Dear Friends and Family,

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, our research trip to Cameroon has been canceled in order to minimize the risks to ourselves and to the local Cameroonian people. Despite the trip not happening this year, your generous donations will remain safe with the UCLA Foundation and can only be spent on the purpose of a research trip for the Ebony Project.

While a future trip to Cameroon may be possible, we completely understand that this testing time has created financial strain across the country. Due to this, refunds are possible. Please email the UCLA Spark program at: uclaspark@support.ucla.edu for more information on refunds.

We cannot stress our gratitude for your continuous support, and we hope that you and your families are safe during these unsure times.

Sincerely,

The Ebony Team

Dear Donors, 

We are incredibly disheartened to let you know that our research trip to Cameroon has been cancelled in response to the novel COVID-19 virus and its rapidly evolving reach. The University has suspended all  University related travel during this time in an attempt to minimize the risk to public health as much as possible. In accordance with the entire UCLA community, we will continue working on our project remotely from home for the rest of the year. We cannot thank you enough for all your support until this point and will continue to update you on our research as it progresses. 

We hope that you are all staying safe during these unsure times.

Sincerely,

The Ebony Team 

Dear Donors,

Just yesterday the Ebony Team was awarded a substantial travel grant from UCLA to conduct our research in the Congo Basin! With nearly 80% of our original goal of $16,000 now obtained, we are proud to announce that we will be purchasing our flights from LAX to Cameroon very soon.

We are now in our final day of fundraising and would like to take the time to thank each and every single one of you for all of your support. As college undergrads, the opportunity to travel abroad to conduct field research on a critical sustainability project is the opportunity of a lifetime and we wouldn't have been able to do it without your gracious contributions.

We are asking, for the final time, if you could share our campaign with your friends, family, coworkers, and fellow environmentalists: https://spark.ucla.edu/project/18033.

Our team, as well as the indigenous people of the Congo Basin, thank you for your support. Our research would not be possible without you.

Our warmest regards, 

The Ebony Team 

Hello from the 2020 Ebony Team! 

We hope you've had an amazing start to the year/decade! We wanted to reach out to provide you with an update as we move forward with our project. Since the beginning of the year, we have been working vigorously on the preliminary steps of our project. With our research proposals now fully garnered, we have been actively collecting data for analysis. 

As of today, we have relaunched our SPARK campaign page! Visiting Cameroon is incredibly vital to the success of our project. Our research is reliant on more than just literature review. In order to fully understand the systems we are trying to improve, it is crucial that we get to experience firsthand what they consist of. A thorough analysis requires us to be in the field and talk with the locals about ebony.

With your help, we have fundraised over $3000, which is over 30% of our goal! We are hopeful that we can meet our new goal of $11,000 by the beginning of March. With 30 days to go and more determination than ever, we’re confident that we’ll be able to ensure the preservation of not only the ebony tree, but the Congo Basin as well. 

We would like to thank you as a team for your support for our research and would like to offer a reminder that supporting the Ebony Team means supporting the local communities of Cameroon, the Ebony species, and the Congo Basin. We humbly ask that you share our campaign with your friends, family, coworkers, and fellow environmentalists: https://spark.ucla.edu/project/18033.

Respectfully,

The Ebony Team 

Hi! It’s the 2020 Cameroon Team! 

It's currently December, and #GivingTuesday has just passed. We need your help now more than ever before!

We're so excited to be able to share this amazing experience with you all. We will be working alongside Taylor Guitars on The Ebony Project, where we will investigate and report on the sustainable sourcing of ebony wood in the production of guitars, as well as the benefits and effects on the local community in the Congo Basin of Cameroon, where the majority of the ebony forests are.

Now, unfortunately --- we still have a long way to go and we need your help! This trip requires a lot of resources and planning, and in order for it to happen, we need your donations! Every little bit you donate will go into the Project without a waste, such as providing living expenses for us students, helping out with the transportation fees, and even boosting our confidence and determination throughout this whole month! And most importantly, if you donate, YOU will be able to make a difference to the world by helping the Ebony Project succeed and carry on for future years. The environment is our home; don’t let it die! 

Thank you so much for considering this, and we hope you will be able to join us on this wonderful journey!