The Conservation Fund

I mentored Larry Selzer when he was a young environmentalist during my tenture with Northrop Grumman Corporation. Larry had great potential then and look at him now. Gary Serio

I decided to support the fund after I stumbled across their web site. I did some research about them using the web site Charity Navigator which rated them very high. As someone who enjoys the outdoor wilderness experience, I couldn't help but donate to further the cause of preservation.

Providing a place for our youth to learn, play and grow for generations to come and preserving our natural resources for us to learn from, utilize, and enjoy. The mountains of Western North Carolina changed my life and I hope they can do the same for many more as they learn to love and appreciate the simple pleasures nature can provide. Get your hands dirty, remember your childhood mudpie's and go play outside!

The Conservation Fund has permanently protected critical natural cultural areas in my home city of Altanta, GA, which very likely would have been developed otherwise because our city is growing so rapidly. The Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area is so important to me: a unique and fascinating landscape of granite outcrops, beautiful rare plants, and archaeological relics from Georgia's farming families. Thank you!!

I was looking for a charity for a last minute donation. I am someone who values conservation of our environment and protecting wildlife. I was impressed with the reviews and the knowledge that 96% of my donation will go directly to help these efforts.

As a company showing clients the natural beauty of North America we feel it is in our best interest to support groups like The Conservation Fund who protect our environment. It was further important to us that the money donated will go to work without much of it being used up for administrative expenses.

I love the low overhead cost and my company has the 100% match for the charity. I also love the web site design and management, which makes it easy to make donation and to print out the donation record, unlike WWF's print out that was full of junks with the first two pages did not even mention my donation. And I get instant e-mail acknowledge from your web site, unlike WWF's no response on e-mail.

Efficient and Effective! I would highly recommend The Fund to everyone with a passion for the environment or for economic growth.

Came across the Conservation Fund while I was browsing a website on the most efficient charities in America. I'm an architect in Chattanooga and have witnessed the witnessed the benefits of public/private partnerships and non profit organizations. I'm also a lover of the outdoors and historic places, and noticed that the Conservation Fund had worked on some projects in my region. All of these factors made it seem like the Conservation Fund was a great charity to donate to and I continue to proudly support it.

Your recent help in the Fiery Gizzard land purchace inspired my donation. My family is from the Tennessee Savage gulf area "God's country" and has been there for over 200 years. I love natural beauty and it does not get any better. I travel all over this beautiful country and would like to help see it stay that way. I would like to thank you and support for your continued effort.

I have been a huge fan and supporter since I first learned about The Conservation Fund from Blaine Phillips, Jr, who is the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director., in 2008.

In my opinion, The Conservation Fund is a very special organiazation comprised of highly dedicated and passionate individuals who deeply care about saving our habitat.

The Conservation Fund's role in making the first National Monument in the State of Delaware a reality is a powerful testament of how collaberative efforts between various organzations can have on making a vision a reality.

This is why I believe in and support The Conservation Fund.

For several years, I've given off and on to various well-known conservation organizations. In response, I was inundated with calendars, greeting cards, address stickers and other unsolicited "stuff." It struck me that if we're into conservation, why in the world would we have various types of paper piling up in our house sent to us in the form of junk mail? I looked them all up on Charity Navigator, an assessment organization I trust, and discovered that none of them were particularly great stewards of donations. But I never found a good replacement until today. Although Charity Navigator ranks The Conservation Fund as one of the Top 10 Charities Everyone Has Heard Of, I had somehow managed to miss it. After reading their evaluation, then exploring the Conservation Fund's website, I feel so much better about where my donation is going. Even though it's not a huge sum, I feel pretty confident it will make a difference.

This donation was made in memory of Eleanor June Mantoen, a lover of natural beauty. Your outstanding ranking on Charity Navigator made the selection of your charity an easy one.

I learned from Charity Navigator that several organizations We have been supporting for years were much lower rated than The Conservation Fund. So we decided to put our money where it could be more effective.

I am only a teenager but I am planning on exploring all that my home country has to offer so I was looking for a group that I could trust to help me look after it until I can. The Conservation fund comes extremely highly recommended, I assume largely to how transparent and honest they are with the public with any and all relevant information! I strongly believe that I can trust this group with my donation and I will definitely give more on later occasions!

I understand this charity works to change the environment politically and in other ways.

I have always supported the preservation and protection of our ever-fragile environment. The Conservation Fund has the highest rating on Charity Navigator, and is extremely efficient in how it distributes its funds. I am proud to be a small financial supporter of the environment, and I look forward to a greener future that The Conservation Fund will make possible.

My experiences with The Conservation Fund are with the Texas field office (see: http://www.conservationfund.org/places-we-work/texas/). I have known Texas Director Andy Jones and his colleague in the Pineywoods, Julie Shackelford, for more than a decade. Whenever I can provide assistance, I jump at the chance. I only wish I could do more.

