Uniting conservation, education, and the arts for a more just world
“Ecuador: Bright Islands, Deep Forests” is a natural and cultural history exploration of Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. The program is designed in collaboration with and benefits Fundación EcoMinga, a conservation nonprofit that identifies and protects areas of high biodiversity and endemism in Ecuador. Through strategic partnerships and the incredible efforts of affiliated organizations, a significant portion of program fees will be donated to EcoMinga to advance its mission.
Due to the extraordinary help of participants and providers, EcoStudio Foundation has raised nearly $20,000 for the protection of threatened forests in Ecuador with this program since 2021.
Here’s how:
“Ecuador: Bright Islands, Deep Forests” is our flagship program for individual enrollment, and we’re pleased to announce its conservation funding strategy for 2024-2025.
We collaborate with Quito-based Andean Study Programs (ASP) to design and provide our programs. ASP helped create “Bright Islands, Deep Forests” and has been developing and hosting the program since its inception with the Natural History Institute. In each year that the program has run, ASP has donated a portion of the proceeds to Fundaci´ón EcoMinga.
From 2021 to 2023, ESF developed and coordinated the program for the first time, and we donated $8,000 in proceeds to Fundaci´ón EcoMinga, through the Orchid Conservation Alliance, for the protection of threatened forests of Ecuador. In 2024, we pledged an even greater amount, which was supplemented by generous donations by participants.
In 2025, Fundación EcoMinga will host portions of the program, including a natural history exploration of its reserves in the Rio Pastaza valley. With EcoMinga participating in the administration of the program, your fees help fund salaries of reserve managers, park guards, and others who see to the day-to-day affairs of the organization.
Additionally, we’re lowering administrative costs, allowing us to donate to EcoMinga the portion of program fees normally reserved for overhead. We’ve leveraged the collective experience of partnering organizations to craft the highest quality program at lowest possible cost. Finally, we offset overhead expenses related to “Bright Islands, Deep Forests” with earnings from other programs, and key staff are generously donating their time on development and design.
Together, these measures allow “Bright Islands, Deep Forests” to become a meaningful driver of conservation in one of the most biodiverse places on earth.