Ways to Give
There is more than one way to support conservation in the Annamite Mountains Bioregion.
Which route suits you depends on your circumstances. What every route funds is the same.
What your gift supports
Our mission is to protect the rich biodiversity of the Annamite Mountains Bioregion by leading efforts to prevent unrecoverable biodiversity loss through a combination of direct interventions, empowering national conservationists, conducting applied research and priority setting, and collaborating with key stakeholders.
Our long term goal is measured over 25 years. In that time we are working to prevent the global extinction of the endemic and range-restricted species of the Annamites, including the Large-antlered Muntjac and the many cryptic and otherwise overlooked species facing imminent global extinction alongside them, while protecting and restoring the irreplaceable Annamite ecosystems they depend on.
That is a longer horizon than most conservation funding works to, and it is deliberate. The Annamites will not be secured by a campaign. So the work is built as one portfolio of programs in a single bioregion rather than as separate projects, each of them drawing on the same team, the same methods and the same government relationship.
Three new programs
The Saola Search Program built an Annamite Mountains Research and Conservation Team capable of sustained, technically difficult fieldwork in remote terrain, with a Scent Detection Dog Unit, an Animal Tracking Unit and in-forest DNA testing. Three new programs now apply that capability to different conservation problems in the same bioregion, and we are raising the funding to begin them.
Biodiversity Value Mapping. Now in early pilot phase. We are technical lead on a Biodiversity Value Map for Lao forests, and on an objective way of measuring biodiversity value at fine scale. It sits within a wider initiative led by WCS Lao, supporting a new Government of Lao framework for how development impacts on biodiversity are avoided, mitigated and offset. It is a prioritization tool for a whole country, and it is the measurement layer that nature based financing depends on.
The Large-antlered Muntjac and the wet evergreen rainforest. In development and fundraising phase. A long term in situ management program for endemic species facing global extinction at a site of irreplaceable biodiversity significance, with the Large-antlered Muntjac as its flagship. It covers protected area management that reduces threats in the forest and the drivers behind them, and it examines the case for ex situ conservation breeding as insurance against extinction.
The Bolikhamxay Leaf Monkey and its limestone karst. In development and fundraising phase. A program for an undescribed leaf monkey our team documented in 2024, and for the limestone karst it depends on in Bolikhamxay Province. The area under discussion is confidently predicted to hold more than half the global population of the species. It is also where we intend to pilot Lao’s first conservation concession run on a not-for-profit basis, working closely with government, local communities and civil society.
Each new program uses a flagship species to reach the many other endemic species living under the same pressures in the same place, and two of them open a route beyond philanthropy, into conservation finance that recurs rather than funding that has to be raised again every year.
The team all of it runs on
Our Annamite Mountains Research and Conservation team is Lao, and includes the first Animal Tracking Unit and the first national Scent Detection Dog Unit in mainland Southeast Asia dedicated to biodiversity conservation. Developing the national capacity to manage Annamite biodiversity in perpetuity is a core part of the mission, not a side effect of it.
Applied research and priority setting runs through all of it, so that the effort goes where it will matter most, and so that what we learn is usable by everyone else working in the Bioregion.
Giving to a particular program
Unrestricted gifts are the most useful to us, because they let us move effort to wherever it is most needed, and that flexibility is part of how we work.
If you would rather your gift went to a particular program, you can name one: the Saola Search Program, Biodiversity Value Mapping, the Large-antlered Muntjac program, or the Bolikhamxay Leaf Monkey program. Please talk to us before you commit to a restriction, so that we can make sure it is one we will still be able to honor.
Corporate partnership and major gifts
For gifts at a level where the structure matters, or for corporate partnerships, please talk to us before you act. We can usually make a gift work better for both sides with a short conversation.
Contact us at info@saolafoundation.org.
Give now
A one-time or monthly gift by card or PayPal. The fastest route, and the one that funds day-to-day field operations across all of our programs.
Gifts of stock and securities
If you hold appreciated stock, giving the shares themselves rather than the proceeds is usually more efficient than selling first and donating the cash.
Donor advised funds
If you already give through a donor advised fund at Fidelity Charitable, Schwab, Vanguard Charitable, or a community foundation, you can recommend a grant to us directly.
Giving through a donor advised fund
Gifts from an IRA
If you are 70 and a half or older, you can give directly from an individual retirement account without the distribution counting as taxable income.
How this works, and what is deductible
A gift in your will
A bequest costs nothing during your lifetime, and it is the one form of giving that matches the timescale we work to. For a bioregion whose recovery will take longer than any grant cycle, it is the single most significant thing most people can do.
Equipment
We publish current equipment needs, from field gear to vehicles.
Giving from the UK
The Saola Foundation is a US 501(c)(3) organization, so Gift Aid is not available on gifts made directly to us and UK donors do not receive UK tax relief on them. Donations are processed in US dollars.
If you are a UK taxpayer, or a US citizen resident in the UK, there are established routes that allow a gift to a US charity to qualify for relief in both countries, generally through a dual-qualified intermediary such as the CAF American Donor Fund. These carry a fee and some administration, and they are worth it for larger gifts rather than occasional small ones.
Email info@saolafoundation.org and we will talk you through it.
We would be glad to hear from you
If your values align with ours, we would welcome a conversation. We are looking for donors, partners and collaborators who share our commitment to preventing unrecoverable biodiversity loss in the Annamite Mountains Bioregion.