Hello! My name is Eleanor, and I am a high school student in California, USA. Today—March 13, 2025—is my 17th birthday, for which I have decided to host a future-raiser to donate to the non-profit World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
This is a future-raiser, more so than it is a fundraiser. Why?
Because WWF works tirelessly to protect our lives—you and I, young students across the world, and all of humanity. It is essentially raising and cultivating our future by taking care of the nature and world that supports life for us all, by fighting climate change—the greatest threat to humanity.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the climate crisis threatens to undo the last 50 years of progress in development, global health and poverty reduction, and to further widen health inequalities between and within populations. Last reported in 2019, climate change caused at least 250,000 deaths per year. Yet 6 years later, the World Meteorological Organization has just confirmed that climate change has worsened significantly, and we must anticipate the truly horrifying 2°C rise in global temperatures, which is considered a critical threshold above which dangerous and cascading effects of human-generated climate change occur.
That is why it is crucial that we take action now. We cannot wait any longer. With a 100% fundraising efficiency, WWF uses its donations to protect endangered species, restores wildlife and their habitats, transforms markets and policies toward sustainability, and tackles the threats driving climate change. WWF collaborates with partners at all levels, including local communities, to conserve the nature we all depend on and build a future in which people and nature can thrive.
It will mean a lot to me if you can give back to nature as a way to celebrate my birthday. Every little bit—even $5—will help protect our people, our future, our world. I thank you in advance for supporting a cause that represents multitudes to my heart.
Me and my younger brother on March 13, 2015, exactly a decade ago.
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” - Muhammad Ali
