Earlier this year, I shared the CSF’s proposed “Stability Fund.” Based on internal studies, we’ve decided we need to provide Randy Borman and our other Cofan partners approximately $250,000 a year so they can do their most essential work. There are two “core missions” the money covers:
A rapid-response team based in Quito, with political, legal, and logistical capabilities to act across Cofan territory. This team maintains constant alertness to changing laws, policies, and events at national, provincial, and municipal levels to prevent incursions into the Cofan homeland, solidify and expand Cofan land rights, establish new conservation areas, and seize on opportunities to secure governmental and nongovernmental funding for forest protection.
High-quality education for promising Cofan students. Elementary, secondary, and university education programs are essential for Cofan youth to bolster their mastery of the Cofan language and cultural traditions, help them learn Spanish and English for fluid interaction with the outside world, and specialize in legal, scientific, and other fields to negotiate the long-term security of Cofan culture and forests in the 21st century. Education ensures new generations of strong, globally capable Cofan leaders.
I want to make a major announcement: your increased donations have put us over the $100,000 mark to sustain these core missions. That’s INCREDIBLE progress; we’re so thankful for your support. But it also means we have plenty of work to do. The goal is to support the core missions with our Stability Fund for the next decade. After that, based on our analysis of global trends, we believe the market for carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services will provide enough support to fund the Cofan’s core missions and major projects. To access those future funds, however, we must make sure Cofan territory and people remain in position to get them. And that’s where your donations are essential. Without them, we cannot ensure the protection of the Cofan's rainforest territory for even the next ten years.
Although we must cover the Cofan’s core missions first, we’re always searching for grant opportunities to fund other projects, whether they involve community-based conservation initiatives like the River Turtle Repopulation Project or our commitment to return the Cofan Park Guard Program to full force. But without the Cofan’s Rapid Response Team and Education Project, the present operations and long-term sustainability of our Cofan partners’ efforts cannot be assured.
If we can get 15 more people to give $10,000 per year, we’ll have our core missions covered. If we can get 30 to commit $5,000 annually, we could do the same. Of course, we deeply appreciate everyone who can only give smaller gifts, which have sustained much of our work over the past two and a half decades. All our CSF board members make sizable annual donations to the organization. Some exceptionally generous individuals have given tremendous amounts to keep the Cofan’s core missions in operation. But we need others to step up for the welfare of Cofan people and for the future of our global climate and the earth’s biological and cultural diversity.
In anticipation of the holiday season and Giving Tuesday, please consider the CSF and the Cofan while deciding to whom you will donate. I’ve been working with the Cofan Nation for nearly three decades. As a professor, I’ve studied the Cofan’s core missions and other projects in great detail. Based on all my work, I have complete faith in the power and practicality of the Cofan vision for protecting their people and rainforest territory. Remember, our annual Stability Fund amounts to $250,000, which means that we’re offering an opportunity to protect the Cofan's one million acres of legalized territory, some of the most precious lands in the world, for the cost of $.25/acre. That amount is an extremely low sum compared to resources requested by other international conservation organizations. I can’t think of a wiser investment for all who care about the future of our planet and its best custodians: Indigenous People like the Cofan.
A gift to the CSF directly aids the Cofan Nation; as a U.S.-based fundraising organization, we have no overhead, and all your contributions go directly to the Cofan people who know exactly what to do with them. You can contribute online by clicking the “donate” button below or going to our website: www.cofan.org. Or you can mail a check to: Cofan Survival Fund, 53 Washington Boulevard, Oak Park, IL 60302. Another way to give, if you shop at amazon.com, is to go to smile.amazon.com and select the Cofan Survival Fund as your designated charity. Then, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of every one of your purchases to the CSF.
As always, if you have questions about the CSF or would like more information on what exactly the Cofan could accomplish with a larger gift, email me directly at michael.cepek@utsa.edu.
Sincerely,
Michael L. Cepek, CSF President
CSF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. For gifts of $250 and larger, you will receive a receipt for tax purposes.