An impressive €340,000 has been raised by philanthropists and the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation at a charity dinner in Monaco, with funds to go towards efforts to save the Mediterranean monk seal from extinction.
The annual dinner, now in it’s 10th edition, is organised by Monaco resident and entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou who, through his philanthropic foundation, matches euro-for-euro the money raised .
This year, the collective donations came to €170,000. After being matched by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, the total money raised reached €340,000 – an all-time high. It will be equally shared between the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the WWF in their efforts to save the monk seal from extinction.
Roughly half of the monk seal’s global population, 250 to 300 individuals, lives and breeds in Greece. This unique species today faces an extremely high risk of extinction and is classified as critically endangered.
Since 2010, WWF Greece has backed local awareness campaigns, while the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation has been involved in monk seal conservation since 2011. In 2019, the foundation spearheaded the Monk Seal Alliance (MSA) to fund conservation projects.
The Stelios Philanthropic Foundation charity dinner has raised close to €1.6 million for the environment since 2013.
Photo above source: Stelios Philanthropic Foundation