2023-05-11T11:09:45-07:00 2022-12-31 990 2022-01-01 261618125 RAINFOREST PARTNERSHIP RAIN 5124200101 PO Box 49268 Austin TX 78765 Hazel Barbour Board Treasurer 5124200101 2023-05-11 1 1 11 1 AAL2 2022 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z Hazel Barbour PO Box 49268 Austin TX 78765 801535 0 X www.RainforestPartnership.org X 2007 TX Rainforest Partnership's mission is to protect and regenerate tropical rainforests by working with rainforest communities to develop sustainable livelihoods that empower and respect both people and nature. 7 6 4 47 0 0 466401 660716 0 0 427 -59048 0 0 466828 601668 0 0 0 0 105945 111181 0 0 23098 454115 703106 560060 814287 -93232 -212619 145161 40336 321574 429383 -176413 -389047 X Rainforest Partnership's mission is to protect and regenerate tropical rainforests by working with rainforest communities to develop sustainable livelihoods that empower and respect both people and nature. 0 0 555145 0 In 2022, Rainforest Partnership strengthened the conservation of critical standing forests from the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest to the cloud forests of the Tropical Andes in Peru. Our projects a) empower communities with tools, resources, and training to defend, restore and protect their forests, b) bring together the groups who need to collaborate for effective conservation, and c) strengthen conservation plans and policies with research. Through research, economic projects to support rainforest communities, environmental education, and women and youth empowerment, our work supported the conservation of 149,500 acres in the Amazon and 900,000 acres of the Tropical Andes by supporting indigenous communities' resistance to deforestation and by convening key stakeholders to work together to conserve the Cordillera de Colan. In Peru, we coordinated capacity building and farm field schools with local producers, led a restoration project with 100 farmers, and led environmental education programming with the Regional Government of Amazonas. During several groundbreaking biodiversity research expeditions, we discovered over 10 potential new frog species. In Ecuador, we empowered over 100 Kichwa women by supporting sustainable livelihood projects like Amazon fish and artisan handicrafts and coordinated workshops with women and youth. See Schedule O for additional project information. 89300 0 Rainforest Partnership educates, inspires, and brings together individuals and organizations worldwide to empower and accelerate the systemic change necessary to scale radical global action and conservation impact to end deforestation by 2030. Films for the Forest, Rainforest Partnership's annual international film competition, inspires people globally through beautifully told impact-driven stories. In 2022, we screened films from all six populated continents in Tokyo for the first time and to a global audience during World Rainforest Day. Rainforest Partnership's youth branch, Gen Z for the Trees, brings young people together from around the world to tackle global drivers of deforestation. Through extensive research into the ways that deforestation is embedded in global economic systems, educational campaigns, and advocacy initiatives, Gen Z for the Trees used its platform to advocate against deforestation in global spaces such as COP26 in Glasgow and to push for further transparency in the palm oil industry by uncovering unlisted palm oil mills. Finally, Rainforest Academy and Rainforest Publishing are programs in development to educate people worldwide on rainforests and their protection and to build critical pathways to rainforest conservation. See Schedule O for additional project information. 74540 0 Our World Rainforest Day and Rainforest Collective programs catalyze systemic change, rallying individuals, local communities, and global organizations to create powerful impact on the ground to protect and revitalize rainforests. These programs leverage the power of partnership, unlocking resources to magnify the scope and success of conservation projects on the ground. On June 22, we celebrate World Rainforest Day, founded by Rainforest Partnership in 2017, with the annual World Rainforest Day Summit. In 2022, we convened 84 speakers and 1000+ attendees from 73 countries and brought together a global community with a social media reach of around 10 million people worldwide. World Rainforest Day activates a broad coalition of people for the protection of the world's tropical forests; this partner network consists of rainforest organizations, indigenous groups, policy representatives, youth leaders, the private sector, and artists and creatives, among others, collaborating and innovating for holistic forest impact. Rainforest Collective is a bold, global collaboration between forest-focused organizations, indigenous and local rainforest communities, and government and industry leaders, all coming together to end rainforest destruction by 2030. See Schedule O for additional project information. 