Since a couple of years I support Team Theunis as a fundraiser. From 2007 until 2015 I was the director of Ubbo Emmius Fund, the charity of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Alumni of our university are very important for the relation between society and science. Ubbo Emmius Fund brings both parties together by f.i. crowdfunding campaigns.
After my retirement in 2015 I spend part of my time in finding new ways of funding for the scientific work of Team Piersma. I strongly believe in the collaboration of organisations in the field of conservation together with scientists. They sometimes tend to be competitors in finding funds for their own goals. Since scientists such as Theunis Piersma and his coworkers are feeding nature conservation organisations with fundamental reliable data and insights there should be a stronger connection in this field.
In 2017 and 2018, we run a crowdfunding campaign for the Black-tailed Godwit. Although many, many organisations run similar fundraising campaigns for the Black-tailed Godwit, we found sponsors and are grateful to all who are now sponsoring the scientific work of team Piersma, whose work is the basic understructure for nature conservation.