Cards 4 Cheetahs

Jeremy Lynch (8 years old) is an entrepreneur with a passion for cheetahs. He combines his business instincts and zeal for large cats through ‘Cards 4 Cheetahs,’ a greeting card initiative where 100% of his proceeds go to Cheetah Conservation Fund.

On multiple occasions he’s set up shop outside his house or along walkways with heavy foot traffic. Through this business, which he runs almost on his own (his parents do a bit of promotion for him), and because of the generosity of people in Chicago and Cheltenham, UK (where he lives) he’s raised over $3,000. He’s even drawn in a few matching donations along the way. He’s inspired us to give more (his sister has now taken up the cause of elephants), and he hopes to do the same for others!

Jeremy’s card-making began when he was 6. His initial plans were to raise enough money to buy his own island where he would be king. He planned to give away 17% of his profits, but his mom challenged him to give 20%. After mulling it over, he decided the next day that the business should give away 70% of its profits. But on even further reflection, he decided that the math would prove too difficult, and decided on 100%.

His decision to turn his business into a charity for cheetahs coincided with reading a library book about them, where to his dismay he learned that cheetahs could be extinct by 2020 (this is unlikely, but only around 7,000 currently remain in the wild). He took action.

Two years later and he’s still going strong. And so are his customers, many of whom give generously beyond his asking price. Jeremy makes beautiful Spirograph greeting cards, as well as other seasonal (e.g., Valentines Day, Christmas, and springtime cards), birthday and general-use cards. He’s sold door-to-door, on Facebook, at St. Paul’s Church festive bazaar, and more. All his cards pass his mom’s strict quality check, and are on high-quality card stock. A local Boutique has kindly offered to sell his cards on location. He was recently featured on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, and in a Facebook video, they produced (see his ‘Cards 4 Cheetahs’ FB page).

Each day concludes with his parents reading to him while he diligently makes his cards. He hopes that his work also inspires others to give matching donations, or for other kids to start making cards for the cause. His goal for 2017 was $1,000, and he ended up bringing in $3,000 (after matched donations). As a result, he’s aiming this year for a matched total of $6,000!’