Give money
A transfer, and a tax receipt the day the association can issue one. It is the simplest arrangement, and by far the most useful. Money is what is missing most. It is what pays for visas, fuel and insurance — the three things nobody lends.
Support
There is no production company behind this project
No channel, no broadcaster, no advance against receipts. It runs on grants, partnerships and donations. That is fragile, and it is also what guarantees that nobody has a say over what I tell.
What the money is for
Days on the ground, not shiny equipment
The filming and recording gear is already bought, out of my own pocket. What is left to fund is what makes it possible to get there and come back with something usable.
- The van and its conversion — bed, storage, water, electricity, and the spare parts you take with you because a breakdown is not a risk, it is an appointment
- Fuel, over four months and several thousand kilometres
- Visas, customs, the carnet de passage — seven countries, as many counters to queue at
- Insurance: vehicle, person, equipment, repatriation
- Storing and backing up the footage, twice over, because one lost drive erases a whole community
- Post-production: editing, colour, subtitles, music
The budget is still being costed. I will not publish a figure until it holds up line by line: an estimate presented as a settled number always comes back to bite the person who wrote it. It will be published here as soon as it stands up.
Donate
Donations go through HelloAsso, into the association's account. No minimum, and a one-off gift is worth as much as a regular one.
Objectif Naturel
French non-profit association (loi 1901) · RNA W731007243
contact@objectif-naturel.com
The association's application for French tax-receipt status is with the tax authorities. Until the answer comes back, I do not promise a receipt. The detail is here, and it applies to companies too.
Corporate giving
You may already have what this project is missing
A vehicle, equipment, a service, time. And if you would rather give money, French corporate giving returns 60 % of it to your company as a tax reduction.
What is missing, in practice
The filming and recording gear is bought. What is left to find is what makes it possible to get out there and come back with something usable. A company often owns one of these things without thinking about it.
- A vehicle — 4x4 or a van that can be converted, lent or given, for four months
- Parts and consumables — tyres, filters, tools, the things that break first on a dirt track
- Insurance — vehicle, person, equipment, repatriation, across seven countries
- Data storage — drives, online backup, redundancy
- Post-production time — editing, colour, subtitling, mixing
- Services — hosting, printing, translation, accounting
And money, obviously, because visas, fuel and borders are not things anyone lends you.
What corporate giving changes for you
French corporate giving entitles you to a tax reduction of 60 % of the amount given. The annual ceiling is €20,000 or 0.5 % of your turnover before tax, whichever is higher — which is to say a threshold most companies never come close to.
There is no minimum, and the rate is the same for everyone. Gifts in kind fall under the same article: a good or a service is valued at what it costs you, and entitles you to the same reduction. Your accountant knows this mechanism; it is article 238 bis of the French tax code.
On the tax receipt, plainly
The association was registered in August 2026. To issue French tax receipts it first has to obtain a ruling from the tax authorities. That application is under way, and the answer can take six months.
Until it arrives, I issue no receipt and I promise you no tax reduction. It will be written here, with the date, the day it is granted.
Two of the four arrangements below do not depend on that answer.
Four ways into this project
There is bound to be one that suits you
Whether you have cash, equipment, a vehicle that sits idle all winter, or simply want to be associated with it, there is an arrangement for you.
Give what you already have
A vehicle, tyres, a set of tools, insurance, data storage, editing time. Gifts in kind fall under the same article, at the same rate. Plenty of companies have exactly what is missing here sitting in stock, and giving it costs them less than a cheque.
Lend
You make a vehicle or some equipment available, we sign a one-page agreement, you get it back when I return. No receipt, no declaration, nothing else to do. It is the lightest arrangement there is, and it depends on nobody.
Sponsor
You want visibility and an invoice. The association issues one. You put the spend through as a deductible expense. In return, something proportionate: a logo on the van and on the site, a credit, a screening at your company when I get back.
What you get
- Footage shot in real conditions, across seven countries, that no campaign can manufacture
- Your name in the credits of the documentary and on the partners page
- A screening at your company when I get back, and the photographs from the ground
- An account of what your support made possible, with the receipts
- Talks in schools and libraries, which you are associated with
What you do not get
A say over what I will tell. A logo, yes. Sign-off before publication, no.
That was written into the statutes before anyone discussed it, so that it would be said before it was asked. It is also what gives your support its value. A film a partner can correct is worth nothing to anyone — starting with that partner.
P.S. — Do not wait until you have a giving budget to write. On a project like this one, the support that counts most is almost never a cheque: it is a vehicle, a contact, a favour. Tell me what you have, and I will tell you whether it helps.
Other ways to support
Not everything is settled with money
What I need most right now is not necessarily financial.
Pass it on
Share a post, mention it to someone who might care. An active account is what convinces a first partner: it is the proof that the project really exists.
Open a door
A contact in West Africa, an association, a researcher, someone who knows a community. That is what is missing most, and it cannot be bought.
Give in kind
A vehicle, equipment, parts, insurance, web hosting, editing time. Support in kind is worth exactly as much as money, and it is often easier to give.
Companies and public bodies
Become a partner
You have read the four arrangements and you are not sure which one fits. That is normal, and it is not for you to work out alone. Just describe what you can do — an amount, an object, a service, a few weeks' loan — and I will tell you which one applies.
If your company is not in a position to help financially, write anyway. A contact in West Africa, the address of a garage along the route, a name to talk to: that is sometimes worth more than a cheque, and it costs nothing.
I answer everyone, and I will tell you straight whether what you are offering helps. You will not get chased if you do not follow up.
Objectif Naturel · French non-profit association (loi 1901) · RNA W731007243
Write to the association
In return
One promise
I will say what I saw, including the parts that prove me wrong. And I will give back to the communities I meet what they gave: show them what was made of their words, send them the images, keep what was promised.
That is not the visible part of the project. It is the part it should be judged on.