Runa Foundation is a public, non-profit organization with offices in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, NY;

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

, Ecuador;

Archidona Archidona is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is the center of the comarca of Nororiental de Málaga and the head of the judicial district that bears its name. ...

, Ecuador; and

Tarapoto Tarapoto, founded in 1782 as Santa Cruz de los Motilones de Tarapoto, is a commercial hub town in the San Martín Province of the Department of San Martín of northern Peru. It is an hour by plane from Lima, in the high jungle plateau to the east ...

, Peru. Runa Foundation's stated mission is to "create new value for tropical forests that benefit local people and the forest ecosystem". Runa Foundation is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit corporation registered in the state of Rhode Island.

History

Runa Foundation was co-founded in 2010 by Tyler Gage, Dan MacCombie, and Eliot Logan-Hines. Runa Foundation was created as the non-profit arm of the Runa Group which is a hybrid

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

consisting of both non-profit and for-profit arms. Runa's innovative model is designed to create big impact through the creation of new supply chains, while simultaneously assuring that these supply chains deliver tangible social and environmental benefits to local farmers and the forest. In 2013, actor

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor and producer. He made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his Breakthrough role, breakthrough with the sports comedy film ''She's the Man'' (2006) and t ...

became a major supporter of Runa Foundation after a long adventure into the Ecuadorian Amazon to visit the Sapara people.

Program areas

Landscapes Program – This program looks at the intersection between agriculture, forestry, and conservation using a holistic landscape approach. Runa Foundation focuses particularly on the use of

agroforestry Agroforestry (also known as agro-sylviculture or forest farming) is a land use management system that integrates trees with crops or pasture. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies. As a polyculture system, an agroforestry system c ...

and

sustainable forest management Forest management is a branch of forestry concerned with overall administrative, legal, economic, and social aspects, as well as scientific and technical aspects, such as silviculture, forest protection, and forest regulation. This includes mana ...

as tools to conserve biodiversity and natural ecosystems. This program also includes projects related to

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

, wildlife management,

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

mapping, territorial mapping, and assuring

indigenous land rights Indigenous land rights are the rights of Indigenous peoples to land and natural resources therein, either individually or collectively, mostly in colonised countries. Land and resource-related rights are of fundamental importance to Indig ...

. Livelihoods Program – This program focuses on improving the

livelihood A person's livelihood (derived from ''life-lode'', "way of life"; cf. OG ''lib-leit'') refers to their "means of securing the basic necessities (food, water, shelter and clothing) of life". Livelihood is defined as a set of activities essential ...

s of local people through income generation, capacity building workshops, and

financial literacy Financial literacy is the possession of skills, knowledge, and behaviors that allow an individual to make informed decisions regarding money. Financial literacy, financial education and financial knowledge are used interchangeably. Financially un ...

training. This program specifically targets farmers associations or

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

s to support them in Fair Trade certification. Plant Research – Runa Foundation works with indigenous groups in the Amazon to document and research their vast knowledge of

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

uses. Runa Foundation has also helped to support the creation of PlantMed.Org dedicated to the creation of Amazonian research clinics in the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon. Education – Runa Foundation provides educational opportunities for future

social entrepreneurs Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of ...

and environmental leaders through its

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

program. Runa Foundation has partnered with the

Universidad San Francisco de Quito Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ (informally Universidad San Francisco, or simply USFQ) is a liberal-arts, private university located in Quito, Ecuador. It was the first totally private self-financed university in Ecuador and the first li ...

and the Yale School of Forestry to conduct ongoing research related to forest conservation and agroforestry management. In 2014, Runa Foundation established a research fellowship with

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

's Tropical Resources Institute.

Funding

Runa Foundation is primarily funded from government grants, private foundations, and individual contributions. In 2014, Runa Foundation's total revenue was US$978,000. Funders of Runa Foundation include: * John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation * Mulago Foundation * Finnish Foreign Ministry *

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

* Inter-American Institute for the Cooperation in Agriculture *

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

(WWF) * Flemish Fund for Tropical Forests * GIZ * Fundacion CRISFE *

CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, formerly the Andean Development Corporation (or Corporación Andina de Fomento), is a Caracas based development bank whose mission is to promote sustainable development and regional integr ...

Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gra ...

* Rufford Foundation * Nourish International *

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

Annenberg Foundation The Annenberg Foundation is a foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations. Overview The Annenberg Foundation was established by Walter H. Annenberg in 1989 with $1.2 billion, one-third of the assets from the sale o ...

References

{{reflist Environmental organizations established in 2010 Forest conservation organizations 2010 establishments in the United States 2010 establishments in Peru