Rare, a U.S.-based conservation organization, works globally to equip people in the world’s most threatened natural areas with the tools and motivation they need to care for their natural resources. For the last 30 years, at more than 90 sites, and in more than 40 nations, Rare has focused as much on people as on science—addressing the underlying social and economic factors that create environmental threats.

Rare’s approach has been to develop a suite of social marketing and business development tools that motivate local communities to protect their natural surroundings. Rare’s signature Pride campaign builds grassroots support for environmental protection by training local conservation leaders in the use of commercial marketing tactics to build awareness, influence attitudes, and enable meaningful change. Pride campaigns produce a groundswell of support that leads to tangible conservation successes, such as new national parks, reform legislation, or reduction of threats from forest fires or over-fishing.

Rare has been recognized by Fast Company magazine as one of the “Top 25 Social Capitalists” for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Its conservation toolkit has been embraced by many large environmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the National Audubon Society.


Mission

Rare’s mission is to conserve imperiled species and ecosystems around the world by inspiring people to care about and protect nature.

Rare fulfills this mission by addressing some of the most pressing needs of the global conservation movement:

• we train and mentor local conservation leaders in the use of proven outreach tools;
• we support these local leaders as they customize our tools and identify the right motivations and messages to inspire environmental protection in their own unique communities;
• we build partnerships that leverage many times over Rare’s financial and technical investments;
• and we evaluate and share what we learn from each project and partnership in order to continuously improve the practice of conservation.

The result? One of the largest ever global grassroots conservation movements, with tangible results at the community level on five continents.