My Nonprofit Reviews

The Ceiba Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1997 with the mission of "connect[ing] tropical nature and sustainable livelihoods through habitat conservation and environmental education". The Ceiba Foundation, named after a large, emergent tropical tree often regarded as an indicator of intact forest, achieves this mission through a combination of community involvement, education, and research in Ecuador. Ceiba emphasizes the importance of empowering local landowners to actively participate in sustainable land management. Rather than acting as a foreign force that dictates conservation at the expense of local communities, Ceiba uses conservation easements and works with landowners to assign areas for conservation, agroforestry, and crop cultivation. Perhaps most importantly, Ceiba collaborates with local landowners to identify and develop sources of sustainable income that support conservation, such as tourism programs.

Aside from direct conservation programs, Ceiba supports the environmental education of local Ecuadorians through educational displays at the reserves, integration of environmental sciences into local school curricula, and training for local students. For example, Ceiba is currently pursuing a project to increase local engagement in water stewardship to protect rural stream water. In addition, Ceiba organizes a semester-long study abroad program for UW-Madison students that exposes them to the rich and diverse ecosystems in Ecuador while emphasizing responsible stewardship. I was lucky enough to be one of the students that attended the semester abroad in the Spring of 2022, and this program was one of the most amazing experiences of my lifetime. This program strongly guided my academic and career goals, and after taking part in the semester abroad in Ecuador (led by two intelligent, charismatic, and supportive instructors), I am now on a track to study biodiversity in the tropical rainforests of the Americas.

Ceiba also directs various research projects within and around the reserves with the ultimate goal of measuring both the impacts of people on nature and the effectiveness of various conservation strategies. For example, Ceiba is currently running research programs devoted to wildlife monitoring, howler monkey demographics, wildlife mortality along highways, conservation corridors, and agroforestry. Data for these research programs are collected by researchers, interns, and volunteers, and Ceiba emphasizes the importance of the clear communication of findings to the local community. Overall, the Ceiba Foundation is a powerful force for positive change that will remain an important part of my education and my personal development.