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Group

Funding and Finance / Feed

The number one problem in nature conservation is the need for more money or access to funding. This group aims to help all WILDLABS community members with funding and financing their projects. The group is called Funding and Finance to draw attention to the possibilities of funding (i.e., grants, awards, and other gifts)  and finance (loans and venture capital investment in nature conservation projects and start-ups). These topics should be seen in their wider contexts, including that of a project or organisation’s income or business model.

Group curators

discussion

From Field to Funder: How to communicate impact?

Léa Smadja

16 April 2025 3:51pm

Conservation involves a mosaic of actors — field practitioners, local communities, funders, government agencies, scientists, and more.Each one needs different levels of...

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Frank van der Most

17 April 2025 5:04pm

Great questions @LeaOpenForests !

I don't have concrete answers since I am not a stakeholder in any project in particular. Based on experience with research on the potential for a similar one-stop-shop for science metrics, I would suggest that there is no simple solution: different actors do need and have different views on presenting and viewing impact. This means possible gaps between what one group of actors need and what the other is willing or able to produce. One can hope, search and aim for sufficient overlap, but I don't see how they would necessarily or naturally overlap.

Still, I would guess that if there are dimensions of overlap, they are time, space and actor-networks 

Amber Balfour-Cunningham

28 April 2025 3:18pm

I have posted about this in a different group, but I love boosting the impact of my communication through use of visuals. 

Free graphics relating to conservation technology and the environment are available at:

  1. National Environmental Science Program Graphics Library

    Graphics below of a feral cat with a tracking collar and a cat grooming trap are examples of symbols available courtesy of the NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub, nesplandscapes.edu.au.

  2. UMCES Integration and Application Network Media Library
Feral cat with tracking collar courtesy of the NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub, nesplandscapes.edu.au

Cat grooming trap graphic courtesy of the NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub, nesplandscapes.edu.au

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discussion

Beekeeping training center/field school

Muganyizi Melchior Kamuganga

3 April 2025 10:38am

Greetings from Tanzania ,Lake zone Tanzania Beekeeping field schoolI am a founder of none for profit organization based in North-western Tanzania. Currently am designing a...

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Travis Butler

8 April 2025 9:17am

Hi, I'm really interested in your project. If you're open to it, I’d be happy to build and send you a couple of data logger units — free of charge — to help monitor temperature, humidity, pressure, and possibly hive weight using a load cell. I’m also considering adding a simple bee traffic sensor to track how often bees enter and leave the hive. This could help reveal patterns related to foraging behavior or colony stress. 

 It would also be an interesting use case for using LoRaWAN to send node data to a central gateway. The data could be exported in line protocol format so you can easily import it into InfluxDB or another dashboarding tool if you'd like to visualize it.

 I’m quite busy with other projects, but I’d be happy to throw something together to get you started, and I’ll include the source code in case you'd like to modify or expand it in the future. Let me know if this sounds helpful — I'd love to support your work.

 Best regards, Travis

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funding

Multiple grants

Frank van der Most

28 March 2025 1:42pm

I have been a bit distracted the past months by my move from Costa Rica to Spain ( all went well, thank you, I just miss the rain forest and the Ticos ) and have to catch up on funding calls. Because I still have little...

2
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article

WILDLABS Awards 2025: Meet the judges

WILDLABS Team and 1 more

26 March 2025 1:13pm

While the WILDLABS Awards 2025 submissions are in the final round of judging, meet the panel that is currently reviewing the shortlist of applicants. 

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Adrien Pajot

14 April 2025 11:43am

Dear @Lot , dear @WMXZ , Thank you both for your comments. I (and we at WILDLABS) completely understand your situation, as we often find ourselves in the same position,...
John Gallo

14 April 2025 7:23pm

Great, thanks @Lot and @WMXZ for asking the question on many of our minds, and thanks @Adrien_Pajot for the totally understandable response.  Thanks also for the update!...
Adrien Pajot

16 April 2025 6:09pm

Dear all, As you have likely seen in your inbox, the selection process for the WILDLABS Awards 2025 has now concluded, and all selected awardees have been contacted....
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discussion

United Nations Open Source Principles

Pen-Yuan Hsing

13 March 2025 4:13pm

FYI, I just came across the United Nations Open Source Principles, which was recently adopted by the UN Chief Executive Board’s Digital Technology Network (DTN): It has been...

1 5
Vance Russell

25 March 2025 11:54am

All sound, would be nice if there were only 5, though!

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funding

BirdCLEF+ 2025

Alex Rood

12 March 2025 2:22pm

Species identification from audio, focused on birds, amphibians, mammals and insects from the Middle Magdalena Valley of Colombia.

2
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discussion

Presenters wanted: showcase your open source income streams

Frank van der Most and 5 more

17 February 2025 2:08pm

A burning topic in the open source community is how to generate income ( in any way, including commercialisation ) with open source software or hardware? Recently, questions were...

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Frank van der Most

7 March 2025 12:21am

It's great to see so much interest in presenting at this webinar. We have also received interest through direct messages and meetings that we've happened to have had. Thank you all for volunteering!

We will get back to you after wext week Wednesday ( 12th ) when there will be the next coordination meeting.

This date will also be the deadline for those still considering to volunteer.

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article

Funding and Finance group reaches 100 members

Frank van der Most

25 February 2025 9:15pm

Last week the Funding and Finance group crossed the 100 member mile stone. A big thank you to everybody who participated in achieving this, either by becoming a member or by posting in the group. Besides the numbers...

