What is Wild Ride?
It’s a new annual fundraising initiative developed by Friends of Bonorong to support Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. The concept is simple: Participants create their own “Wild Ride” and register on the website, either as individuals or as a team. Riders can set goals and share their profiles to attract sponsors for their participation.
Wild Rides can range from covering extensive kilometres on a bike to commuting on a child’s bike to navigating the workplace on a pogo stick for a day, the opportunities are endless!
All money raised goes directly to supporting Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Friends of Bonorong is a ACNC-registered charity, and all donations over $2 are tax-deductible in Australia.
The Concept
Wild Ride was proposed and selected as a viable fundraising effort for the following reasons:
- Community engaged fundraiser to support the community services provided to wildlife through rescue, rehabilitation and release by Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and its many rescue volunteers;
- Inclusive of everyone, regardless of age or ability;
- Provides opportunities for participation which enables a focus for participants on keeping wildlife safe;
- Enables participation as a donor or a supporter;
- Brings the community together in a collective effort to support wildlife rescue and care, and to make our roadways safer for wildlife – “a community solution to a community problem”;
- Strengthens Bonorong’s support network;
- Increases community awareness of and responsiveness to injured wildlife;
- Promotes healthy behaviours by encouraging exercise, creativity, getting outdoors, and positive social interactions.
Tasmania’s wildlife needS YOUR help
Tasmania is home to an incredible variety of animals, some of which are among the most endangered in the world. Sadly, we are also the roadkill capital of the world. Over 500,000 animals on average are killed on Tasmanian roads every year, and help is desperately needed. That’s nearly one every minute, every day, 365 days a year!
WHERE the donations go
Bonorong operates Tasmania’s largest 24-hour wildlife rescue service. The service provides care and rehabilitation to thousands of animals every year. Overwhelmingly, animals coming into care have been injured or orphaned on Tasmanian roads. Funds raised by Wild Ride will directly support the operation of Bonorong’s Primary Care Teams (Rescue Phone, Critical Care, Wildlife Hospital and Recovery) to care for and rehabilitate injured and orphaned wildlife.
When is Wild Ride?
Wild Ride will take place throughout March 2024, meaning you can do your Wild Ride when it suits you. Cycle every day for a whole month, or just ride on a particular day of March.
Types of Wild Ride
Your style of ride might be endurance, silly, solo, or family; whatever your style or skill level, you can ride – or move – for wildlife! Members of the public can design their very own team or individual “ride” to:
- Raise funds for wildlife rescue, care, and rehabilitation, and;
- Raise awareness of how we can make our roads safer for wildlife.
Remember, staying safe is paramount! If you’re looking for suggestions, check out some of our ideas in the FAQ.
if you're unable to "ride"
Even if you’re unable to develop you’re own “ride”, you can still help support Wild Ride in several important ways:
- Sponsor a Wild Rider: You can donate to a nominated Wild Ride team or individual to help them reach their goals. Jump into the leaderboards to get started!
- Direct Donation: Any individual or organisation can support wildlife rescue and care with a one-off, direct donation to the Wild Ride campaign. Just use the green ‘Donate’ button above.
- Sponsor Matching: Sponsor the sponsors! If you’re interested in offering a sponsorship matching pledge to help energise the response to Wild Ride, the team would love to hear from you.
- Corporate Partnership: The Project Team is seeking corporate partners to donate services and material resources required to accomplish a fundraising campaign of this scale. If you can help, please contact us.
- Become an Ambassador: We are also seeking individuals with substantial public profiles who would like to inspire the community to take part in Wild Ride. If this could be you, we would love to chat!
Our Core Values
- Inclusive: Suitable for people of all ages and abilities to participate; welcoming people who want to help wildlife by supporting Bonorong.
- Flexible: Participants independently design their own type of “ride” or other activity to raise donations for the Bonorong via sponsorships; a full month relieves time pressure from participants.
- Autonomous: People participate at their own risk, being completely autonomous from any Bonorong-supervised or sponsored events or campaigns.
- Purposeful: In addition to raising much-needed funds, Wild Ride serves as a yearly community education campaign for wildlife rescue, care, and making our roadways safer for wildlife.
- Safe: Bonorong will not promote or condone behaviours or attitudes which are unsafe for participants, the community, or wildlife; safety first, always.
- Sustainable: The campaign will prioritise eco-friendly options whenever possible, for example: 1) encouraging participants to design a “ride” without unnecessary motor vehicle use; 2) selecting promotional materials and prizes that are recyclable, multi-use, responsibly sourced, and of a high quality.
The Legal Stuff
We understand the fineprint may not be particularly exciting, so we’ve included a cute picture of a baby wombat. That said, the legal stuff is important to ensure your safety during the event. Every Wild Ride participant must read, agree and adhere to our Conditions of Entry as part of the registration process. Click the link below for a bit of bedtime reading.