2017 Annual Report

WALKABOUT FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2017 CONTENTS ABOUT US Letter from the Co-Founders 06 Letter from the CEO 08 Our 3-Pronged Approach 09 Our Mission 10 The Need 12 Our Global Impact 14 2017 at a Glance 16 PROGRAMMES IN 2017 Our Reach in 2017 20 Investing in Research 22 Wheelchair Distributions 26 Walkabout Rehabilitation Centres 40 FUNDRAISING IN 2017 Women4Walkabout Ladies’ Luncheon 48 Challenge Events 52 Corporate Partnerships 54 Schools on Board 55 Brand Partnerships 56 Star Fundraisers 58 OUR FAMILY Our Board 62 Our Team 63 FINANCIALS 2017 Financials 66 GET INVOLVED Donate 70 Be a Walkabout Hero 71 2 3 ABOUT US LETTER FROM THE CO-FOUNDERS Although 2017 was somewhat of a challenging year on a personal level for us (Luis underwent an operation while Carolina was on pregnancy bed rest), it was a formidable year for Walkabout, which donated over 2,200 wheelchairs, provided daily life-changing rehabilitation to 60 children, and gave $250,000 to spinal cord injury research. This huge feat was accomplished by our incredible team to whom we dedicate this year’s annual report. Without the unwavering commitment and dedication of each and every one of our staff, led by our amazing CEO, Isabel Falkenberg, our ability to impact thousands and thousands of lives this year would not have been possible. Looking back on the year there are several key moments that stand out to us, but perhaps the most significant one is our inaugural Women4Walkabout Ladies Luncheon which began as a small idea to host a lunch with a few friends and developed into a sold-out event at Claridge’s Hotel, attended by over 300 people and sponsored by Buccellati. We raised a staggering £250,000 which surpassed all our expectations and the audience was moved to tears when Charity Nana, one of our first beneficiaries from Kenya, spoke about how her life has changed because of her Walkabout wheelchair. Her story is one of hope and, as a woman living with a disability in a rural village in a developing country, she is truly an inspiration to everyone she meets. There is not a single day that goes by that we don’t count our blessings for having supporters like you helping us on this journey that we’re on. It’s a long journey and we are only starting to scratch the surface; after all, 65 million people in the world need a wheelchair but can’t afford one and there continues to be no official cure for paralysis. But every day, thanks to your support, we get closer to our goal: a world where everyone has the mobility they deserve and the ability to stand and walk on their own two feet again. Carolina and Luis Gonzalez-Bunster Co-Founders 6 7 LETTER FROM THE CEO OUR 3-PRONGED APPROACH In 2015, when the UN General Assembly launched its Sustainable Development Goals, it did so with the core commitment to ‘leave no one behind’. At Walkabout, these words resonate strongly with us. Every day, millions of children suffering from a mobility disability are left behind, unable to go to school and receive an education, play with their friends and integrate into their communities, let alone contemplate the possibility of having a job and providing for a family the day they grow up and become adults. The inability to walk and move around freely deprives them of those dreams coming true. It leaves them and their families behind - RESEARCH physically, socially, intellectually and economically. We fund labs around the world in their groundbreaking research to Before I joined Walkabout, first as a member of the board and subsequently as CEO, I had given relatively ﬁnd a cure for paralysis little thought to what life is like without mobility. I wasn’t aware of the staggering numbers of people in the world who need a wheelchair and cannot afford one - conservative statistics point to 65 million - I hadn’t considered that many of these millions would have a chance to walk were they given adequate rehabilitation, and little did I know about the long list of life threatening side effects associated with a spinal cord injury, such as infections related to lack of bladder control or the inability to regulate body temperature, to mention a couple. It was only after my first wheelchair distribution that I truly realised the dimension of what we were doing: the transformative effect of something as simple and utilitarian as a wheelchair, the opportunities that present themselves through rehabilitation and the enormous value of every single penny we have invested in research so far, as each milestone reached by our researchers has become a stepping stone to finding a cure for paralysis. By sharing our 2017 achievements in this report we not only want to thank our donors, volunteers and supporters all around the world, but we also hope to continue raising awareness and inspiring countless people like you to continue supporting us. Together we can truly transform lives, because no one deserves to be left behind. Isabel Falkenberg CEO WHEELCHAIRS REHABILITATION We distribute locally repairable, We provide care, education, custom-ﬁtted wheelchairs to people in therapy and training to children and developing countries adults with mobility disabilities 8 9 OUR MISSION Our mission is to restore dignity, freedom and independence by providing wheelchairs and rehabilitation in the developing world and funding research to find a cure for paralysis. 