Storm

Storm’s charity committee, better known as the Kolokolo committee, was set up in 2006. Since then, every year a new group of motivated Stormers put in a lot of time and effort to raise as much money for their charity as possible. Every year a new charity with a sustainability focus is chosen at the general meeting. All chosen charities work without salaries and pay for bank and administration costs themselves. They are registered as a charity with an ANBI (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling) or CBF (Centraal Bureau Fondsenwerving) certificate, which allows us to give the donation to them in a tax-friendly way. As we are very proud of the support we have given the charities over the years we have created an overview of the Kolokolo charities over the years. You can find some general information about the charities, but also how much we raised for them and what was done with that specific money. If you have any questions or comments please contact us by emailing to bestuur@stormutrecht.nl

2022-2023: 100Weeks 

Out of extreme poverty after 100 weeks. That is the promise the NGO 100WEEKS gives. They promote a new and revolutionary way of giving: giving money directly to women who live in extreme poverty. These women know precisely what they need to be back on their feet after 100 weeks. So how it works is that a local partner of 100WEEKS selects a group of women that lives in extreme poverty. They receive a small amount every week that they can spend how they like.

In Africa, paying with a mobile phone is more common than here. It is safe and cheap. The 100WEEKS-women receive an SMS every Monday morning with a code that they can use at a ‘mobile money’ kiosk to receive cash money. Next to this weekly contribution, they also receive training in accounting, saving and planning from local coaches.

In the initial phase, the money is mainly spent on basic needs. This grants the 100WEEKS participants breathing space. After a few months, the women start saving and investing. After a 100 weeks, they are mentally and physically stronger and have a stable income with which they can secure a sustainable future.

2021-2022: Oasebos

Oasebos is a charity organisation that focuses on the importance of conserving biodiversity in Costa Rica, specifically the rainforest. Apart from being the “lungs of the earth”, rainforests play an important role in regulating our ecosystem services. Unfortunately, in the last 50 years, more than half of it has disappeared, due to activities associated with globalisation. As a result of this disappearance, there is an increasing need for the conservation of rainforests.

Oasebos, along with the local parties and government in Costa Rica, has taken a step further to protect our rainforests in a sustainable manner. With the money donated, Oasebos purchases parcels of primary rainforest in Costa Rica, for the purpose of conservation, protecting it from any possible land use change.

Together with 150 donors, they have been able to purchase and protect approximately 250 hectares of rainforest. So far, Oasebos has bought land from four rainforests, including: El Salto, Copalchi, Cano Curenita, and El Cerrito. For every €250 that Storm raises, Oasebos can purchase 1250m2 of rainforest for the purpose of conservation.

Our impact: through the efforts of the committee, Storm raised €4787,20 for Oasebos. With this money over 23.935m2 of rainforest can be purchased for the sake of preservation. 

For more information about Oasebos check https://oasebos.nl/

2020-2021: Coral Reef Care

Coral Reef Care (CRC) is a Dutch foundation that’s mission is the conservation and protection of marine ecosystems, in particular coral reefs. Their work consists of creating public awareness and organizing local marine conservation projects. This results in a wide variety of activities like creating artificial reefs, removing lost fishing nets on coral reefs, campaigns to reduce plastic waste, installing mooring buoys, creating No Take Zones, protection of specific marine species, etc. With their projects we simultaneously strive to improve the livelihood of the local people that depend on coral reefs (e.g. tourism, fishing). 

One of Coral Reef Care’s long term missions is to set up more MPAs (Marine Protected Areas). Around 12% of the world’s land area is protected. By contrast, less than 1% of the world’s oceans is protected although 70% of the world is covered with water. 

The project: The project which Storm will support is the Coral Reforestation project in Kenya. The first coral farm in Kenya was started in October 2019. Oceans Alive Kenya and Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare Ass created the Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA). This area of 30 hectares is a non fishing or non take zone and therefore it became the location of the coral farm. They are aiming to support and train the community to conserve coral in and outside the LMMA.

Our impact: This year, the committee raised €4670,56 by selling shirts, birthday boxes and calendars, and by organising various activities such as valentine's walks and an auction. Despite COVID-19 restrictions during this year, the committee managed to top the amount from the years before and set a new fund raising record. 

For more information about Coral Reef Care check https://www.coralreefcare.com 

2019-2020: Stichting Duurzame Samenleving Papua Barat

Stichting Duurzame Samenleving Papua Barat (SDSP) is an organisation that has been contributing to future-proof development and the self-reliance of the Papuans since 1995. Their focus is on the foundations of development: Biodiversity & Nature, Water & Sanitation, Integrated area development, Community building & Health, Education & Capacity building and Art & Culture. SDSP tries to stimulate this by acting as a mediator, or facilitator, for the local inhabitants to connect them to reliable partners and facilitates and they give advice about the approach and strategies of a project. Since the organisation is run by volunteers, the implementation of projects is entirely dependent on gifts.

