how many DUers would be interested in forming a corporation and buying some rainforest together?

[Gato Moteado]

properties here in costa rica are getting gobbled up by people wanting to build hotels or condos or other developments. it's pretty disgusting to say the least.

from time to time i run into unbelievable deals on land and when i have the money i try to buy any rainforest i can to protect it.

right now i have first crack at a property of about 300 acres very close to tortuguero national park on the caribbean coast. this is an area where the sea turtles come up on the beach to lay eggs every year.

the owner of the property wants $60k for the whole thing, and that's incredibly cheap (about $200 an acre!). i want to snap up the land to protect it from future development but i don't have that kind of cash at the moment.

anybody have any ideas on how to raise that kind of cash to buy up rainforest? or, would there be a large group of DUers and others that would want to pool money together to buy up land like that and turn it into a wildlife reserve?

[bicentennial_baby]

1. that's an awesome idea!!

:bounce:

[Gato Moteado]

2. ok...when are you coming down here to help me get rolling??????

the weather is great and the cervezas are cold.

[Gato Moteado]

3. hey, seriously...if anyone has creative ideas about how to raise money to save the rainforest....

...one piece at a time, please post here or send me a private message.

i have some interesting ideas of my own and would really like it if we could get a group discussion going on this offline.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I don't have much cash myself, but these guys might...

http://www.therainforestsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4 Not that I know how legitimate they are at first glance.

These seems to be a whole industry out there buying up such land for preservation, and if you have such connections down there, you might want to pass the word along.

[Gato Moteado]

9. cool....i'll check it out.

thanks

[crispini]

5. Wow, that's amazing!

You know, 60 people with 1k each could swing that. I'd be totally in on that idea.

[Gato Moteado]

7. ok....we got you and me....now we need 58 more people

and we're in business

[LaurenG]

6. I'll buy an acre!

At least I could pay cash for a couple anyway.

[Gato Moteado]

8. and i could buy a few.....

but we still need 295 more people or so. how can we find that many people?

[LaurenG]

29. When do we need to have the $ to you?

Seriously, I am very interested.

[Gato Moteado]

39. well i would say we first need to lnow for sure we can raise enough to buy the property....

...and then a few people should probably come down to check the place out to make sure i'm not scamming anyone. i can form a costa rican corporation to buy the property but we'd probably want a lawyer in the states to draw up a simple contract for all participants to sign once we decide exactly what we will do with the property.

so, hold onto your money until we know we can make it all happen.

[rug]

10. Count me in.

Get a local lawyer to set it up if you're serious.

[Gato Moteado]

13. setting up the corporation won't be a problem, i'll cover the cost of that....

....first we need to make sure we have enough people to buy the property and come up with a plan of what we'll do with it.

[rug]

14. Only 60 people @ 5 acres each. It's doable.

What do you have in mind? Keep it forever wild?

[Gato Moteado]

26. we could keep it forever wild or we could invest a little more and set up an eco tour biz....

....maybe some green cabins, etc.

any ideas?

[rug]

27. It's probably big enough for both.

A lot depends on Costa Rican non-profit and corporation law. It may have to be set up one way or the other or the land divided. I don't think it will be too hard to get enough people interested. If enough people are interested a common decision can be made. But there needs to be some legal entity set up down there that allows these decisions to be made corporately. (Just don't use any Nigerian solicitors.)

[Deja Q]

11. I could use a few exotic toothpicks... count me in!

:7

[flvegan]

12. The DU Rainforest Trust. I'd be in for a few acres.

[graywarrior]

15. I'm in.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

16. My budget is limited

but if you could make this happen, I could buy an acre. If it's within the $200-300 range......:toast:

[Maestro]

17. I'd be incredibly interested.

At $200.00 an acre I'd love to have just 5 or 10 acres. I'd set up several blinds and bird all day long. I'd take pictures like there were no tomorrow and to know that I had saved some tropical rainforest from developers would make it even sweeter. I am not sure of the legalities of such a thing. Pooling money with those whom you do not know is always risky, even if it is some fine DUers.