0 0 0 718985 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 7 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 CA NY X X X Niyanta Spelman 5124200101 PO Box 49268 Austin TX 78765 Niyanta Spelman Chief Executive Officer and Board Member 60 X X X 40000 0 0 Frank Richards Board Chair 4 X X 0 0 0 Hazel Barbour Board Treasurer 10 X X 0 0 0 Kristin Owen Board Secretary 2 X X 0 0 0 Lucia Gallardo Board Member 12 X 0 0 0 Lina Constantinovici Board Member 1 X 0 0 0 Ani Chahal Honan Board Member 1 X 0 0 0 Laura Hall Board Member 2 X 0 0 0 Sumit Jamuar Board Member 4 X 0 0 0 40000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8802 0 0 0 0 651914 199867 660716 0 0 0 0 0 -258 0 0 -258 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 141077 0 199867 0 -58790 -58790 0 0 -58790 0 0 601668 0 0 -59048 40000 32000 4000 4000 63599 47807 15300 492 7582 0 7582 0 19 19 1500 1500 9600 8448 1152 18402 18301 101 19416 14303 5113 16278 15211 704 363 6524 2504 4020 7860 7842 18 4351 4351 4773 4773 2516 464 2052 Project Coordination Cost 439536 398021 27280 14235 Project Materials, Equipment, and Supplies 29404 29404 0 0 Project Field Cost 137429 137429 0 0 5498 1400 108 3990 814287 718985 72204 23098 X 145161 40336 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 45487 45487 0 0 145161 40336 21674 129483 0 0 0 0 0 299900 299900 321574 429383 X 0 0 0 0 -176413 -389047 -176413 -389047 145161 40336 -212619 0 0 0 -15 0 X 0 0 0 X 174183 311533 208983 466401 660716 1821816 174183 311533 208983 466401 660716 1821816 10437 13022 50501 73960 0 0 10437 13022 50501 73960 1747856 0 495 18 427 -258 682 0 495 18 427 -258 682 180 0 0 0 0 180 174363 312028 209001 466828 660458 1822678 0.95895 0.9823 0.00037 0.0008 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2157 0 -258 0 1500 20 379 1750 0 427 0 0 20 2157 17996 0 -124 0 16093 29 1750 25923 0 2073 0 10000 0 17996 35923 0 0 0 10000 0 25923 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 45487 45487 0 0 0 0 0 0 Schedule D, Part V, Line 4 The spending of Rainforest Partnership's quasi-endowment fund is determined by the Board of Directors for implementing the mission and operations of Rainforest Partnership. The fund can receive and hold donor-restricted funds and grants; there were no restricted funds in 2022. South America 0 24 Program Services Rainforest Preservation 553136 0 24 553136 0 0 0 0 0 0 X Cryptocurrency 5 199867 FMV on day of donation 0 0 1 1 Schedule M, Part I, Line 32b Rainforest Partnership used CoinBase to convert the cryptocurrency to USD. Form 990, Part I, Line 6 It took a team of 7 board members and 11 advisors, a funded team that included 13 globally distributed members and 23 in-country team members, along with 47 dedicated volunteers and interns based all over the world that contributed almost 6,200 hours totaling to $327,000 worth of in-kind services, helping us create outsized impact in rainforest conservation. Form 990, Part III, Line 4a [PERUVIAN TROPICAL ANDES] In 2022, we deepened the scientific knowledge about critical and highly threatened Tropical Andes landscapes through exciting scientific research and species discoveries; convened and mobilized diverse local stakeholders to plan and implement joint actions for long-term conservation of the Cordillera de Colán; led the transformation of economic practices causing deforestation and biodiversity loss to sustainable economic livelihoods for local people; implemented reforestation of degraded land with over 100 local people; and led environmental education programming across the Cordillera de Colán. These actions are long-term strategies woven together to ensure the long-term conservation of this incredibly biodiverse, important, and threatened landscape. Some of our major achievements include: (1) During several research expeditions, our team discovered and described four new species of lizards in the unique cloud forests of the Yungas Ecoregion, one of the most threatened ecoregions in the world, and two new species of marsupial frogs. Biodiversity research is foundational to successful conservation. (2) We advanced the taxonomic study of six other new species (four frogs and two lizards) that will be submitted to scientific journals soon to be formally published, and worked with museums to review the new species discovered in Cordillera de Colán during our expedition in 2021. (3) We established and convened a core group of local stakeholders that will collaborate to lead and implement initiatives to strengthen the conservation of the Cordillera de Colán, its mosaic of conservation areas, and the over 900,000 acres of the Tropical Andes it encompasses. This group of stakeholders includes the