I have experienced working in the field with CI in southeast asia. Very sad because teh decision were made in office in major city while in the field people were not informed and did not agree with the project. We wasted money and time and the project is sleeping since (over 2 years)...I called that wasting of money but of course in thier report it does not show that they lost hundred of thousand of dollars because the project failed. Never mentioned anywhere even in their website!
This appears to be a quite effective conservation organization, based on my years of being a donor and my understanding of their projects. However, I object to the overly generous compensation to the CEO $464,551!) and to a lesser extent, its president. It's simply not appropriate for an NGO of this type. Thus, I have both lowered my annual donation and taken off one star from it's overall rating. Still, I consider this an organization worthy of support.
Review from CharityNavigator
they operate like a corporation!They have some good people working inside but only because they pay them well. If you have strong ethics you wold not feel good to get your salary from Mac.Donald and Starbucks corporations when the same one are doing business destroying nature.
CI takes very smart, pragmatic approach to conservation. They focus on biodiversity and marine hotspots -- areas with the greatest biodiversity AND are under the greatest threat. They combine strong science, policy and economics, working across constituencies, to affect positive environmental outcomes. Their board is top-level, and truly, deeply engaged -- they are not "in name only".