|
This is a Global Grant Project application for a project by the Gift of Life Adventure Foundation a 501 C3 Nonprofit in the USA and an 80 G-approved Organization in India.
Objective 1:
Uniting Rotary Clubs around the world to a common humanitarian goal of committing to Organ Donation Awareness and enabling projects by Driving around the world (3-4 Months a year) and speaking to Rotary clubs Enroute about how they can become members of this Global Alliance for Awareness and Enabling Organ Donation. I have already begun this process by visiting about 100 clubs in India, Russia, Europe, and the USA to get a feel for how this can work and I have ample evidence that this can be a powerful way to unite rotary for Organ Donation. Some clubs have gone ahead and committed to projects while some districts have committed to doing so with their clubs after hearing what I have to say. I can provide references of clubs where I have spoken to and have received their financial support. I am now seeking to scale this project globally with a never before done and achieved project and seek a global grant to make this happen.
Objective 2-
This whole journey will be documented by a small professional camera crew to create a web series for broadcast on my foundation's youtube channel and or an OTT platform like Amazon Prime or Netflix. Rotary has never done this sort of activity before. I have the professional expertise to pull of this production as I have done so in the past for Discovery Channel with a show called Medical Detectives (Forensic Files)
How does one measure this?
The number of Clubs spoken to with the help of RI sending out letters to all local clubs to support and meet the team driving through their communities.
The Proposed (hopefully approved) RAG for Organ Donation will communicate with the clubs en-route based on the route map and set up talks and interactions with Joint club meetings or several individual meetings in the area/district
The Proposed RAG Organ Donation volunteers and the RCM Satellite Club for Organ donation members will be delegated to contact the press in the local areas and district with the help of District governors to seek commitments to interact with the press announcing their support to engaging in projects to increase awareness and enable organ donations in their communities giving the DG and Local presidents more public image support.
This team from the RAG and E-club for organ donation will take an inventory of all the clubs spoken to with my appeal and then follow up with them on how we can help them implement different projects on the ground
Take an inventory on how many people the on-ground activities have reached in the community
Via the club, get a sense of how many people have come forward to express their intent to become organ donors by promoting a central rotary organ donation sign-up registry that is then hooked up to the local sharing and transplant organizations of the regions. This will require the building of a centralized App/Webapp. I have already proven the concept with such an app created via my nonprofit Gift of Life Adventure.
The E-club for organ donation/Proposed RAG for organ donation will then become the owners of this project and will sustain this by a continuous engagement with clubs that have been touched and not touched by this Global drive to unite Rotary for Organ Donation Awareness.
This project aligns with Rotary's area of focus in the following ways
This is a humanitarian project that is adding to the awareness of Organ Donation where millions globally are looking for organs to get them out of a potentially fatal disease or ailment. The more people who come forward to donate, the more lives can be saved. Nothing more humanitarian than saving lives.
This drive will certainly help goodwill and better friendships through this drive where I will be an ambassador of Rotary International, The Satellite E-club, RCM, Dist 3232, the Zone as a common thread to bring unity for a cause.
The following list of Project ideas will involve community members and Rotarians as proven by projects done in cooperation with my foundation and Dist. 3060 PDF Attached
The Blueprint for the Uniting Rotary TV Series
I do something that only a handful of Rotarians and or Indian-origin citizens of the world accomplish. I am an Indian American Rotarian, living in New Jersey and part-time in India and drive around the world in my own car to spread more awareness about organ donation under the aegis of the Gift of Life Adventure Foundation and other corporate sponsors. This effort is fully funded by corporate sponsors, Local Rotary clubs, and crowdfunding. The goal of this mission is to reach a million potential organ donors (a Million people from all walks of life) and tell them the story of my kidney donation. This story is packed with information on the different aspects of organ donation that most are unaware of including hearing first-hand from a kidney donor's life post a donation. I have traveled through 44 countries so far and reached about 100K people. This mission has got a lot of supporting press coverage so far and I have proven the concept by gaining over 350K viewers for a documentary I have on youtube documenting my drive for the cause from Bangalore to Scotland.
