Message from the President/CEO of The Nature Conservancy
June 03, 2006 03:21 PM EDT
(Updated: June 03, 2006 03:32 PM EDT)
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Multiplying Your Investment
Organizations often develop shorthand terminology to distill broad ideas. One term we use at The Nature Conservancy is "leverage," to describe how we magnify or multiply the consequences of our resources and efforts.
Leverage takes on different forms. Often it reflects how our donors' contributions are used to inspire additional giving. No one personifies that kind of motivation more than Bob Wilson, whose extraordinary generosity has transformed The Nature Conservancy's commitment to a global agenda.
Bob realized that as a decentralized organization with a strong presence in every state, we have been very successful at directing local donors to local conservation needs. As we confronted the global realities of our mission—90 percent of Earth's natural diversity resides outside the United States—the challenge was how to inspire Americans, and citizens of other countries, to support conservation where need is great and resources scarce.
It was for this purpose that Bob challenged philanthropists to think, and act, more expansively. He dedicated $100 million to motivate donors to support conservation in places well beyond where they live. His gift has been a beacon to inspire others and an endorsement of the need to be global in our impact.
Here's one example of Bob Wilson's inspiration—and leverage: After years of supporting Nature Conservancy work in the United States, a Colorado donor saw an opportunity through the Wilson Challenge to expand his giving, especially in support of his interest in the nexus of conservation and human well-being in developing countries. Over four years, his nearly $1.5 million in donations to projects in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru were matched one-to-one by Wilson to support work in the donor's home state. Additional matching funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development and other sources brought the total amount raised for conservation to nearly $10 million.
All told, the Wilson Challenge has generated a quarter of a billion dollars for conservation in some of the most important natural areas in the world.
Leverage also means expanding capacity. The Nature Conservancy has long recognized the importance of encouraging conservation support from all sectors of society—private and public. We have seen that a modest investment in educating voters about the benefits of state and local bond initiatives can unleash much-needed funding for conservation on a continuing basis. In my home state of California alone, Nature Conservancy-supported bond initiatives have generated an impressive $10 billion in public funding for land conservation.
But perhaps the best kind of leverage occurs when an action by The Nature Conservancy sets in motion a chain of events to create unstoppable momentum and ever-expanding results. Some years ago we employed a single person in Palau and another on the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to explore what might be done to conserve these islands' rich natural diversity. It was a rough start; there was doubt, uncertainty and even suspicion about our intentions. But within five years, conservation trust funds and local nonprofit conservation organizations were established with our assistance, and conservation projects blossomed. But the momentum didn't stop there.
To expand that success to the scores of Micronesian islands that dot a seascape of terrestrial and marine habitats the size of the contiguous United States, we created the Micronesians in Island Conservation learning network. Grassroots conservationists share lessons learned, technical knowledge, leadership skills and moral support. And conservation results flourish. Already, the network has been a catalyst for establishing protected areas in the states of Yap, Chuuk and Kosrae and in the nation of Palau. Outreach now extends to the Mariana and Marshall Islands.
Continuing that momentum, the president of Palau recently issued the "Micronesia Challenge" to his neighboring Pacific islanders to conserve 30 percent of nearshore marine resources and 20 percent of forest resources by 2020—a challenge that is having a ripple effect in island nations worldwide. The Nature Conservancy has committed $3 million to help others realize this bold vision.
Leverage, then, is a lot more than jargon. It means a dollar can become thousands, a vote can release billions and investing wisely in a strategic dot in a vast ocean can beget a veritable continent of conservation.
Steven J. McCormick, President and CEO
The Nature Conservancy
Summer 2006
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Comments: 2
Does Steven J. McCormick know and approve of the use of herbicides in Willapa Bay in Washington state? Is he the level of person who should be appealed to about this issue?
The potential for damage is massive. Perhaps The Nature Conservancy has risk-management specialists who might be interested in the issues?
If you have his ear, perhaps you would ask him for me.
For The Nature Conservancy to change direction on the West Coast to be consistent with practice on the East Coast would be better than to persist on a course where there is increasing scientific research about environmental toxins and birth defects and disease.
The huge awards in the Vioxx litigation surely would be something The Nature Conservancy would want to attend to. The corporations who make the substances have deep pockets, but the letter you have posted here makes the point that The Nature Conservancy does also.
It would be a shame for true conservancy programs to be damaged by the use of substances with untested ingredients, such as surfactants, which can cause harm to untargeted organisms, including humans.
This is especially so when you consider that the species targeted for eradication is protected elsewhere because it provides shelter for marine diversity in places which have had to be remediated. Its value in remediation seems undisputed, from my research, which included postings from The Nature Conservancy itself.
I appeal to you as a cancer survivor, and as a former donor under my former name, which was Mary Pearce. I did not give as much as Monsanto, but I would like to feel better about what I did give.
Thank you for reading this in any case.