managers of six conservation areas and over 50 people who are key to the management of the cloud forests and grassland ecosystems in this landscape. In 2022, we convened this group to create joint plans for long-term collaborative actions for reforestation, biodiversity and landscape monitoring, research, environmental education, and strengthened governance within the Cordillera de Colán. (4) We led three field schools for local producers living around protected areas which trained over 50 local people and gave technical assistance to over 100 coffee, cacao, sugarcane, and cattle farmers to transform unsustainable agriculture and livestock practices to agroforestry, silvopastoral, organic and zero-deforestation sustainable production in the Cordillera de Colán. (5) We coordinated reforestation of degraded coffee, cocoa, and pasture land with native fruit trees: seven nurseries were installed around the protected areas, producing over 20,000 screw, alder, cedar and citrus seedlings and delivered to more than 100 farmers participating in the field schools and capacity-building programs. (7) We developed environmental education programming with 95 educators and education specialists from the Amazonas Regional Government, which was implemented in seven schools and taught over 130 students across the landscape about their environment and the importance of protecting it. [ECUADOR] Our Ecuador Strategy centers community, partnership, indigenous leadership and empowerment, and economic opportunity as critical tools to protect Ecuador's critically important tropical forests and vast biodiversity. The strategy includes: (1) Protecting extremely threatened areas of the Ecuadorian Chocó-Andino by creating protected areas and management plans with government partners; (2) Building economic independence with indigenous communities by creating sustainable income sources so they have the resources and resilience to resist pressures from extractive industries and prevent deforestation, contamination, and harm to community land, health, and livelihoods; (3) Supporting communities' access to key resources and training to strengthen their capacities to conserve their forests and biodiversity, restore degraded forest, and protect their land from illegal extractive activities; (4) Establishing a butterfly monitoring program in partnership with Universities and National Parks to strengthen capacities of Ecuador's protected areas to monitor and conserve biodiversity; and (5) Creating empowerment, educational, and economic opportunities in indigenous communities focused on women and young people who are both key groups in leading communities to deny oil companies entry to their land. [WOMEN OF THE RIO NAPO PROJECT] Women-led associations organizing sustainable bio-enterprises for economic stability and independence in five Kichwa communities (1) Hatun Urku: ASOCIACIÓN DE MUJERES URKU SISA WARMI; (2) Munditi Urku: GRUPO DE MUJERES MUNDI WARMIS; (3) Isla Flor Amazonico: ASOCIACIÓN AYLLU KAWAY; (4) Sani Isla: SANI WARMI; (5) Flor de Pantano: PROYECTO TURÍSTICO AMARUN YAYA. This project builds long-term economic resilience for strengthened community capacities to conserve and protect their 149,500+ acres of community-owned forest. During the year, we led many field visits, capacity-building activities and trainings to establish and maintain successful aquaculture projects. With our technical partner organization, the Ecuadorian NGO Centro Lianas, we assessed the state of community aquaculture projects, general knowledge of aquaculture, and the specific needs of each community. Subsequently, each community created implementation plans and budgets for one year of collaboration on cachama pisciculture projects involving each of their communities. The community pools were built, fixed, and maintained, the cachama fish delivered and cared for, organic fish feed was produced in the communities, and each women's association is currently maintaining the projects to sell fish for income and to use them as a source of food security. We also held capacity building activities for the women to learn how to make fish feed using food products already grown in the community (to minimize costs), gastronomy, tourism management, etc. We also brought critical resources to the community of Sani Isla (the largest of the five communities) including solar panels, a clean water system, internet access, projectors, laptops for associations and schools. We supported the establishment of a Youth Association in Sani Isla, called Mushuk Ñanpitak Pascachik Wanrakuna or in Spanish, Jóvenes que abren nuevos Caminos (Youth who open new paths), who are working on youth-led agroforestry garden and aquaculture projects, educational projects and youth-led conservation. Capacity building, training, workshops, and environmental education activities