My Nonprofit Reviews

If orangutans have any hope for the future, it lies in the hands of Orangutan Foundation International. There are many other charities operating in Indonesia and working towards saving the orangutan, but (to the best of my knowledge) OFI is the only one who is truly striking at the heart of the issue, rather than chipping away at the periphery.

Buying and protecting forest is the only way to definitively protect the orangutans. There is no alternative means of saving them. Without habitat, they're gone with the wind. The concept is simple, the execution is not...but OFI is doing it! They have concrete evidence and results...they can point to thousands of acres of forest and say "This belongs to us and the orangutans now. This isn't going to be destroyed and turned into palm oil. We're going to do everything we possibly can to protect the orangutans here." Saving every individual orangutan is important, and OFI does that as well, but without forest to release them in the situation becomes more bleak every year. Buying forest is the real solution, and that's what they're doing.

Additionally, OFI is also active in training large organizations operating in Indonesia (who are notoriously damaging to the environment and orangutans) on a new zero-tolerance policy for harming, trapping or killing endangered wildlife. A policy that was implemented, in large part, because of OFI's influence and years of campaigning for such measures to be taken. Reducing the number of orangutans being captured, killed and harmed every year is essential to the mission of saving the orangutan, and the only way to do that is to impact the people who are out there doing it.

The bottom line is...OFI is doing it right. But they can't do it alone. Give them any help you can...you'd be putting your charitable contributions into the right hands.

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