10 11 THETHE NEED NEED 100 MILLION EVERY 60 MINUTES people in the world need a wheelchair someone is spinal cord injured in the USA 2% of the US population is 65 MILLION paralysed - that is EVERY 15 MINUTES people cannot afford one 1 IN 50 someone is spinal cord injured in India people 1212 13 OUR GLOBAL IMPACT 23 12,000 36,000 $1,250,000 countries reached wheelchairs distributed lives impacted given to groundbreaking research 14 15 2017 AT A GLANCE FEBRUARY 27 JUNE 19 We visit our Kenya Team Walkabout heads NOVEMBER 14 APRIL 3 to India to distribute Our Lilly e Violetta trunk Daycare Centre to Euromonitor International introduce an Early 136 chairs and establish show raises over £25,000 nominates Walkabout MAY 2 an advanced training for Walkabout Education Programme Foundation as one of its OCTOBER 8 Walkabout hits the programme for all local 5 new Walkabout Heroes to support our kids’ Headline Charity Partners trading floor for the third staff at our Daycare run for those who can’t intellectual development with a £50,000 grant to year in a row at BTIG’s Centre in Varanasi in the Royal Parks Half alongside the physical provide wheelchairs in therapy they receive daily Charity Trading Day, Marathon Uganda raising enough to fund our Daycare Centre in India for a whole year MARCH 6 JUNE 8 OCTOBER 23 Walkabout visits one of the Invited by the Aga We visit Guinea to provide very few local wheelchair Khan Foundation, our 175 wheelchairs thanks to JANUARY 23 producers in Tanzania CEO Isabel talks at the the incredible fundraising Walkabout heads to and signs a contract to Oxford Symposium efforts of two ladies Guatemala to distribute support sustainable local for Comparative and determined to make a 100 paediatric wheelchairs production APRIL 25 International Education JULY 30 difference in their home DECEMBER 11 British Vogue Executive and to assess the viability about what more can 8 Walkabout Heroes country We allocate $250,000 to Fashion Director, Serena of setting up a wheelchair be done to integrate complete the Prudential fund two ground-breaking Hood, and internationally assembly centre in Kenya, people with disabilities RideLondon-100 bike research projects into acclaimed designer similar to the one we visit into education in the race, raising an incredible spinal cord injuries in label Peter Pilotto host in Guatemala developing world £10,000 for Walkabout the US an exclusive event to fundraise for us MARCH 2 APRIL 9 MAY 22 JUNE 16 AUGUST 14 DECEMBER 12 We identify ideal premises 3 Walkabout Heroes Team Walkabout travels Over 300 women 4 incredible individuals We begin building at our for our wheelchair assembly complete the Paris to Sudan to organise attend our Inaugural embark on the Camino Kenya assembly centre, centre in Kenya, and hire our Marathon, doubling their our largest distribution Women4Walkabout de Santiago, walking and OCTOBER 30 with a view to receiving first local Country Manager fundraising targets ever, involving 620 Ladies’ Luncheon at cycling 800km and raising Team Walkabout visits our first container of wheelchairs, 5 local Claridge’s Hotel, and help £4,000 Sierra Leone for the first wheelchair parts for partner organisations us raise over £250,000 time, distributing 117 assembly in April 2018 and the training of 25 wheelchairs to people local volunteers to WHO MARCH 10 in desperate need in wheelchair provisioning As advisors to the what remains one of the standards JUNE 26 poorest and most trauma Fédération Internationale Walkabout Ambassador stricken countries in the de l’Automobile’s High Arielle Rausin joins world Level Panel for Road us to distribute our Safety, we attend the 1,000th chair in Kenya. launch in Paris of the APRIL 30 As a wheelchair user #3500Lives worldwide Team USA Paralympian herself, she sets an campaign, together with and Walkabout example within the OCTOBER 11 President Jean Todt and Ambassador, Arielle local community of how For the second time this NOVEMBER 27 the UNHCHR Zeid Ra’ad al Rausin, races the London disability does not mean year, we partner with Our last distribution of FEBRUARY 6 Hussein Marathon on behalf of inability Peter Pilotto, in an event the year is in northern Continuing relief efforts in hosted by Georgina Uganda, home to Nepal initiated after the 2015 Walkabout with two of our most loyal supporters, Cohen and our Co- over 1 million South earthquake, we return to Founder, Carolina.

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