Purpose
- Explores and develops market-based solutions.
Summary
The Children's Eternal Rainforest, owned by the Costa Rican nonprofit Monteverde Conservation League, provides diverse and massive benefits to people on local, national, and international scales (see below). To date, however, recognition of those services – particularly in the financial realm – has been inadequate. This project aims to create a new staff position, the exclusive purpose of which will be to (a) reach out to diverse stakeholders and stimulate reflection about why they are stakeholders, (b) explore and implement mechanisms through which stakeholders are incentivized to contribute reciprocal financial support, and (c) produce a publication that summarizes the lessons obtained from this initiative as a useful reference for others.
Description
The original proposed timeline for this project was July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2027. However, we were not able to announce the position until mid-September 2025. We carried out a search for the new position (Communications Coordinator) and received 45 applications, of which 15 met
the basic requirements for the position. In October, we interviewed 6 candidates, and the selection committee unanimously agreed to offer the position to Claire Hassler. Claire is a Peace Corps volunteer who has been working in Monteverde for the past two years. She has a journalism and photography background, is bilingual, bicultural, and is looking to stay in Monteverde over the long-term. She will begin work at in January 2026, after completing her commitment to Peace Corps. We are thrilled to have her on board and are looking forward to seeing advances of this project! The new timeline for this 2-year grant is projected as January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027.
July, 2026 Update Featuring work by Claire:
Cultivate donations by visitors to the CER’s field stations and trails
- Reactivated the CER’s newsletter, Tapir Tracks
- Learned to use the crowdfunding / fundraising platform to develop specific campaigns
- Learned to use the Mail Chimp site for newsletter and donor / contact management
Develop strategies and materials for fundraising by students
- Developed original materials for CER “student ambassadors”, including:
- Guidelines for Ambassadors and how to get involved
- Digital media, including photos that can be used in social media, education,
fundraisers; logos; and QR codes for donations
- Educational materials & lesson plans on camera traps, epiphytes, mammals
- Piloted the first Ambassador activity with a group of students from the US who visited the CER
Establish effective alliances with for-profit stakeholders toward the well-being of the CER
- Carried out an information session with guides from the travel agency Jacamar, in La Fortuna, to increase awareness of the CER and promote day- and overnight visitation to Pocosol and Finca Steller
- Planning with ally Finca Luna Nueva Lodge for a campaign by which guests at their ecolodge may visit, and /or become direct donors to the CER, via signage at FLNL’s reception area and information sessions for receptionists and other staff. FLNL is hopeful that their participation will be the “spark” that encourages other lodges around the CER to participate in similar initiatives.
Increase visitation to and awareness about the CER through improved marketing
- Worked closely with reservations staff to understand how reservations work for the CER’s 4 visitors’ centers
- Developed materials and talking points for a Fam Trip to directly promote the CER with 40 travel agencies who visited Monteverde
- Taken over our Facebook and Instagram accounts, with regular, high-quality publications
- Reactivated our YouTube channel
- Worked extensively with reservations and environmental education staff on planning 40 anniversary activities, targeted at the broader communities near the CER
- Wrote a full-page spread with photos in the quarterly newsletter of the Santa Elena ASADA
Moving forward
Claire and Lindsay will meet in late July to revise the timeline for the rest of 2026 and the beginning of 2027, with specific target products and dates for each of the proposed objectives. Claire will present to MCL’s board in August and we are excited to share this presentation with the Alex C. Walker Foundation as well.
Purpose
Costa Rica has the potential to harness the enormous power of an ecotourism economy to support conservation in a mutually beneficial synergism. This has been achieved in some ways but the mutualism is often lopsided: financial benefits received by protected areas are often grossly inadequate in relation to the benefits they provide. The CER is crucial to a wide spectrum of economic activities (ecotourism, agriculture, hydroelectricity production) but MCL does not currently receive income from most tourism visitors, due in part to the relative inaccessibility of most of the CER but also to inadequate publicity about the CER and its importance. Exploring and developing ways to increase reciprocity between the CER and the economic activities it has played a large role in creating represents an exemplary market-based solution to a challenge faced by MCL and initiatives worldwide. In our case, a symbiosis between a forest that creates markets, and markets that safeguard the forest.
Scope
We seek funds to support the first two years of a staff position dedicated to the goals outlined in this proposal, through outreach and fundraising at local, national, and international levels. We anticipate that the position will be maintained and self-sustaining after that period.
Amount Approved$53,000.00
on 5/16/2025
(Check sent: 5/29/2025)
