Hi Friends & Family, On October 7th, I'm running the 41st Portland Marathon to help COTAP continue its mission of helping specific communities while addressing the global issue of climate change. COTAP's unique mission, addressing both climate change and poverty, allows me and those supporting me to make a positive change in a specific community while also addressing long-term 'macro' problems. It's real, measurable change on two fronts. Also I believe COTAP is an innovative and unique organization. It is the wave of the future and I want to see it grow to reach more donors and communities. Through our donations my friends and I will be helping COTAP itself grow so that it can have truly great impact on these problems. Full Disclosure: As a beer lover this is also a pilgrimage to the microbrew heaven that is Portland. I appreciate your support for this innovative, ambitious, and meaningful nonprofit! Shay

My event details

• Event:  41st Portland Marathon - (www.portlandmarathon.org)
• Date:  Sunday, October 7th 2012
• Distance:  Full marathon - 26.2 miles
• Location:  Portland, OR

My fundraising goal

You can support my marathon by transforming some or all of your annual CO2 emissions into wages through COTAP (at right).  My goal is for friends and family to address at least 100 tonnes of their collective annual emissions. The average American carbon footprint (from driving, home energy use, and flying) is approximately 18 tonnes of CO2 per year, but you can of course offset a portion of your footprint if you like. If you don't know what your carbon footprint is, you can use COTAP's thorough-but-easy carbon calculator (but return to this page for your transaction to automatically count towards my fundraising goal!).

More About COTAP

Based in Oakland, CA, COTAP connects individuals' carbon footprints with accredited forestry projects in least-developed countries.  Through the instrument and system of carbon offsets, COTAP enables you to pay the poorest people in the world for planting and maintaining trees which sequester the carbon dioxide which you generate through your lifestyle activities which require the burning of fossil fuels.  COTAP empowers folks like you to address your personal contribution to global warming, while also creating wages for the poorest people in the world. COTAP’s initial portfolio - in Mozambique, Uganda, and Nicaragua – is poised to generate at least $890K in community payments, an amount it seeks to scale to $30M annually.  With every COTAP offset transaction, 90.9% of funds goes to projects and on average 60.4% goes to rural communities as wages for planting and maintaining trees.

Tax deductibility

The entire amount of a COTAP contribution is tax-deductible for U.S. residents because COTAP is an IRS-recognized 510(c)3 public charity.