We’re proud to announce our 2020 financial support for The Orangutan Project (TOP) and other conservation organizations. Acting as The Orangutan Project-USA, OURF transferred more than $200,000 to TOP in February 2020 to fund operations, patrols, orangutan rescues, and ecosystem protection on Sumatra and Borneo.
The transfer marks a continuation of our significant financial support for organizations that conduct invaluable conservation programs and projects throughout the range of the critically-endangered orangutan. It adds to over $1M dollars of funding OURF has provided since June 2017 for conservation education, research, formal higher education, and conservation-related activities conducted by local and international organizations in Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo.
OURF and TOP joined forces in 2016 to create a powerful team of advocates for orangutan survival. TOP President Leif Cocks serves as the Vice President of OURF, and OURF President Gary Shapiro serves as a board member of TOP. This interlocking administrative partnership is beneficial to both organizations, enabling more efficient use of funds for infrastructure.
“The Orang Utan Republik Foundation continues to grow and extend the original mission of our organization because of our relationship with TOP,” Shapiro says. “Since our first distribution of funds to TOP in mid-2017, OURF operating as TOP-USA has provided nearly $1M for various programs and projects operated by over a dozen organizations, apart from the funding OURF provided specifically for education programs.”
This amount includes more than $100,000 of funding each for Wildlife Asia, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and the Borneo Nature Foundation. We’ve also provided more than $50,000 for HaKA, the Orangutan Foundation UK, and the Centre for Orangutan Protection.
Finally, we’ve provided more than $10,000 of funding to each of the following organizations:
- Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
- Hutan
- The Orangutan Conservancy
- Orangutan Information Centre
- Pro Natura
- Scorpion
- Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program
These funds were ultimately managed by TOP as part of the grant conditions.
“OURF is proud to be able to support these important activities through our partnership with TOP,” Shapiro says. He expects the growth of support in the United States to continue in the coming years. At the same time the signature programs operated by OURF, including the Orangutan Caring Scholarship, the LP Jenkins Fellowship, and the Community Education and Conservation Program, will continue to expand in scope through the partnership.