Last year's Niku VII expedition had a $2,000,000 budget. In the wake of the high-profile U.S. State Department event on March 20, 2012, Lockheed Martin, FedEx, Discovery Communications, Timothy Mellon, and many TIGHAR members responded with generous contributions that brought in about $1,600,000. Trusting that the momentum would continue, we went ahead with the expedition - but, despite our best efforts, further significant sponsorship failed to materialize and we ended last year's Niku VII expedition nearly $400,000 in debt, most of it owed to the University of Hawaii for the charter of the expedition vessel KOK.
The TIGHAR Board of Directors unanimously agreed that retiring that debt was a pre-requisite to fundraising for the next major expedition. Although it was the honorable thing to do, that requirement presented a huge obstacle. Raising money for an upcoming expedition is hard enough. Raising money to pay off old debts is much more difficult. Over the past year we've paid along as we could and the university has been more than patient, but as of last week the debt still stood at more than $350,000.
Today the university will receive a check from TIGHAR for the full amount of the balance. I'm delighted to announce that the members of TIGHAR’s Board of Directors have made it possible for TIGHAR to retire the outstanding debt from last year’s Niku VII expedition. Their generosity, inspired in large part by the faith and support exhibited by the TIGHAR members on this Forum, allows us to move forward with planning and fundraising for Niku VIII.
The absurd Mellon suit is now the last remaining impediment to progress but we're not letting it slow us down and we're confident that we'll prevail - maybe sooner, maybe later - but the outcome is not in doubt. Because of you, TIGHAR is a far stronger and more resilient organization than our detractors imagine. Thank you.