The project: The project that the Kolokolo Committee has sponsored during the year 2019-2020 is the pilot of the food forest in Sawinggrai, West-Papoea. The pilot consists of a plot of land of 180 square meters where different kinds of food are produced sustainably and locally. By planting more types of crops, the inhabitants can greatly increase the nutrient richness of the ground without affecting the forest surrounding the plot. This improves the variety of crops and therefore also of food sources. This type of agriculture eliminates the need for people to buy expensive imported vegetables and teaches the inhabitants to be self-dependent.

Our impact: During their year, the committee raised €2616,01 for the pilot of the food forest. This was done by selling vegan toasties in the Storm room, organising a beer tasting, a new year's dive, a beer pong tournament and selling sweaters with a logo of the project. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 the action and other two events planned later in the year were cancelled.

What is SDSP doing now?

After using the donation for the pilot of the food forest, SDSP has been in contact with a sponsor called the Contribute foundation, who have announced that they will financially support the entire project. The project started on the 5th of January 2021 and is expected to be done by the 15th of January 2022. During this time, the project will also be used as a pilot for a waste water garden, which helps take out the nutrients out of waste water by running it through the garden. This is important because waste water with lots of nutrients flows out into the ocean which is harmful for the coral reefs in the region.

If you are interested in finding out more about this charity, please visit their website on https://sdsp.nl/ 

2018-2019: Perma Atlas

Perma Atlas inspires the local communities of the High Atlas to work on a sustainable future. Their focus is on repairing the ecosystem and continuously engaging with society. Because of the concrete set of steps towards revitalizing the economy of the valleys, the locals gain perspective on a future in their own region. This grows confidence, independence and a sense of responsibility with the people. Perma Atlas is run by Moroccan Dutch, that deeply understand the local culture and circumstances, and have access to a global network of knowledge and solutions.

Perma Atlas’ approach is small-scale and transparent but simultaneously directed at all aspects of the community. Agricultural, technical, social and organisational aspects are all taken into account. They are promoting changes in a safe environment. This is why they are working from the bottom-up, starting with their needs, introducing techniques that easily can be adopted by the local community.

Our impact: With the money that was raised by Storm, Perma Atlas built a Womens house in Anguelz. The ground floor is functioning as a meeting centre for everyone in the community and the first floor is a work and living space for Perma Atlas.

Money raised: €4411,55

More information about the charity can be found on https://www.perma-atlas.com/en/home/

2017-2018: Stichting Guacamaya

The Guacamaya Foundation was founded in 1996. The founder of The Guacamaya Foundation lived in the Mayan village of El Corozal for six years, established an educational center there, and set up several small-scale education and agricultural projects. ​

In 2013, the narrative teaching program 'Juanito and Maria plant their own forest' was developed. This teaching program was very successful and was followed by 8 more teaching programs. The teaching programs are focused on making education challenging and meaningful. They teach students how to use land and forest in a sustainable manner and the programs of the Guacamaya foundation give nature and children a better future in Guatemala.

The teaching programs turned out to be very successful not only in Guatemala, but the concept also proved successful in Nicaragua, Ecuador and the Netherlands. The foundation now focuses its activities mainly on Ecuador and the Netherlands.  

Our impact: With the money raised by Storm, The Guacamaya Foundation realized several goals in 2018. A new teaching program was developed targeting overfishing and water pollution and successful existing programs were further developed. Also, three newsletters were published by The Guacamaya Foundation. If you want to read more on the impact we made, you can visit the website and read the year report of 2018.

Money raised: €2609,61

More information about the charity can be found on their website https://www.stichtingguacamaya.com

2016-2017: Bring the Elephant Home

​Worldwide, elephants are struggling for survival. People intrude on their habitat; their food, water and migration routes disappear. The mission of Bring the Elephant Home is to do everything possible to better the chance of survival for elephants worldwide. To achieve this, they come up with creative ways to solve conflicts between elephants and people and create harmony in these areas,so they can benefit from each other’s existence.

The project: In Thailand, a lot of farmers grow pineapples of sugar cane, which is very attractive to elephants. Therefore these areas are keen on elephant-human conflicts. Bring the Elephant Home came up with the beehive fences project to keep elephants out of the farmlands. Elephants have a specific bee alarm rumble vocalization they use to warn others, so they dissuade other elephants to raid. Implementing these fences caused elephants to avoid these places or be more cautious, thus reducing the damage that they cause to the farmland. Additionally the beehives provide extra income to the farmer with their honey. 

Our impact: The Kolokolo committee of 2016-2017 helped raise €2692,69 for the research that needed to be done for these beehive fences and the pilot that was conducted in Thailand. The results of the pilot and research were published in Conservation Science and Practice and can therefore also be used in other areas.

More information can be found on https://bring-the-elephant-home.nl/