When I drive across the world, I travel. In this travel, I encounter many challenges and rewards that encapsulate the entire experience of Overlanding (international road trips). Our encounters include:
different people and their cultures
A variety of cuisine that is local and hyper-local
The vastness of this planets landscapes
Social occasions that come from organizing organ donation talks
Meeting the 1000s of Rotary clubs along the way, and building fellowship with the 10000s of Rotarians
Adventurous situations brought on by border crossings, vehicle failures, natural disasters, and other unforeseen circumstances added to the drama
An aspirational lifestyle of camping and living on the road in the vehicle
Minimalist living
All of the above are captured in images, videos that are shared on social media, sponsor pages, Rotary pages. One such journey that began in Bangalore and Ended in John O Groats in Scotland was produced into a documentary called Blended Highways and is available to view via our youTube Channel at @giftoflifeadventure - https://youtu.be/JWRXAVt1qu0
All rights to this footage are owned by the Gift of Life Adventure Foundation Inc. A 501 C 3 Tax-exempt organization and all proceeds will be accrued here to fund the mission of organ donation awareness as grants to Local clubs - giving back to Rotary
I am proposing that Rotary International, commission this series of Overland Adventures which I want to continue to call - Blended Highways and showcase this aspirational lifestyle of travel and adventure, ALL for a Humanitarian cause. This will attract people and expose them to the elements of organ donation. A mode of travel that is gaining in popularity post and amidst the pandemic with more people working from home and connected remote sites.
The Series can be an ongoing series with experiences in each country captured in one episode.
Format: This will be shot documentary-style and then later scripted into a narration style feature from the point of view of the travelers/Rotarians.
Crew: The crew of this series will be minimal and traveling with TEAMGOLA (Team Gift of life Adventure) and consist of a camera operator and an editor, camera operator, and a driver) The Lead camera op recruited for this is Rob Marish whose work can be seen following this link https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1638962/ The other is Vishwas Avati who was the lead cameraman on the Blended Highway Documentary
Team GOLA:
TeamGOLA will consist of
Lead Car: Heavily ROTARY BRANDED - Anil Srivatsa and his wife Deepali Srivatsa. Both Indian-Americans where Anil is on this mission to promote organ donation. Team GOLA will drive in the lead car named GlobeLander a 2014 Toyota Landcruiser. This car seats 2 people so there will be people getting into the car and traveling with the team for short distances and then exit giving the team some interesting dynamics. This allows for new characters to be introduced into the adventure and journey adding some newness to the storytelling.
Crew Car: A 2010 Toyota Fortuner called Gulfie where the 2 man camera crew and driver will travel and uses as a production vehicle
The team will minimize hotel stay and will live off the vehicles and the lands, both equipped with a rooftop tent and ground tents, a portable and fully functioning kitchen, and shower and bathroom facilities (in the wild at times)
The storyline: A Series following the journey of a couple driving around the world to spread awareness about organ donation. Their story is told in a narrative format interspersed with B-Roll and sound bytes of the people and situations they encounter. A non-fictional series presented as the events unfolded, packaged, and produced to present to your audience a travelogue that brings the world to their screens. A world they aspire to traverse and live through our experiences vicariously. If this inspires some of the viewers to undertake their own journey we can incorporate their story into the 10 part series, to begin with. This will have the feel of a show like expedition overland on Amazon Prime
All through this documentary, Rotary and Local Rotarians will play a prominent role portraying them as the local heroes they are and committing to the cause of Organ Donation in their communities. A commitment they will have to stick to as this was made publicly obligating them to come through.
The IP to the series will rest with GOLA Foundation and we can discuss broadcast exclusivity/distribution rights. I hope this is something we can move forward on and our first journey will be North and South America FLAGGING OFF AT THE 2022 ROTARY CONVENTION IN HOUSTON
FOLLOWED BY the continent of Australia and then Africa. Europe and then ending in India after Asia.
A journey like this will have expenses but the end product will be so unique as not many do this. The main heads of expenses are as below:
Fuel
Food and accommodation
Airline tickets for crew and TeamGOLA
Vehicle shipping and customs
Visa/border Fees
Crew payment
Post-production
Insurance
Communications
Tolls and vehicle maintenance
Tech for a centralized Rotary Registry for Organ Donation
For this Grant, I am seeking USD 150000
| 
