Funding

Dear friends bird lovers,

Here comes some news from BBM (Belgian Bird Mondial), the non-profit organisation which we founded for the organisation of the COM Mondial in January 2026 in Belgium, more specifically in the WEX halls in Marche-en-Famenne. Our website is www.mondialbelgium2026.be.

Since our founding meeting on December 26th 2023 quite a lot already happened: we set up our articles of association and deposited them on January 22nd 2024, we created flyers which we distributed on this year’s Mondial in Talavera de la Reine (Spain), we visited the WEX together with Carlos Ramõa, president of the COM – and he has already approved our location and infrastructure – , we had bank accounts set up for BBM and meanwhile we have also reserved the hotels and other residences we require for the COM delegates, the judges, the foreign conveyors and the volunteers who comes from quite far to help us, we have launched our website, etc.

Just to repeat for the one who didn’t hear it yet: ‘we’ means the following people: president Jean-Paul Boucher, location and operational managers Marc Laseure and Eddy Vaes, hotel accommodations Jean Duysens, legal & PR Amélie Matagne, singing canaries Jackie Soethaert, catering Nicole Plugers, OMJ coordination Jos Vanoppen and secretary/treasurer Désiré Noël.

You may have heard that the motto behind our project is: “All together towards a Belgian Mondial!”. We indeed need the support and help of all Belgian bird lovers and bird clubs. The help will mainly take place in January 2026, but we need the support immediately, including financial support.

Indeed, BBM is actually starting from scratch financially. Our income will mainly come in December 2025 (registrations) and in January 2026 (Mondial itself), but while we are already starting our activities, there will of course also be costs that have to be paid (WEX advances, hotel advances, flyers, …). Organizers of previous Mondials have told us that one needs €100,000 upfront to cover costs before there is any revenue. This will partly be absorbed by our main sponsors who are prepared to donate part of their sponsorship money as early as 2024, for which we thank them very much. For another part we count on all of you.

We have started a ‘Crowd Lending’ – which we can translate as ‘mass loan’ – system and as you can see at the top of this page the first financial support has already arrived. The principle is the same as with ‘Crowd Funding’ – ‘mass payment’ – and is based on ‘Many small things make a big difference!’: if many people give a small amount, a large sum is still achieved. With ‘Crowd Funding’ it is really a gift, while with our ‘Crowd Lending’ the intention is to return the deposited amounts in whole or in part at the end of the process, preferably with an additional interest. Our ‘Crowd Lending’ can therefore also be a good investment!

We have drawn up a realistic budget for the Mondial and under ‘normal’ circumstances we should achieve a profit. Examples of ‘abnormal circumstances’ include bird influenza in large parts of Europe, which means we would only have 10.000 birds at the Mondial (usually there have been between 20.000 and 22.000 birds in the show in recent years) or very extreme winter conditions, which would mean that we would only have a very limited number of (paying) visitors. These are circumstances beyond our control, we hope that they will not occur, but we cannot rule them out either. That is also the reason why we cannot ‘guarantee’ that the money from the ‘Crowd Lending’ will be repayable in its entirety.

We want to be very open to all of you, because as we said: we will have to do it ‘together’! After completing the Mondial and accounting for all income and expenses, we will have a gross profit or loss. If we win, we will organize a dinner for the volunteers who helped during the Mondial. Everyone who comes to help during the building days, the opening days and the disassembly days will be invited. After deducting the cost of that volunteer dinner, we then arrive at a new profit amount on which we will have to pay taxes as a non-profit organization (the first €50,000 is exempt from tax for a non-profit organization, for a remaining amount between €50.000 and €250.000 0,15% tax is charged), and after deducting those taxes we arrive at a ‘net profit’. This ‘net profit’ will be divided: half goes to the clubs whose members participated in the Mondial (distribution depending on the hours worked per club) and the other half goes to the ‘Crowd Lending’ (distribution depending on the amount deposited and the number of days that this amount was available to BBM).

