Potrero Group
Remote (CA)
ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND
Nature & Culture International (NCI) is a highly effective conservation organization working to protect tropical forests and biodiversity in South America. Over the past 30 years, it has conserved over 29 million acres in 211 protected areas across the Andes and Amazon by putting local communities at the center of the work rather than treating them as bystanders.
The organization works primarily in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia, partnering with Indigenous groups, traditional communities, governments, and regional allies to protect land for the long term. Country teams lead conservation work on the ground, with headquarters in Loja, Ecuador, anchoring field operations and offices throughout the region.
It’s an unusually efficient model; NCI’s conservation projects typically cost between $1 and $10 per acre, which makes this one of the highest-impact places a donor can put money. A small U.S. team raises funds and sends nearly all of it...

