the more extensive existing online libraries for further improving access to knowledge and materials. For that we have already established partnerships with the world’s leading institutions.

Our partnership with The Elevate Prize and Solve will enable us to address some of the main challenges that ERC is facing at present, such as strengthening our media presence and securing fundings for reaching our audacious goal of engaging 1 million people, together with the leading experts in the field, through our global network of camps to restore, regenerate and generate top-level, accessible knowledge. 

Marketing, media and exposure could help ERC in reaching out to potential campers and volunteers for our Camps, while also helping us with broadening our membership base. 

Finally we need help in thinking through our Knowledge Centre and Camp-Camper matching platform. These tools will be fundamental to effectively manage a rapidly increasing number of camps attracting an ongoing flow of volunteers, and generating an open- ended stream of data information and knowledge

We are already quite well linked to expert-institutions and have access to technical support in the area of Ecosystem Restoration, relevant global initiatives and even UN agencies. Even the festival-world (Burning Man and Greenpop) are helping us develop the offering at Camps. Same is true for courses, trainings, and corporate retreats. 

It would be extremely helpful to partner with organizations that could help us address our technical barriers. We are seeking help in developing a platform that can help us expand our impact by onboarding Camps and Campers. Thus we need technical help developing and implementing our Knowledge Centre and Camper-Camp matching platform. We have approached Microsoft to help us with the Knowledge Centre. Regarding the CRM system needed to help us grow our member base, we are receiving discounted help from Hubspot in developing our CRM and marketing platform. However, these resources are still limited and we are fully open to other and better suggestions and to receive help from other organizations. Further we need to redo our website as there should be a login environment where members can create profiles and to upgrade the speed.

We are also not well linked to ‘influencers’ who can help us reach broader audiences. We have a strong presence in certain groups but would like to reach out to other audiences.

Finally we would like to further our conversation with Netflix and BBC for a series of positive documentaries. Humanity has a deep desire for hope in these dire times.