Here are some scenarios:

1. We have a successful Mondial and after deducting the costs for a volunteer dinner and taxes, € 50.000 remains. € 25.000 of this goes to the ‘Crowd Lending’. Suppose the ‘Crowd Lending’ raised € 100.000 and to keep the calculations simple we will assume that these donations all came in on the same day, so for every € 100 deposited, € 125 will be refunded.
2. We don’t have the best conditions at the Mondial and after deducting the costs for a volunteer dinner and taxes, € 5.000 remains. € 2.500 of this goes to the ‘Crowd Lending’. Suppose the ‘Crowd Lending’ raised € 100.000 and to keep the calculations simple we will assume that these donations all came in on the same day, so for every € 100 deposited, €102,50 will be refunded.
3. We have abnormal circumstances at the Mondial and we arrive at a ‘gross loss’ of € 50.000. Then unfortunately there is no volunteer dinner. Suppose the ‘Crowd Lending’ raised € 100.000, this amount must cover the loss. So for every € 100 deposited, only € 50 will be refunded.
4. We have abnormal circumstances at the Mondial and we arrive at a ‘gross loss’ of € 125.000. Then unfortunately there is no volunteer dinner. Suppose the ‘Crowd Lending’ raised € 100.000, this amount cannot cover the entire loss. Then our Mondial ends with a loss of € 25.000 and therefore nothing is repaid from what was deposited in the ‘Crowd Lending’.

For the sake of completeness, all possible scenarios have been mentioned here, but we would like to point out that scenario 4 is not really realistic. We assume that we should be able to end up somewhere between scenarios 1 and 2. Assume that we only have 4.000 paying visitors – which is less than at the Golden Ring show, so not really realistic – and that there are only 18.000 birds in the Mondial, then according to our current budget we end up with a loss of € 54.000. That actually seems worse to us than a ‘worst case’ scenario.

How can I help? How can my club help? As has already been stated several times: we need everyone! Don’t think too quickly: a small contribution from me probably won’t help. No, ‘Many little things make a big thing!’, and every contribution – no matter how small – helps and is more than welcome!

A few examples:

1. As a breeder or enthusiast, you can instruct the bank to transfer an amount every month – there are still about 18 months until the end of the Mondial – to the BBM ‘Crowd Lending’ account. Even if it were only € 5,00, over a period of 18 months that would amount to a combined amount of € 90. In Belgium there are approximately 9.000 bird breeders, if 10% of them or 900 enthusiasts were to do this then that would bring this € 81.000 in ‘Crowd Lending’! More than likely, no one is really going to ‘feel’ those € 5,00 per month and some people may want to switch to a higher amount (there are already people who deposit € 25,00 monthly).
2. Of course you can also deposit the € 90 directly. And then you might be able to make another similar deposit within a year. Anyone can do this when it best fits their financial calendar.
3. People who normally participate in the Mondial will pay less registration fee per bird for a Mondial in Belgium than if the Mondial takes place abroad, typically in Italy or Spain or Portugal. For the Mondial in Talavera de la Reina Belgian breeders paid € 26,00 per bird. For the Mondial 2026 in Marche-en-Famenne this will be € 16,00, a difference of € 10,00 per bird. A participant who normally registers 20 birds could deposit those 20 * € 10,00 = € 200,00 into the ‘Crowd Lending’. He ultimately pays the same amount for the registration itself, but has fewer costs for travelling to the show (plane, hotel, …) and … if everything goes well, he gets his € 200 back with interest at the end of the ride !
4. In addition to individual breeders and enthusiasts, bird clubs can also contribute to the ‘Crowd Lending’ and thus support a Mondial in Belgium, which will give their members a better opportunity to participate in a Mondial or visit a Mondial than if it were held in the southern countries. There are already a number of clubs that have made contributions of € 1.000 or more. They can also recover this money afterwards with interest if we make a profit.

We would like to keep each of you informed about the state of affairs with our ‘Crowd Lending’. The current page on our website will have its content refreshed very regularly so that you can see how much was collected and possibly also who donated. When transferring to BBM’s ‘Crowd Lending’ account, you can indicate whether you want your name and amount to be published on the website or not. To this end, write the following in the transfer notification: ‘Name OK/NOK – Amount OK/NOK’ (either ‘OK’ or ‘NOK’ (‘not OK’)). For ‘NOK’ we will indicate ‘***********’ instead of your name on the website.

The number of the BBM Crowd Lending account is BE65 1030 8876 7596 (IBAN) at Crelan Bank (BIC code NICABEBB).

The BBM committee thanks you in advance for your contribution and is counting on your support!

In name of Belgian Bird Mondial vzw, Désiré NOËL