Amphibian Conservation Fund
“I am delighted to see both the breadth and depth of the Amphibian Conservation Fund’s impact in the few years since we launched it.”
Simon Stuart, Chief Scientific Advisor, Synchronicity Earth
Scaling up funding for amphibian conservation
The Amphibian Conservation Fund gives donors the opportunity to pool their resources to support the goals of Synchronicity Earth’s Amphibian Programme. Our Amphibian Programme aims to improve the amphibian knowledge base to guide conservation priorities, fund increased amphibian conservation on the ground, and promote the development of amphibian conservation organisations.
Drawing on our conservation network and relationships, and on the findings of the second Global Amphibian Assessment (2023), the Amphibian Conservation Fund helps us bolster long-term, core support for key local and national conservation organisations and individuals, increasing the average size of grants we provide, helping organisations to grow, and supporting early career amphibian conservationists to flourish.
Why pool funding?
Our Amphibian Programme team draws on a wide network of amphibian conservation scientists and practitioners to help us to understand the key gaps, opportunities, and priorities for conservation action. Through this network, we have developed strong and lasting connections with impactful organisations and grassroots local groups.
The fund provides a forum for partners to share their knowledge and challenges, increasing understanding among donors of the issues they are addressing and the solutions that will have most impact. Building trust and understanding this way allows us to increase long-term and core funding (e.g., for staff and organisational development), the kind of funding that many smaller, locally led organisations struggle to access.
Through a combination of reporting, webinars for donors, updates and briefings, donors can hear directly from implementing partners on the ground, increasing their knowledge and understanding of the context and the impact their support is having. Relationships with grantee partners are held by Synchronicity Earth, reducing the time spent by each donor on grant management, reporting, and administration.
Dr Bela Barata, Instituto Biotrópicos, one of the partners supported by the Amphibian Conservation Fund. Image © Michel Becheleni
Benefits of the Amphibian Conservation Fund:
For funders
Donors contributing to the Amphibian Conservation Fund get access to the research and expertise of our Programmes Team and our wider network of amphibian conservation advisers and partners, supporting greater understanding of the key gaps and priorities for protecting amphibians. This includes input from our Chief Scientific Adviser, Dr Simon Stuart, alongside knowledge gained from working with multiple amphibian conservationists and organisations through our Amphibian Programme, from small, grassroots NGOs to national and international organisations and scientific bodies.
Contributors to a pooled fund are connected to smaller local and grassroots groups which are historically underfunded and can be hard to reach, particularly for larger funders.
Building strong long-term relationships and managing grants takes time and commitment when supporting local and community-led organisations. Many funders simply do not have the time or capacity to devote to this deep relationship-building work. Joining a pooled fund bridges this gap, reducing the burden for funders as relationships with partners on the ground are held and grants managed by Synchronicity Earth.
Donors can take part in webinars hosted by Synchronicity Earth with participation from conservation partners implementing the work, experts in the field, and other funders. This helps to strengthen understanding of the local context, the challenges our partners face and impact of funding, and deepens the connection between the donor and the people and organisations carrying out the work.
A member of the Asociación Pro Fauna Silvestre team with a toad – Rhinella Popoeggi – in the Peruvian Andes. Image © Chris Scarffe
Members of Instituto Curicaca, a partner supported through the Amphibian Conservation Fund. Image © Chris Scarffe
For funded partners
Pooled funding provides a stable source of long-term, flexible income for partners, often providing for core support, one of the most difficult types of funding to obtain for many smaller organisations. Since the Fund was established, we have significantly increased the amount of core support to the partners in our Amphibian Programme; on average, partners use around 50% of the funding provided to support staff salaries. Just under half our partners are currently on multi-year grants, and we plan to increase this substantially over the next few years.
Receiving pooled funding support increases visibility for smaller organisations, giving them access to larger foundations that would otherwise not be reachable. Our partners have often successfully accessed significant funding directly from larger funders as a result of our pooled funding approach.
Pooled funds help to bring both funders and conservation organisations together, providing our partners with opportunities to meet and learn from their peers, strengthen their own networks and nurture new collaborations.
With support from a pooled fund, partners are released from the burden of having to write multiple proposals and reports for donors who may have very different reporting processes and requirements. Synchronicity Earth helps to streamline the information required from partners, and manages reporting and grant administration processes for donors.
“The importance given to people and values is outstanding, the whole team feels confident in our mission establishing a purposeful teamwork. The Amphibian Fund has had a positive impact on our institutional development, and our partnership was built on a strong trustworthy relationship. In my opinion, the impact of this approach goes beyond our institution, resulting in stronger and more capable organisations and amphibian conservationists worldwide.”
Dr Bela Barata, Instituto Biotrópicos
How the fund works
CASE STUDY: Conserving amphibians in Cameroon
Marina Kameni, Herp Cameroon
“Every time I see a new frog species, it becomes a new love story in my life, and I would like more people to know about it. That is why I am trying to involve more children and women in my work.”
-Marina Kameni, Herp Cameroon
Marina Kameni has established Cameroon’s only organisation dedicated to amphibian conservation. With support from Synchronicity Earth, she has legally registered Herp-Cameroon to protect species on Mount Manengouba. This extinct volcano is a hotspot for biodiversity – it is home to more than half of the most threatened frogs and toads in the country, many of which are found nowhere else in the world. However, its iconic rainforest is highly vulnerable to deforestation.
Initially, Marina’s work was funded via our partner Herp-Ghana, who carry out similar conservation projects, but now she is ready to operate independently. This will help to build Marina’s reputation as she emerges as a new leader in amphibian conservation – a big win for women in herpetology. She will continue to work closely with Herp-Ghana, as well as receiving help from Julie Gagoe, one of our Congo Basin Programme affiliates who has experience in supporting young organisations.
“Cameroon has a diversity of unique amphibians and most of its species are declining. Urgent local action is needed to help save them. Previously, only external researchers were working on Cameroonian amphibians. But now people know that if they want to learn more, they can contact us. There is much to be done, but with mentorship, support, and funding, we hope Herp-Cameroon can achieve so much more for the future of these species.”
In the three years since the Amphibian Conservation Fund was established, there has been a five-fold increase in the average grant size we provide to partners, including multi-year grants, and the average length of grant we provide has gone from 13.5 months to 24.5 months.
16 of our partners are local or national organisations that would be unlikely, on their own, to be able to access the funding of the major philanthropic foundations that represent our pooled fund donors, and would not be able to absorb the amount of funding that they would want to give out.
Our amphibian fund is generously supported by these organisations:
Fondation Segré | Oak Foundation | BAND Foundation | Fondation Hans Wilsdorf
*The Fund also received some donations from individuals who are not part of the pooled fund.
If you would like to contribute to the Amphibian Conservation Fund, or are interested in learning more about it, please contact Pria Ghosh, Senior Programme Officer for the Amphibian Programme: Pria@synchronicityearth.org
