How We Work

Despite our name, The Rainforest Foundation is not a typical foundation. We are not endowed, instead we need to raise our entire operating budget each year. And while we do provide financial support to other small organizations, we also provide much more to our partner organizations, including a wide range of hands-on technical support and training.

We are also not a typical conservation organization. Early attempts at environmental conservation often excluded local populations and sometimes resulted in people being pushed off their traditional lands. From the beginning the Rainforest Foundation has believed that the best way to protect the rainforest is to let the indigenous people who have inhabited the areas for centuries control and manage their land.

So, the way we work is unique:

• We work to protect the rainforest as well as promote the rights of indigenous peoples. Many organizations do one or the other, but we were the first international organization to focus on both.
• We believe that conservation does not have to mean creating wilderness areas where all people are forbidden. In fact, research shows that the best protected rainforests are those inhabited and managed by indigenous peoples.
• We work in partnership with indigenous groups and local non-governmental organizations to achieve results. We help build strong local capacity and the professional skills of our partners to achieve results, rather than investing in our own in-country staff.
• We do not set our partners’ agenda.Instead, we work collaboratively with organizations that share our values to secure land and resource rights and protect forests.
• We build long-term partnerships. There are no quick fixes to rainforest protection. It is a long-term process to secure land rights and to build strong local organizations that have leaders with the skills and experience to sustain their gains and defend their lands against new threats.

We achieve results by providing direct financial support to projects managed by indigenous organizations and local nonprofit organizations, by providing long term hands-on technical training to our partners, and helping influence policy related to indigenous rights and rainforest protection at the local and national level.