Are you looking for a way to make a difference?

The International Rhino Foundation is working around the world to protect rhinos, but there’s so much each of us can do right at home, too – every day – to make a difference.

• Bake Sale. The students in Mrs. Slavick's class at Cook Elementary School in Goshen, Ohio decided to make a difference! The students learned about endangered species and their importance and made a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo to get a closer look at the animals. The students in the class then decorated cookies and cupcakes that were sold at a bake sale to raise money for rhino conservation.
  
  
• Change Drive. Several years ago, Loretta Platt, a third grade teacher at Como Elementary School from Columbus, Ohio, was looking for a school-wide project to heighten the students' environmental awareness. She decided on a penny collection as a project that would not only involve the participation of all of the students, but also parent volunteers. Como Elementary School contributed $100 from their penny collection to the International Rhino Foundation to help conserve rhinos.
  
  
• Birthday Party. Jake Wallack, a 10 year old from Rhode Island loves Indian rhinos! For his birthday parties, Jake asks that his guests bring donations for rhino conservation instead of gifts. He has helped raise hundreds of dollars for rhino conservation! Eva Malone recently held a rhino-themed birthday party, where she gave out rhino bookmarks and temporary tattoos from IRF as party favors. Eva helped raise $400 for rhino conservation!
  
  
• Raffle. The Demarest Middle School Environmental Club from Hoboken, New Jersey, headed by science teacher Ron Buzzanca, raised $225 to support the International Rhino Foundation's efforts to save the rhino. Students convinced local storeowners to donate items that were then auctioned off in a raffle sale, with all proceeds going to rhino conservation.
  
  
  

• Create your own website. Jax Bittner is so committed to rhino conservation that he created his own website to talk about his love for rhinos and to educate people and raise money for rhino conservation. (Jax also designed his own rhino fliers for his fundraising campaign!) Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter are other great methods for spreading the word about rhinos!

• Sell Rhino Artwork. Sam Glenn, a budding artist from Bristol, England, has two passions - rhinos and dinosaurs! After learning that rhinos around the world are now facing extinction, Sam decided to educate his family, friends and neighbors while also raising money for rhino conservation. Sam began selling his drawings of prehistoric animals to raise money to help protect rhinos, and handing our information about IRF along with his artwork.

• Yard Sale. Staff at the Cheehaw Animal Park in Georgia held a “Rummage for Rhinos.” By pooling old and unwanted items and selling them, they raised $1,000 for rhino conservation!
  
  
  
• Create awareness videos. As part of their extended study program, 20 dedicated 8th graders from the Jakarta International School's Rhino Club spent a week at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, visiting with keepers and learning all about the Sumatran rhino. As part of the program, teacher Cathy Craig divided the class into teams of four and made short documentary videos about their experience .  These passionate young people are using the videos to raise funds for our Adopt-a-Rhino program , and to date, they have raised more than US $2,000 for the SRS.

• Special Events. The Denver Zoo keepers raised $10, 000 for the IRF's Sumatran and Javan Rhino Programs by hosting a "Comedy Night at the Zoo." The evening included a bird show, silent auction and the main event, a visit by Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald of Animal Planet’s “Emergency Vet”.

• Bowl-A-Thon. Each year the American Association of Zoo keepers (AAZK) sponsors a fund raising bowl-a-thon called "Bowling For Rhinos" (BFR). Over 60 AAZK chapters participate throughout the US and Canada, raising over $300,000 annually. Visit our calendar to see upcoming BFR events near you!
  
  

• Organize a rhino day at your local Zoo. Ask some volunteers or keepers to talk to visitors about rhino issues in front of the rhino enclosure, or anywhere else in the zoo. Sell the posters and some items from the list of merchandise and ask them to. 

  • Guess the weight of one of your rhinos (to do so, they have to pay $1.00 and they can receive a certificate if they are as close as, say, 4,000 pounds)

  • Guess the weight of a rhino horn (if you have one!)

  • If you had a rhino calf born recently, have three boxes (by the enclosure or in the zoo shop) with three different names and ask visitors to put money in the box with the name they prefer. After a month, the rhino calf is christened with the most popular name
    

• Organize a “Save the rhinos” art competition. To be presented on your web site: ask for a small entry fee and ask kids aged between X and Y to draw a rhinoceros. Offer a prize of a free visit to the zoo for the winner and his family, with a special tour to the zoo enclosure with the keeper.

• Science Projects. Four-year-old Avery Williamson loves rhinos! For her pre-Kindergarten science project, Avery visited several rhinos at a conservation facility near her home in Jacksonville, FL. She won first place with her poster showing the five different species of rhinos. 

• Product Sales. Several small businesses interested in rhinos and wildlife have agreed to send out materials about IRF's rhino conservation programs to their customers along with their products, and to devote a percentage of their proceeds for rhino conservation programs.