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Our Vision

By 2020, networks of ecologically resilient habitats will support viable wildlife populations across Western North America.

Our Mission

Wilburforce Foundation protects wildlife habitat in Western North America by actively supporting organizations and leaders advancing conservation solutions.

Why We're Here

Wildlife, wilderness and human communities are intricately intertwined. Natural landscapes support a wealth of species and ecological services that sustain the quality of all life. In Western North America, some of these landscapes have unique combinations of ecological and biological values found nowhere else on earth.

We exist to preserve the North American West's irreplaceable biological diversity and ecological integrity. We believe there are positive, achievable solutions to current challenges based on sound science, conservation policy, and community action. We believe that conservation is powered by a hopeful vision in which wild places and wildlife thrive in harmony with human communities. The future of conserving nature relies upon a collaborative community of individuals, organizations, agencies and allied partners who together seek to sustain wildlife and wild lands. .

Our Values

These values guide us in all aspects of our work:

• Our work is science-driven. We continually seek out and integrate into our work the expertise and knowledge that come from a wide range of biological, ecological and social sciences.
  

• We have a long-term commitment to our mission, which is reflected in our efforts to develop lasting partnerships with our grantees, foundation colleagues and other constituents who work for positive change in our priority regions.
  

• Integrity and respect are essential in our institutional and individual interactions with the public, our grantees, our colleagues, and among our staff.
  

• We believe that the empowerment of organizations and individuals is essential for making our vision a reality, and we are committed to demonstrate and cultivate organizational and individual leadership at every level.
  

• Risk-taking is necessary and desirable in our work. This may include innovative but untested strategies or traditional strategies when the probability of a successful outcome is unpredictable.
  

• We strive toward resource conservation in all aspects of our philanthropy by using energy and other resources as efficiently as possible.
  

• We encourage exuberance in everything we do by taking our work seriously and ourselves lightly. To win long-term struggles, we have to balance hard work with unabashed fun.
  

Our Approach

We use conservation science to help us identify those habitats in Western North America that are critical to sustaining viable wildlife populations.

We integrate the latest information on climate change and its impacts into all of our deliberations and help our grantees in their efforts to do the same.

We primarily engage in efforts that will result in the protection of large, intact ecosystems and the landscape linkages that are essential for maintaining ecological connectivity.

We work where the opportunities for success are supported by sound science, strategic planning, effective organizations, strong leadership, and community-based constituencies. .

We work in direct partnerships with organizations using advocacy, capacity-building, communications, economics, law, policy, research, science and/or technology to find durable conservation solutions.

We recognize that many conservation decisions are ultimately political decisions and support grantees engaged in education, outreach and advocacy efforts.

We provide long-term capacity-building support to organizations to increase their knowledge and skills needed to effectively plan, lead, manage, communicate and collaborate.

We actively support new, emerging and experienced leaders in conservation.

We recognize that our Strategic Framework conveys only the basic elements of our overall mission, vision, values, and approach. We will work with our grantees and partners to develop place-specific plans to achieve conservation successes.

Our Priority Regions

Wilburforce has identified several priority regions across Western North America that correspond with our focus on ecologically resilient habitats that support viable wildlife populations. Within these wide-ranging priority regions, we’ve identified specific areas to focus our funding based on our assessment of opportunities and/or threats to the landscape.

[The green areas in the map below are our priority regions. See the Funding Areas section of this site for more details.]

What We Do

Wilburforce Foundation funds projects and programs in our priority areas that will strengthen work to protect critical wildlife habitat and defend that habitat from immediate threats.

To do that, we:

• Make grants to organizations whose programmatic work is consistent with our mission, vision and strategies in our priority regions;

• Foster professional relationships with grantees, agency leaders, scientists, and others to advance our outcomes;

• Invest in the capacity of our grantees and partners to help them become more efficient and effective;

• Support research and its dissemination to inform conservation efforts;

• Convene our grantees and partners to share knowledge and advance common outcomes;

• Collaborate with funders and others to ensure that our resources are being deployed strategically;

• Generate interest in our conservation priorities to leverage additional resources;

• Evaluate our progress to improve our strategies.
  

What We Will Achieve

Wilburforce Foundation will make program and capacity investments that contribute to the following types of outcomes in our priority regions:

• Increase access to and use of scientific, legal, political, and economic information resources;

• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of grantee organizations conservation leaders, and other allies;

• Increase communication, cooperation and collaboration among grantees, stakeholders, decision-makers and/or allies;

• Increase awareness, support and utilization of conservation policies, plans and practices that protect wildlife habitat;

• Decrease or mitigate threats to wildlife habitat;

• Improve the protected status of wildlife habitat;

• Improve the ecological resilience of the landscapes in which we work
   

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