PAY YOUR GUIDE AND GIVE TO SUPPORT GINGINS FOREST AND THE RICH BIODIVERSITY IT SUPPORTS
Here's how it works:
Step 1: Click the green 'Pay' button on the right over there --->
Step 2: Enter the amount you'd like to pay overall
Step 3: Check the "Write us a comment" box and in your comment, include a percentage that you'd like to donate to the forest
Step 4: Check the "Display your donation and comment on the donor wall" box and proceed to payment.
Voila!
Here's a bit more information with examples of how to do it:
I'm Scott Poynton, and I host Forest Therapy Walks in the beautiful Gingins Forest.
As a participant in a walk, you are invited to pay me for guiding the walk and at the same time, donate some or all of your payment - anywhere between 0% and 100% - to the care and management of the forest.
You do this by checking the "Write us a comment" box on the payment page and then specifying the percentage that you want to donate to the forest's care.
For example, if you want to pay CHF40 in total for the walk, you put CHF40. If you want all of that to go to me, you can write a comment, but no need to put any percentage. You can put 0% if you want, but then the forest will be sad. I'll be paid 100% what's left after the transaction fees.
But, let's say you want 25% of your payment to go toward the care and management of the forest.
Easy, peasy! Just check the "Write us a comment" box that's under the amount and type '25%' in the comment section. You can add more comments too, for example about your walk - please do! - but remember to write 25% somewhere in your comment. I'll get an email with your comment and I'll know that 25% of your payment must go to Gingins Commune.
Also, please do check the box that says, "Display your donation and comment on the donor wall." It's nice to see comments building up on the Donor wall. Everyone can see what others are saying about the walks, what they're paying in total and donating.
If you want 50% to go to the forest's care, put '50%.' If you want 100%, put 100%. If you want 10%, put 10%, etc.
Whatever percentage you put in the comment, I will ensure that amount goes to Gingins Commune. Each month, I'll put an update here on the site that shows:
1. The amount contributed in total;
2. The amount paid in transaction fees;
3. The amount paid to me; and
4. The amount given to Gingins Commune.
And I'll share evidence of the Bank transfer that that amount has indeed been paid to the Commune.
Simple!
Note:
1. You can make your donation anonymous.
2. When you donate, you can opt to cover the Donorbox fees by increasing your donation - check the box for that. There are still Stripe fees which are about 2%.
3. You can dedicate your payment and donation in memory of someone and you can send an email to let people know you've remembered them or their loved one.
Let's see how much money we can make to love and care for Gingins Forest. Here below is some background as to why this is important.
BACKGROUND:
Gingins Forest lies within the Parc Jura Vaudois, a region of outstanding natural beauty in Canton Vaud, Switzerland.
The forest rises in the foothills of the Jura just above Gingins village and blankets the lake-facing slope all the way to the tree line, just below the peak of La Dole at 1,677m.
Gingins Forest is home to a diversity of amazing wildlife, from lynx to chamois, all sorts of birds, migratory ones too, foxes, rabbits and more recently wolves. Small plants and big, the trees themselves are beautiful, adorned with lichen and with one small reserve hosting the Ancients: remnants of the original wild forest that once covered the entire Jura. For sure there are Pixies and Fairies up there too.
Gingins Forest is managed for timber production and signs of harvesting are everywhere. That's OK and as a forester, I can understand that timber harvesting is an important way to generate revenue to manage forests and pay for their protection. Yet, Gingins Forest is also heavily used for recreation - walkers, horse riders, bike riders, runners, paragliders etc. Revenues generated by timber sales don't cover even a small fraction of what Gingins Commune pays each year to Canton Vaud.
At the same time, the forest is under increasing threat. Many trees - particularly the conifers - are dying. The super hot, dry summers we've been experiencing combined with the less cold winters mean that trees are under significant water and heat stress and that there is more attack from pests and diseases that in the past were killed off by freezing winters that just don't happen anymore. With the amount of dead wood on the forest floor, the hot, dry summers combined with the Bise wind is creating a recipe for a catastrophic forest fire event. 
Gingins Commune is exploring different forest management strategies beyond timber harvesting as a means to raise revenue to protect the forest. Every CHF counts. It is interested in managing the forest more for ecological, recreational and carbon storage purposes.
I believe that many of the people who enjoy activities in the Gingins Forest, including Forest Therapy walk participants, would be ready to support a different way, beyond timber harvesting, of managing and protecting the forest. As such, I am inviting Forest Therapy walk participants to make a donation toward the Gingins Forest's management.
The money each participant chooses to donate - after Donorbox takes its small administrative fee - will be passed to Gingins Commune who will use the funds to implement forest management practices aligned with an ecological, recreation, carbon storage approach.
The Commune will report back on how these funds are spent so that you, the donor, will know how and where your funds are used to protect the forest.
If enough of us give, we can support truly meaningful forest protection activities.
Beyond that, we might inspire other people, other groups who use Gingins Forest to also give.
And even more ambitious still, we might pioneer a whole new way of protecting Swiss forests!
I hope you'll feel able to give something toward the protection and management of the beautiful Gingins Forest.
Any donation amount is welcome!
