The Avilés Loop Trail in Parque Patagonia in Chile. Photo by Scott Stone
LOOK FAR & LIGHT THE WAY
Lookfar is a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending wild and wondrous places and working with the people living in and among them. We advise philanthropic foundations and help small, local groups with biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, and regenerative agriculture projects in many of the world’s most biodiverse and most imperiled regions.
Projects
Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA) in the Mata Atlântica in Brazil. Photo by Scott Stone
Philosophy
Sometimes the best solutions are found by looking at what’s working rather than what’s wrong.
We want to find small, local conservation groups making uncommon progress in their communities. We want to connect them to our network and forge ambitious new projects and partnerships. And we want to tell their stories so others can draw inspiration from their remarkable examples.
This is why our motto is Look Far and Light the Way.
Strategy
Lookfar’s strategy is predicated on helping small, local groups that are especially capable of doing the most with the least so they may act ambitiously and opportunistically – particularly with novel approaches that, when successful, can be replicated and scaled.
Small, local groups possess a deep understanding of the landscapes and the communities in which they operate. Working so close to the ground, they have no need for bureaucracy and little time for self-promotion. They are skilled and ambitious – rising to confront complex challenges, devising innovative new strategies, facing all manner of risk and hardship, and forging the next generation of environmental heroes.
Many small, local organizations lack the time and resources to pursue the kinds of institutional funding opportunities needed to sustain their effectiveness and enhance their impact. In this way, they represent overlooked and underutilized assets in the struggle to protect biodiversity and combat climate change.
Their work may not always scale in terms of geographic extent, but if done right it can scale in other ways – including by sustaining results over the long term and by integrating an environmental ethic into a region’s local economy and driving progressive changes to law and policy.
WORK
Since its founding in 2016, Lookfar has played a major role for foundations in the Netherlands and Switzerland in creating and managing grant portfolios and has built an extensive network of small, local groups around the world engaged in first rate conservation work.
This has afforded Lookfar significant experience in grantmaking and invaluable insights into what works and what does not work when attempting to identify, evaluate, fund, and manage highly ambitious projects in highly threatened ecosystems.
In its work with small, local groups, Lookfar partners primarily with organizations operating in highly biodiverse and highly imperiled regions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — co-developing projects to deliver clear, measurable, and lasting benefits for the environment and surrounding communities.
To sustain impact, enhance resilience, and build self-reliance, Lookfar focuses its work with its partners in the following areas:
Projects – Design projects and identify and secure grant funding opportunities.
Network – Build coalitions of small, local groups to strengthen each organization, amplify impact, and ensure long-term sustainability.
Finance – Develop socially entrepreneurial business models to create alternative revenue streams for conservation initiatives.
Storytelling – Craft compelling stories to raise awareness, share accomplishments, and inspire greater ambition and action.
PARTNERS
Amazon Conservation Team
The Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) works in partnership with indigenous peoples of tropical South America in conserving the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest and the land rights and cultures of indigenous peoples.
ASSOCIAÇÃO MICO-LEĀO-DOURADO
Associação Mico-Leāo-Dourado (AMLD) protects the Mata Atlântica in Brazil, focusing on the golden lion tamarin, an endangered species and key biodiversity indicator.
DOB Ecology
DOB Ecology is a Dutch charitable foundation focused on conservation and restoration projects in forest and wetland ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Fair trade certified
Fair Trade sets standards and certifies and labels products that protect the environment and promote sustainable livelihoods to empower low-income farmers, workers, and fishers in nearly 50 countries around the world.
Fundación Jocotoco
Fundación Jocotoco protects the rich biodiversity of the Ecuadorian Chocó, the high Andes, and western Amazon, home to hundreds of rare and endangered species of bird, reptile, amphibian, plant, and mammal.
Irene M. Staehelin (IMS) Foundation
The Irene M. Staehelin (IMS) Foundation is a Swiss-based foundation supporting nature and species protection, human rights and women’s rights, economic development, and humanitarian aid across landscapes in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve
The Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve spans three biodiversity hotspots in South Africa. GCBR conserves the region’s biodiversity and improves the well being of its communities.
Parcs de Noé
Parcs de Noé is a French NGO managing three national parks in Africa – the Termit Tin-Toumma Reserve in Niger, the Binder Léré Wildlife Reserve in Chad, and Conkouati-Douli National Park in the Republic of Congo.
RESERVA ECOLÓGICA DE GUAPIAÇU
Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA) conserves the mega-biodiverse Mata Atlântica in Brazil, protecting and restoring land in the upper Guapiaçu watershed.
Rewilding Argentina
Rewilding Argentina seeks to prevent species extinction and reverse environmental degradation, with the goal of restoring the functionality of ecosystems and the well-being of surrounding communities.
Third Millennium Alliance
Third Millennium Alliance protects the Jama-Coaque Reserve in Ecuador, home to more than 1,600 acres of tropical moist forest and premontane cloud forest in one of the last major remnants of Pacific Ecuadorian Forest.
Wetlands International
Wetlands International is the only global organization dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands. Wetlands International works toward a world where wetlands are treasured and nurtured for their beauty, the life they support, and the resources they provide.