Shark Spotters are thrilled to announce BulkSMS.com, one of South Africa’s leading bulk SMS messaging service providers, as a Gold level partner following their generous donation of R36,000 towards our sustainable shark safety programme.
BulkSMS has been supporting Shark Spotters for close to a decade, providing a fast and effective platform for us to send shark sightings and safety information to our emergency response network, completely free of charge. They also sponsor the network fees of our SMS donation line, allowing us to receive the full R10 of every SMS sent by members of the public. In addition, they have provided seed funding for a number of new initiatives over the years, including new spotting locations at Monwabisi and Kogel Bay, the development of the Shark Spotters mobile app, and most recently making a significant contribution to the crowdfunding campaign to get new binoculars for all the spotters.
“Very few people know that we started BulkSMS 19 years ago primarily as a weather notification service for windsurfers; so marine and coastal conservation is something that has always been close to our hearts. We are very proud to be involved with such a great program. Not only do they educate and protect beach-goers, they also conduct regular research to better understand the behaviour of sharks; and all whilst creating much-needed employment opportunities within the community. A truly holistic and worthy initiative,” says Dr Piet Streicher, MD of BulkSMS.
The donation received from BulkSMS will be used directly to fund the day to day operations at Shark Spotters, including spotters and exclusion net crew salaries, maintenance of equipment and infrastructure, and to support our education and research programs.
“BulkSMS have been invaluable allies in the growth and development of Shark Spotters over the years, always stepping in when there is a need, providing essential financial and strategic support to our team” said Sarah Waries, CEO of Shark Spotters. “We are incredibly grateful for their assistance to date and are so pleased to have BulkSMS onboard officially as a Gold partner to the program”.
With 43 staff operating over 8 beaches, and our expanding education and research programs, Shark Spotters relies heavily on public support to ensure we can provide an effective and uninterrupted safety service to the ocean loving community in Cape Town. We receive 70% of our funding from the City of Cape Town and 20% from the Save Our Seas Foundation, leaving an annual operating shortfall of 10% that needs to be raised through corporate and individual donations as well as fundraising events and merchandise sales.
As a SARS section 18a registered NPO (060-390) and PBO (PBO-930037421) and a Level 1 BEE contributor there are considerable CSI/SED benefits to donating to Shark Spotters including tax deductions and improvement of BEE ratings. To find out more about the benefits of becoming a Shark Spotters supporter/partner please email sarah@sharkspotters.org.za.
About BulkSMS:
BulkSMS.com provides application-to-person (A2P) SMS messaging services to large and small businesses, NPOs and individuals. We were one of the first commercial web-based messaging platforms, launched in 2000, and we now connect our customers to over 800 networks worldwide.
About Shark Spotters: Shark Spotters improves beach safety by applying innovative and responsible shark safety solutions that reduce the spatial overlap between people and sharks, thereby reducing the risk of a shark bite. We also provide emergency response in the event of a shark incident, as well as conduct cutting-edge applied research on shark behaviour and ecology, raise awareness about shark safety and conservation issues, and provide employment opportunities and skills development for shark spotters.
See www.sharkspotters.org.za for more details.
Like us on Facebook and Twitter: @SharkSpotters.
Download the Shark Spotters app for free: https://sharkspotters.org.za/safety/shark-sightings/beach-status/#section
SMS the word SHARK to 38021 to donate R10 to Shark Spotters (Network fees sponsored by BulkSMS)