The single most useful thing is unrestricted monthly giving, because it pays for the follow-up visits that nothing else will fund.
Ways to help
Donate
One-off or monthly, by mobile money, card or bank transfer, in shillings or any major currency.
Read moreBecome a member
Annual support, a vote at the AGM, and the quarterly monitoring summary.
Read moreVolunteer
Planting days, nursery work and bank surveys. Most need a morning.
Read moreFundraise for us
Run something, host something, or ask for donations instead of birthday presents.
Read morePartner with us
Districts, institutions and companies with land near the water.
Read moreSchools programme
For teachers and head teachers in the catchment districts.
Read moreCorporate support
Sponsorship, staff volunteering days, and matched giving.
Read moreUse our data
For researchers and students. Free, with the gaps described honestly.
Read moreLeave a legacy
Gifts in wills. The longest-horizon support there is.
Read more
Which of these is actually most useful
The honest ranking is not the one a fundraising page usually gives. Unrestricted monthly giving comes first, because it is the only income that reliably pays for a twelve-month monitoring visit — the part of the work that produces our survival figures and the part almost nobody wants to fund. A grant will pay for seedlings. It will rarely pay for somebody to walk back to the same stretch a year later and count what died.
Land comes second. A landowner on the Rwizi or one of its tributaries agreeing a buffer strip gives up a few metres of ground and gains a bank that stops moving. There is no amount of money that substitutes for the metres, and one agreement can protect more river than a season of fundraising.
A teacher's time comes third, and it lasts longer than either. The school programme is still running at partner schools three years on because it is delivered by their own staff rather than by ours.
Cash gifts of any size are genuinely welcome, and so is a morning of physical work on a bank. But if you are choosing between them, choose the one above that you actually have.
What each route asks of you
| Route | What it takes | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly gift | A few minutes, once | Pays for follow-up visits that project grants will not cover |
| Membership | An annual subscription | A vote at the AGM and the quarterly monitoring summary |
| Volunteering | A morning, usually a Saturday | Hands at a planting day, and one more person who has seen the bank |
| Fundraising | A few weeks of your own effort | Unrestricted income, and a group of people who now know the river |
| A buffer agreement | A few metres of your land | A stretch of bank that stops eroding, permanently |
| A teacher's time | Two days of training, then lesson time | A programme that outlasts our involvement |
| Using our data | Nothing | Independent analysis of figures we should not be the only ones checking |
Before you choose
Is a small monthly gift really worth setting up?
Yes, and more than a larger one-off gift of the same annual value. Predictability is what lets us commit to a monitoring visit twelve months ahead of it happening.
Can I give without using a card?
Yes. Mobile money, bank transfer and cash at the office all work, and mobile money is how most people in Uganda give. The donate page lists them all.
Do I have to be in Uganda to volunteer?
No, but the work is physical and on a riverbank in Mbarara, Rwampara or Isingiro. If you are not in the catchment, using or checking our data is usually the more useful contribution.
I represent an organisation rather than myself.
Then partnering or corporate support is the right route, and the conversation goes to the Executive Director rather than to a fundraising desk.
If you only do one thing
Set up a monthly gift. Predictable income is what lets us plan a twelve-month monitoring visit that a project grant will not cover.