[Owl]

18. I'm interested.

[CabalPowered]

19. Carbon offsets

That's the most direct way of funding preservation I can think of. But that means negotiating alliances with vendors of carbon-intensive services. Also, I'd steer clear of a corp.. I'd be thinking of a 501c based in the states.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. I'm interested...

I couldn't afford to do much; but I could probably manage 1/2 to 1 acre...for the anteaters! Fantastic idea! :loveya:

[Mike03]

21. It's worth thinking about

Your best bet would be to find philanthropists, since this is a moral/ethical pursuit and not an investment opportunity. So you are not pursuing investors. That makes it easier for you, because you are not obligated to promise anything in return for the support or generosity of your supporters.

Do you need to incorporate as a nonprofit organization? I don't know if you do or not.

The other consideration is only that there are so many worthy causes now competing for the same funds. It's overwhelming, not only for the good people like yourself working for a cause, but for the donors themselves, who are tugged in a myriad of ways by all the needs in the world right now.

[crispini]

22. Now, here's a thought...

how about these contacting these folks?

http://www.worldlandtrust-us.org/

I'm not saying it's not a FUN idea to get together a batch of DU'ers and "roll our own" mini wildlife preserve, but in case it doesn't prove practical, it seems that there are other groups out there with similar ideas.

Honestly, though, I think that it would be a lot more fun to roll our own. I'd seriously contribute.

[Arugula Latte]

23. When I was in Costa Rica I donated a lot of $$ to buy up rainforest land

It was under the auspices of the Nature Conservancy.

(Unfortunately, I am not as cash rich now as I was at the time). :(

This is a great idea. Please keep us posted.

[GOPisEvil]

24. I can possibly buy an acre.

I think you have some good suggestions in this thread about raising funds faster.

Good luck!

[BarenakedLady]

25. That is an awesome idea

:thumbsup:

[Sugar Smack]

28. I PMmed ya a few minutes ago.

:) So, yes.

[I Have A Dream]

30. I'm interested in finding out more. n/t

[Gato Moteado]

31. what do you think if i set up a yahoo group about it and we'll all have a place to discuss it?

nt

[LaurenG]

32. Go for it. nt

[Gato Moteado]

33. here it is......

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Costa_Rica_Rainforest_Community/

join it and let's get some discussions going

[Gato Moteado]

34. dupe

[Gato Moteado]

35. i just set up a yahoo group for this

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Costa_Rica_Rainforest_Community/

let's brainstorm and talk about what we can do. invite anyone you know that might be interested.

[vireo]

36. Joined

[GOPisEvil]

37. Quick question: what's the time frame for raising the funds?

[Gato Moteado]

38. don't know for sure, but if we knew we were gonna raise the money....

....we could nail him down into a contract.

if we're absolutely certain we want to move forward with this, i would suggest a group of DUers interested in leading the project come down and head out to see the property. after enough people have seen it and we put together a contract then we should look at moving forward. i don't want people entering into something like this just based on my word. you know me well enough to be a business partner but not everyone here does.

[Gato Moteado]

40. ok folks....come on and join the yahoo group i made.......

....let's get some ideas rolling.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Costa_Rica_Rainforest_Community/

[Sugar Smack]

42. M, I TRIED to join your group but

Yahoo would not hear of it. Let's stay in touch.

[Gato Moteado]

44. what happened? why did yahoo not let you join?

do we need to start our own website?

:)

[porphyrian]

41. I'm broke, but I'll kick this. -n/t

[Swamp Rat]

43. Tuanis

:hi:

The other place where turtles nest is in Guanacaste, cerca de Playas del Coco, Hermosa, Tamarindo, etc.

Yo quisiera comprarlo, pero estoy pelado.

Buena suerte y pura vida.

[Gato Moteado]

45. hola amigo

yeah, the nice thing about the northern caribbean coast is that the land is still affordable. i can't even afford a square meter near the beach in guanacaste, let alone a whole finca!

pura vida!