Elephants · Rhinos · People
We're here to keep
the wild standing
The Mission
Keep the wild standing
Elephants, Rhinos & People (ERP) is a conservation initiative working across Southern Africa since 2016. Our belief is simple: the long-term survival of elephants and rhinos depends on the people who live alongside them. So we protect the animals by investing in the communities — building livelihoods that make conservation pay better than poaching.
Conservation, here, is not a cause you give to. It is something you carry with you.
See our impact in the fieldWe believe empowering communities in rural Africa is essential to the preservation of elephants and rhinos
How ERP operates
How ERP operates
100% of your donation goes directly to ERP's fieldwork
ERP's parent company, groupelephant.com, donates 1% of its revenues to cover all of ERP's operational expenses, and to fund projects. This means that 100% of every dollar you donate will go straight into our fieldwork projects.
Within reason ERP will try anything that may work
We have an appetite for well-managed risk, so we pursue a broad range of potential solutions and rapidly scale the ones that work.
ERP works directly with the community
ERP empowers communities that live side by side with wild elephants and rhinos because we believe community members are the only viable long-term solution to the survival of elephants and rhinos.
ERP builds unconventional partnerships
We have no preconceived notions about which players should be involved in this fight, so we seek out partners who are best positioned to help, whether they are businesses, other conservation organizations, governments, or local communities.
ERP is run with the discipline of a business, rather than like a conventional nonprofit
Drawing on the resources in groupelephant.com, we have expertise in building partnerships, executing projects and growing economic wealth, and we apply these skills to the challenge of poverty in rural communities, with reference to elephant and rhino conservation.
ERP proves every project
By measuring basic impact numbers, providing project details and photos, ERP strives to prove every field project it completes.
The model
The ERP Mercantile Model
100% of the trading surplus generated by ERP Mercantile is channeled into projects carried out by our sister nonprofits, in pursuit of the objectives of the ERP program. Our online ‘shop-in-shop’ marketplace sells our branded merchandise and also a carefully curated selection of fine merchandise, manufactured in the USA and Africa.
By buying through ERP Mercantile, you are effectively supporting jobs in the USA and Africa, and also fighting for the welfare of elephants and rhinos, and the alleviation of poverty in Africa. For ideas on how to improve ERP Mercantile or to offer us your support, please contact info@erpmercantile.com.
Put your money
in the bushveld
What you buy here pays for a day’s work in the field. No donations, no middlemen, no overhead taken out.
Shop Mercantile