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Matt Rogers

27 February 2025 11:59am

Thanks for having us @Frank_van_der_Most !
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discussion

Unlocking Hundreds of Billions Annually for Nature—at No Cost

Damian Estrada

10 February 2025 8:42pm

Hello Funding and Finance Group,As this community recognizes, sustainable funding remains one of the biggest challenges in nature conservation. The recent U.S. withdrawal from the...

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Damian Estrada

17 February 2025 5:00pm

Hi Jared,
Thank you so much for your feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. My message needs refining so please let me try to elaborate for the group, and feel free to DM me if you want to discuss it further:

The challenge:
Philanthropic giving in the USA accounts for $500 billion/annually,  70% comes from everyday people, and only $3 billion goes to Nature Funding  The main barriers to giving for Americans are affordability (72%), transparency (65%), and ease of contribution (35%).  Thus, B Corp works on transparency, and 1% for the Planet makes it easy for people and merchants.  These solutions help but are half measures as philanthropy remains directly correlated to GDP with low single-digit growth despite 90% of Americans wanting to help the Planet.  

Mandatum solves the affordability issue for everyday people and merchants to contribute at no extra cost to themselves providing hundreds of billions of new funding annually.

We are in the early stages of development, building a strong foundation based on our initial Proof of Concept, and eager to learn and iterate based on expert feedback. We are open to exploring various models, such as nonprofit/for-profit/free/% fee, with the ultimate goal of maximizing our impact and accelerating the flow of funds toward critical causes.

I hope this group helps me to connect faster to the existing network of actors within the nature conservation community. Your expertise and insights will be invaluable in identifying key partnerships and exploring potential collaborations in the nature conservation landscape.

We are open to questions and discussions.

Thanks again.

Cheers!!!
 

Kim Hendrikse

18 February 2025 7:21am

Hi Damian, maybe I'm thick or something, but I still have no idea what you are offering. There are a lot of big numbers thrown around but I'm sure you are able to explain much more clearly what it is you are offering. Can you not just explain in really simple language what you do, where you get your cut from, what you sell, what someone has to do to get it and how it will benefit wildlife funding ? To me it feels like there's is some bad side to this that you are not wanting to talk about. My reaction to that is to run in the opposite direction. What works for me is transparency, I'm not seeing that here. And a tip, if you make something seem vague and untransparent then you tend to loose people forever  and rightly so I think.

Also you say you have been nominated for the 2025 Earthshot Prize (you have not won a prize), can you please provide a link to some site that is not your own that proves this ?

And todate, how much money has been giving to biodiversity causes through whatever this is and to whom ? A search shows a figure of 17,926 euros of donations from your workers to some charitys. But no evidence of any billions or even hundreds of thousands that I can find.

Here's an approach that I'm sure would work here. Donate a million euros and ask for grant applications for it. Keep it simple and transparent. You don't have to think in terms of billions, even a single one million would work wonders. Above all it would establish credibility. You would get a lot of praise and support if you did that from this crowd I think. What do you think? Keep it short term. Say applications close end of August or something.

Damian Estrada

18 February 2025 5:28pm

Hi Kim, 
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. 


I understand your desire for concrete evidence, and that's precisely what we're working towards. Please remember that Mandatum is a nascent startup. We successfully completed a private beta and passed the Proof of Concept stage, demonstrating the viability of our core technology. Our focus at this stage is to refine our model and build strategic partnerships to navigate the nature conservation landscape.  
The Earthshot Prize nomination serves as validation of our innovative approach and its potential for significant impact, as we have successfully progressed through several stages of the rigorous evaluation process. 


Mandatum has the potential to unlock hundreds of billions of dollars annually for nature conservation, aligning perfectly with the goals of this Funding and Finance Group. I am hoping to get some guidance and support from this community to accelerate our development and bring this groundbreaking solution to fruition to resolve "the number one problem in nature conservation." 
 

I am eager to connect with individuals genuinely interested in exploring innovative solutions to the funding crisis in nature conservation. If you'd like to learn more about Mandatum and discuss the project in more detail, please DM me. I believe your expertise, or that of any member of the group, would be invaluable in guiding our project towards success.

Cheers!!!

 

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discussion

MargoTV - new wildlife tech youtube series and subsidized conservation products!

Jared Marley

9 January 2025 12:17am

Hi Wildlife Tech Community, I am excited to share our latest project at Margo Supplies! We’ve launched MargoTV, a video series on YouTube highlighting our work in wildlife...

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Kim Hendrikse

13 February 2025 7:43am

I'm looking forward to the cool Margo TV we are going to see when we get some AI bear monitoring going in Canada with Margo supplies :) That's going to be awesome.

Here is an image of a bear from last night in the Scandinavian zoo in Denmark. The system triggered on the bear even though it is very dark and this is a digital zoom on a wide angle fixed camera. Despite being very fuzzy we are able to get triggers on these ones due to the use of multiple mitigation techniques so we get long distance, high sensitivity and low false positives. This one for example was checked with multiple successive frames and multiple AI models before calling it a bear.

This is without thermal. But with added thermal and models trained on thermal images the heat signature will effectively be taken up in the model I'm expecting. This would mean that in effect you can tolerate a lower confidence level but it would after all be a living thing as well.

Polar bear

This trigger event for this event was even less clear, but you can still just make out two eyes, and bear in mind (excuse the pun), the actual view from this camera is even wider and the bear further away in a sense as this is a dynamic zoom.

Polar bear trigger

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