throughout the year included: (1) Leadership training event for over 50 participants on March 10 (Taller de Formación de Líderes y participación comunitaria (Formation of Leadership and Community Participation Workshop). It was a full day of training and exercises to support leadership skills and management of community projects; (2) Women's empowerment workshop in the town of Misahualli for women participating in our projects; (3) Knowledge exchange trip in which several women from each community visited a Cofan community which has a successful cachama aquaculture project; (4) Youth exchange event at Yunguilla Reserve, for the youth association to learn from their successes in community projects, ecotourism, administration and project management, and leadership; (5) Workshop in Sani Isla with instructors from Yunguilla Reserve on community tourism and management of private reserves, community projects, and businesses with 28 participants; (6) Organizational Development and Community Tourism workshop on building microbusinesses or microenterprises with instructors from Yunguilla; (7) Session called Sueños de mujeres kichwas (Dreams of Kichwa Women) and a planning session with Sani Warmi for 2023 with representatives of University of Pennsylvania; (8) History of resistance to oil companies in Sani Isla; (9) Organizativo Comunitaria, consciencia socioeconómica y conocimiento jurídico en defensa de sus derechos (Strengthening of community organization, socioeconomic awareness and awareness of judicial rights) with the Association MUSHUK ÑAMPITAK PASKACHIK WANRAKUNA and Fundación Alejandro Labaka; (10) Gastronomy workshops as part of the cachama aquaculture project; (11) Craft workshops with experts on weaving using seeds and on accounting and administration, gastronomy, weaving, and carving (organized with WCS and the Provincial government department of culture and tourism). All these activities gave our partners new tools and skills that they will use to expand and strengthen their projects, communities, and conservation efforts. Form 990, Part III, Line 4b [GEN Z FOR THE TREES] Gen Z for the Trees (Z4T) is a global youth-led movement to educate, inspire, and empower young climate and rainforest advocates. Z4T is a youth-driven initiative focused on a) holding corporations and governments accountable to their deforestation reduction pledges and b) targeting and reducing global drivers of deforestation. They work to understand forest-risk commodities and call for change in land use, food systems, finance, and policy to achieve the bold vision of net zero deforestation by 2030. Z4T teams specialize in the major drivers of deforestation- beef/cattle, soya, and palm oil- while targeting downstream actors in commodity supply chains and urging them to respond to consumer demand for sustainability. They also produce educational content for Gen Z about the importance of tropical rainforests, the impacts of deforestation, and the critical need for rainforest protection. Gen Z for the Trees collaborates with corporations, governments, multi-stakeholder coalitions, and universities to transform supply chains and policies affecting forests. Z4T empowers youth to lead the way, helping bridge gaps in knowledge and foster transparency. [FILMS FOR THE FOREST] Films for the Forest (F3) is an annual juried short film collection that uses the power of creative storytelling through the medium of film to convene, empower, and activate global audiences to take action on behalf of the world's forests. Launched by Rainforest Partnership in 2010, Films for the Forest invites filmmakers from around the world to share the voices and stories of forests worldwide, highlighting their rich biodiversity and diverse communities, their immense beauty and importance to the entire planet, the threats they face, and the opportunities for renewal. A fantastic panel of judges selected this year's winner; our 2022 judges included: five-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater, Welsh actor, singer, and activist Iwan Rheon (for the second year in a row), Colombian filmmaker Juan Sebastian Mesa, director of Los Nadie (winner of the Audience Award at the 31st Settimana Internazionale della Critica de Venezia), Ecuadorian filmmaker Frida Muenala, director and writer from the Kichwa community, and British activist and youth speaker Lucy Houliston. This year our judges selected ten films which were screened on World Rainforest Day, June 22nd, across three time zones for audiences around the world. We also hosted a screening in Tokyo with a team of 34 volunteers, bringing F3's films to a new audience in an active and growing conservation and sustainability community in Japan. The unique, first-time event was held on October 29th at 100BANCH, a creative multi-use space, with proceeds benefiting Rainforest Partnership's