Navigating towards our new normal
With the support of our members, animal sponsors, donors, funders, corporate partners and volunteers we are beginning to navigate our way towards our new normal. Your support has been vital to keeping our charity afloat and enabling us to restart our work. Thank you.
The impact of Covid-19 on our charity has been substantial. Our Centre in Tobermory remained closed for much of the season, all public research expeditions were cancelled for 2020, and our face to face education programme has not yet resumed.
The majority of our charity’s earned income for 2020, which is generated seasonally between April and October, was lost. We found ourselves in turbulent and unchartered waters but thanks to the generous support from our members, donors and funders we have managed to stabilise and have begun charting a new course.
Your support has enabled us to continue our work during these difficult times.
As lockdown restrictions began to ease in Scotland we reached out for help to restart our vital work. We were overwhelmed by your response.
A whopping 250 of you supported our crowdfunder campaign raising over £10,000 to get us back on the water. The increased financial support for our work more generally from donors, members, animal sponsors and corporate partners this year is really making a difference at a difficult time.
Funders have reacted to the challenges charities are facing. We were relieved to receive vital funds via an emergency grant of £49,600, followed by an additional £9,100 to support reopening costs, from the National Lottery Heritage Emergency Fund in June.
As a result of your support in August we began tentatively reopening our doors and restarting our projects. Silurian is back out at sea carrying out acoustic monitoring surveys, although we are all deeply missing having our volunteers on board. The Centre is once again open, although with limited capacity; sharing our passion for whales and dolphins with our visitors and dispensing eco-refills for our community. And our flagship education programme is undertaking a digital makeover. This autumn we will launch our first virtual floating classroom – now on a cloud!
As we move towards an uncertain 2021 the risk to our charity remains.
Our conservation and education activities look quite different in 2020 than we had planned pre-COVID. We do not yet know how our operations and finances will be impacted next year. There is still significant uncertainty and many, many challenges ahead.
At a time of global climate emergency and biodiversity loss across the UK and globally, HWDT’s mission has never been more critical. As a small charity we will strive to do all we can do deliver our mission to conserve Hebridean whales, dolphins and porpoises. Your support remains vital to help us continue our work.
If you feel that you can support us at this time, we would urge you to please consider booking on a research expedition in advance for 2021, become a member, sponsor an animal or alternatively make a regular donation towards our conservation work.
Your support is vital to help us continue our work to safeguard Hebridean seas for whales, dolphins, porpoises and people. Thank you.