It has been a big year for the African Rainforest Conservancy (we reached a milestone and celebrated two decades of conserving Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests). With your support we’ll continue the momentum!

Our job at ARC is to communicate and advocate to a wide audience the myriad issues surrounding conservation of Tanzania’s forests and raise critical funds to support the on-the-ground activities of our field partner the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG). With a staff of fifty-eight (most based in the field), TFCG is currently working in 146 villages to conserve 250,000 acres of high biodiversity forest and improving the lives of nearly 300,000 people who call these forests home.

With initiatives ranging from environmental education (currently in 200 schools) to tree planting (on our way to the 12 million mark) to livelihoods (activities like fishponds, beekeeping, and butterfly farms discourage dependence of destructive practices that threaten the future of the forests) and improved governance (providing training to local people on national laws and regulations, so they understand their rights, roles and responsibilities with regard to managing their natural resources), TFCG and ARC are collaborating to create a highly effective program model that simultaneously advances the conservation of Tanzania’s forests and addresses the root causes of poverty in local communities.

With your support ARC is able to:

• Get Bang for your Buck: Rest assured that 83 cents of every dollar ARC raises goes into our programs.* With just one full-time staff member (supported by a dedicated network of interns and volunteers), we make sure your dollars work overtime to conserve Tanzania’s forests.
•  Build Strength in Numbers: With over a dozen partnerships, including UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign, Earth Day Network, and GlobalGiving, ARC is joining forces with like-minded groups to raise awareness of and funds to support our conservation and community development programs.
• Engage a New Generation of Philanthropists: ARC’s newly revamped Junior Board, a group of sixteen young professionals, is spreading the word to their peers about the need to conserve Tanzania’s forests and in doing so are engaging a whole new generation of philanthropists in our efforts. This past summer they held their first annual “Summer Party in the Concrete Jungle” which attracted over 200 guests and raised $12,000.
• Socialize for Good: You’ll find us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr, and on our own blog. We’ve shared over fifty blog posts with you this past year, including our newest “Incredibly Unique Animals” series that profiles animals endemic to Tanzania’s forests. We even accept donations now via text message, putting us at the forefront of fundraising in today’s digital world.

We are all affected by the loss of Tanzania’s forests. Not only do they support the livelihoods of thousands of local people and provide critical habitat for hundreds of species found nowhere else in the world, they clean the air we breathe, protect watersheds, and help regulate the global climate. These are our forests too.

We need your help to continue this important work and to expand our support even further. 

This holiday season, give the gift of trees, habitat, and a greener planet by making a tax-deductible donation.

Together we can keep some of the world’s oldest and most biodiverse forests standing for future generations.

From all of us at ARC, thank you for your support and warmest wishes this holiday season!

*According to Charity Watch, the most highly efficient charities are able to spend 75 cents or more of every dollar on programs.