What I have witnessed is a no-nonsense, scientific, intellectual, and businesslike approach to habitat conservation. The Conservation Fund is lean and focused. They have also been among the first to adopt new business models in keeping with the times. Their approach is a bit like a SWAT team - they identify the need, and they proceed to fix it. The end.

I have worked for other conservation and wildlife nonprofits over the years, both as a staff member and as a volunteer. The Conservation Fund stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. Whenever I have asked for advice and assistance, they have given it to me without delay and without question. They are not emotional, but they are kind, and they adhere to the highest ethical standards.

Other groups in the conservation arena are quite adept at "feel good" self-promotion, and many are also staff-heavy. The membership you contribute is eaten-up quickly by administrative overhead, and the land and/or species protected are relatively fewer. When asked, I always suggest people contribute to The Conservation Fund. I have the utmost trust in them.

I've been a long time supporter and advocate of the fund. They assisted me and my former employer (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) in protecting many thousand acres of valuable wildlife habitats. They facilitated these actions in most professional and efficient manner and did so with a minimal amount of funding spent on administrative overhead.

I support the Conservation Fund over other environmental charities for four reasons.
1. It protects not only environmentally sensitive land, water, air, and habitats; but historic and culturally important places too.
2. It makes local individuals and groups partners in its efforts, rather than alienating local interests.
3. It is nonpartisan.
4. Most important, it is incredibly efficient. I know that almost all the money I give protects important places and habitats, rather than being eaten up by overhead and administrative costs.

I am impressed by the ratio of "good deeds" to fundruaising and administrative costs. My core values match the Conservations mission of preserving land using partnerships with public and private entities so that conservation fosters economic viability. I further believe strongly that our chldren need to know nature on a first name basis, and to feel at home there, which is a core program of the Conservation Fund.

After many years sending support to the Nature Conservancy, I have learned more about the CONSERVATION FUND, and now, because it has a far superior ratio of funds used for conservation to funds used for administration, I NOW only support the FUND and will make it a beneficiary in my will. I also like the possibility of having my donations used in Virginia, my home. The work done to preserve land and all the creatures and diverse plant life it supports is a most valuable function!

Each year my husband and I decide where we would like to donate money. I feel that conservation of land is of the utmost importance to the future of our country and our world. As the population of humanity increases, the threat to pure open space also increases. We are proud to donate to a group like the Conservation Fund that not only has a worthwhile goal, but also makes the most of its money by not wasting its resources on things like mailings, advertisements, or unnecessary staffing. As long as this organization continues its excellent work, we will continue our support.

My son Steve Hobbs is your Minnesota director and through him I have learned of the work your organization has been able to do. Thank you very much for all you have done. Kathryn Hobbs Kent

The Conservation Fund seems to be there in situations where "all else may have failed" in the sense of conservation effort. Their attitude and patience in conserving the natural resources of our world are frugal yet genuine. I feel fortunate to participated in several significant conservation efforts of the Fund in Florida and look forward to many more.

Very efficient little organization that does a lot of work behind the scenes. Works with business community, government agencies, and individuals in the public to conserve important land and encourages small business growth.

It's my first time donating. I am donating because I am writing a paper on environmental ethics and the topic is about activism. I am arguing that donating money is a form of activism and I cannot convince others that my paper is correct if I do not donate myself showing I believe in my own paper.

have supported the conservation fund since started with patrick noonan as he spun off from the nature conservancy. the organization works diligently to preserve the environment with a minimum of overhead and careful management of finances and projects.

Our species is rapidly consuming & destroying the Living Earth and Our species is overwhelming the Living Earth with unsustainable human populations ans rapidly consuming & destroying the Living Earth, literally racing to a horrible future as depicted in the movie Soylent Green. Not only is NOTHING is being done by governments to reverse this terrifying trend, but INSTEAD they have adopted policies to maximize human biomass and environmental consumption, pollution and destruction. The WORST offenders are the primitive cult worshipers, eg the catholics, who have a militant dogma-based crusade to ensue that every union of human egg & sperm MUST result in another environmentally consuming, destroying human, until humans cover every piece of the the earth and must be stacked like cord wood. I am sure that there is a critical defective gene that contributes to the insanity of these primitive cults. The only hope that we have to be able to recover some vestige of the Living Earth if humans ever come to their senses is to preserve as much as possible so that these islands of preservation can serve as the basis for restoring devastated ecosystems in the future. ALL of my lifetime accumulated savings and most of my earnings go into preserving ecosystems and wildlife, reducing human population growth, reducing the spread of primitive anti-Earth cults like catholicism. I support The Conservation Fund because it is HIGHLY effective and successful in preserving nature.

Last year The Conservation Fund bought 766 acres near Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland so it could be sold to the government and made part of the refuge. Today that transfer was officially announced, and we thank The Conservation Fund for helping Blackwater NWR acquire important habitat that will protect species and help filter water that's entering the Chesapeake Bay.