mission to protect tropical rainforests. The screening featured ten short films from the 2020 and 2022 Films for the Forest juried short film competition and presented an opportunity for a new audience to learn about the challenges faced by forests, their biodiversity, and the indigenous communities who call them home. Form 990, Part III, Line 4c [WORLD RAINFOREST DAY] June 22nd marked the second-ever World Rainforest Day Global Summit-an annual event that convenes an ever-growing community and sparks new ideas and collaborative action to ensure that rainforests and the communities living in and protecting them thrive. Since Rainforest Partnership founded World Rainforest Day in 2017, June 22nd has been an international day of celebration. The World Rainforest Day mission recognizes the power of standing, healthy rainforests in mitigating climate change and creates a global movement to protect and restore them. Filled from start to finish with inspiring, impact-driven sessions focused on implementing solutions to achieve our collective goal of ending deforestation by 2030, it was the biggest and most impactful World Rainforest Day yet. With 60 organizations bringing their experiences and resources to the table, there was no shortage of perspective or representation. Over the course of the day, industry experts and frontline guardians unpacked deforestation solutions from every angle, from youth action to innovative tech to storytelling. We were honored to be joined by Shinae Gualinga, youth leader from the Kichwa community of Sarayaku, and Steven Donziger, key lawyer on the team that won a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron on behalf of Ecuadorian communities. As renowned advocates for indigenous rights and climate action, they joined in conversation with Rainforest Partnership founder and CEO Niyanta Spelman to share their experiences, deep knowledge, and insights on the future of forest protection. [RAINFOREST COLLECTIVE] Rainforest Collective is convened and led by Rainforest Partnership's CEO, Niyanta Spelman. The core team comprises Niyanta and four other heads of respected and experienced environmental organizations. Its mission is to spark exponential growth for high-impact, indigenous and local-led rainforest conservation efforts on unprecedented scales by facilitating global collaboration. To accelerate high impact conservation work on the ground, Rainforest Collective will create an instrument that channels funding directly to community-based, direct work that uplifts indigenous peoples and prioritizes impact that lasts over time. This instrument will upend the current inefficient and siloed funding landscape for forest conservation to leverage funding as efficiently as possible and exponentially maximize impact for forests and climate. By advocating collectively as one diverse, global, united voice, Rainforest Collective will also target global socioeconomic drivers of deforestation which incentivize, reward, and perpetuate deforestation worldwide. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b The CEO, Chief Business Officer, and designated team members review financial accounting inputs for expenses and revenue, such as donations and in-kind, before conducting a reconciliation and producing the final year-end reports used for the financial statements and thereafter Form 990. Information for the Form 990 is reviewed by the CEO, Chief Business Officer, and the Board Treasurer before being shared with the Board of Directors. Once all relevant parties have reviewed and provided feedback, the Form 990 is submitted to the IRS. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c Any potential conflict of interest is required to be disclosed. All Board members and key team members receive the Conflict of Interest policy and submit Conflict of Interest forms, and are required to review the policy and resubmit the form annually. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 The Board of Directors approves compensation after careful review. The process for determining compensation includes a review of comparability data followed by deliberation by the Board of Directors as part of the annual budget adoption. (The CEO does not vote on the budget adoption as per Rainforest Partnership's Bylaws) Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 18 IRS Form 990 is also made available on Candid (formally GuideStar). Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Governing documents, Conflict of Interest policy, and financial statements are available to members of the public upon request. Financial documents are also available on our website and Candid. Form 990, Part X, Line 26 Total liabilities include EIDL loans and other loans that allowed Rainforest Partnership to continue it's mission to protect and regenerate tropical rainforests.