About Us
Our mission
The mission of the Rainforest Foundation is to support indigenous and traditional people of the world's rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights by assisting them in:
- Securing and controlling the natural resources necessary for their long term well being and managing these resources in ways which do not harm their environment, violate their culture or compromise their future; and
- Developing the means to protect their individual and collective rights and to obtain, shape and control basic services from the state.
Our approach
The Rainforest Foundation was one of the first organizations to focus on the vital link between preserving rainforests and supporting the rights of indigenous and traditional peoples who call the rainforests home and have protected them for millennia. The "rights-based forestry" approach sets the nature of the Rainforest Foundations' work apart from most other rainforest and environmental organizations.
Rainforest Foundation history
In 1989, Sting and Trudie Styler founded The Rainforest Foundation in response to a direct request for help from a Kayapo Indian leader in Brazil who was seeking to protect his peoples' land and culture.The organization's initial project led to a role coordinating the first ever privately funded demarcation of Indian land in the region. Over the next seven years the Rainforest Foundation grew into a small network of 4 independent organizations in the US,the UK and Norway,working collectively in a dozen countries around the globe.
Since its founding, the Rainforest Foundation US has implemented innovative projects in partnership with indigenous groups and grassroots organizations in Latin America. Our staff works with partner organizations in the rainforest to help indigenous communities gain fundamental human rights, map their territories and file claims for land title, lobby for enforcement of laws and policy reforms,develop local sustainable development initiatives and monitor and manage natural resources.
RF-US board of directors
S.Todd Crider, Esq. Chair
Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP;
John W. Copeland
Executive Director,
Private Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley
Iván Gallegos Rivas
Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Heloisa Griggs, Esq.
Counsel to Senator Richard Durbin on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
Veronique Pittman
Trustee, Global Goods Partners
Advisory board member, Sustainable Amazon Partnership (SAP), Root Capital
Jessica Serafin
Controller, StormHarbour Partners LP
Jean La Rose
Programme Administrator, Amerindian Peoples Association, Guyana
Staff
Suzanne Pelletier
Executive Director
email
Christine Halvorson
Program Director
email
Marina Campos
Program Manager
email
Athos Gontijo
Financial Director
email
Michele Petri
Development Coordinator
email
Jonathan Taylor
Legal Fellow
email
RF-US Conflict Of Interest Policy
2007/2008 RF US Annual Report.
2008/2009 Winter Newsletter
2008 RF US 990 Tax Return.
2008 RF US Audited Financial Statement.
2007 RF US 990 Tax Return.
2007 RF US Audited Financial Statement.
2006 RF US 990 Tax Return.
2006 RF US Annual Report.