About Go Ape

Trying to do our bit

Bit of a deep breath, here. Obviously, we take pride in giving something back, but not because we’re trying to make people think we’re worthy and impressive, but because we just think it’s the right thing to do.

So we’ve decided to run with the section to tell you a little more about the incredible work of the charities we support, and in hope that everyone who hears about that work will feel motivated to do their bit too.

What we did in 2011

In the last year, we’ve donated over £67k in cash and gift vouchers to good causes, and our total fundraising contributions rise to nearly £80k when other activities are taken into account. 2011 also saw the ‘£27,000 Site Give Away‘ with each of our courses selecting a charity to whom they awarded £1000.

Who we’re supporting in 2012, and how?

Help for Heroes

Go Ape will be supporting Help for Heroes in 2012 through a series of fundraising events, and by facilitating wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women return to an active and adventurous lifestyle.

Tristram Mayhew, Chief Gorilla, says, “Help for Heroes continues to facilitate some amazing achievements from rehabilitation to expedition, new skills to new confidence, all helping to rebuild individuals’ lives.  We are extremely proud to be supporting such an important charity and hope to raise as much money as possible.  This will help to better the lives of our heroes and furthermore, enable them to live life adventurously again which fits in perfectly with Go Ape’s ethos.”

Go Ape’s funding is being restricted specifically for Battle Back which provides Adaptive Sports and Adventurous Training for the wounded. As well as this, Go Ape will offer the partners and families of injured Servicemen and women, access to its courses to provide a fun and action-packed day out, through the Band of Sisters network.

Listed below are the events we’re encouraging our tribe to sign up to:

15th April.   Rides to Recovery:  Tidworth, Wiltshire
20th- 26th May.   The Big Battlefield Bike Ride: North France
1st July.   Rides to Recovery:  Plymouth, Devon
4th – 8th July.   5 Peaks Challenge
29th July.   Rides to Recovery:  Catterick, North Yorkshire
23rd September.   Rides to Recovery:  Colchester, Essex

To provide further support, Go Ape will match all of the money raised by staff through its fund raising page throughout 2012. All fundraising and donations can be made via this page (and you can see how much we’ve raised so far!): http://www.bmycharity.com/goapetribe.

And for more information on the great work carried out by Help for Heroes – http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/

Global Canopy Programme

We support the Global Canopy Programme as we look to minimise the environmental impact of Go Ape. They put together the forest educational boards dotted around our sites, and we provide them with a donation of £5k a year to help fund their work in forest canopy research, education and conservation

Jubilee Sailing Trust

We’re always looking for ways to make our courses more accessible, and we love the JST because it brings able-bodied and disabled people together on tallship voyages. We supply an annual bursary of £5k that helps the financially disadvantaged take part, and send our staff to make up the numbers when the ships are short on crew.

Gift Vouchers

In 2012 we’re going to repeat last year’s pledge of giving away £30,000 worth of Go Ape gift vouchers that can be used in fundraising auctions, local charities and raffles.

If you feel your cause is actively encouraging people to live life adventurously and would like to apply, please click here

Terms & Conditions for Charitable Gift Vouchers

(1) Only applications received via the online form above will be considered, no postal or email applications will be accepted. Please click here to apply.
(2) At Go Ape we have a minimum age requirement of 10 years old (4yrs and older for Go Ape Tree Top Junior Course) so we have a policy of supporting only projects and charities that meet the needs of children (and adults) over this age)
(3) Only applications for charity gift vouchers via the link above will be considered.
(4) Our charity chiefs get lots of requests throughout the year. Should you not hear back from us within 10 days please accept that your request has not been successful.