Your Contribution Makes a Difference
- Make a Gift
- Campaign Goals
- Campaign 1: Science Education and Research
- Campaign 2: Wildlife Rescue
- Where Your Money Goes
Hello,
Every Spring, we reach out to you, our closest supporters to help us with your generosity in our annual fundraising campaign, but this year, we hope to give back to you as much as you give to us. This giving campaign has at its core our gratefulness to you our supporters – and we want you to be able to connect directly with the projects you support. Here are the two ways to give today:
Scientific Research and Education: Sponsor critical equipment to further our goals of science education.
Wildlife Disease Testing: Medical support via advanced genetic testing for diseases to animals housed in local rehabilitation centers.
In return, connect directly with the animal or the persons you are assisting through a series of interactive rewards for each gift level.
Thank you again for your belief in science.
Sincerely,
The Field Projects International Team.
Learning Labs ($100): Introduce the basics of molecular genetics directly in the jungle at the Green Lab to novel populations.
Primate Paternity ($25 multiples): Tease apart the health profiles of wild tamarins studied for a decade by identifying how closely related they are at the Green Lab, via MinION sequencing. If that’s largely unintelligible to you, fear not! We welcome you to come and learn with us this summer doing Genomics in the Jungle.
Foldscope Field Course ($35): Fund a powerful paper microscope for 20 students.
Field Equipment ($150): Fund a handheld GPS or binoculars for scholarship students.
The Truth about the Wildlife Trade:
- The market value of the animals we study is one of the highest in Peru.
- Sustainable hunting is an important part of the many Amazonian cultures BUT the pet trade, over-hunting and inaccurate weaponry are depleting populations at rates that are a far from sustainable.
- Rehabilitation centers are faced with injured and sick wildlife but no way to test them for specific disease strains.
- For years, we have received requests from local centers in Peru to test samples from extremely sick animal.
- Exporting samples for testing is costly and time consuming
- Today, we are finally in the position to do something about it.
Our two-pronged approach:
- Offer testing options for wildlife either free or at cost by avoiding commercial kits and creating our own analysis materials in house from scratch.
- Transfer testing directly to the rehabilitation centers via a portable molecular genetics laboratory with disease tests catered to each institution’s specific population.
Rewards and Giving Levels: Science Education and Research
Learning Labs ($100): Receive live updates from students and handwritten reports on the impacts of these opportunities on their education.
Primate Paternity (multiples of $25): Receive paternity (and maternity) test reports on tamarin twins, groups, species and the population.
Foldscope ($35): Receive imagery from students, handwritten thank yous, and stories from the field labs facilitated by these miniature marvels.
Field Equipment ($150): Receive a student’s actual tracks off-trail with a GPS or their animal sightings log , along with a handwritten report on their experience in the Amazon.
Rewards and Giving Levels: Wildlife Rescue
Single Sample Screening ($15): Test a rescued animal in a local rehabilitation center for a suspected disease. Reward: An animal profile and the results of its test as a thank you.
Save a Sample ($25): Fund sample storage solutions for 25 animals at a wildlife rehabilitation center for future disease testing. Reward: Images and a report when the sampling kit is delivered to the center.
Up the Ante ($50): Deliver sample preservatives and tubes to one rehabilitation center for 50 samples. Reward: Be notified upon delivery and receive a handwritten thank you note from the team.
Extract DNA ($75): Fund DNA extractions for 50 samples from rescued wildlife at the Green Lab. Reward: Live updates and a note on how you helped two of the sick animal patients.
Prime a Test ($100): Order 5 vital DNA primers of diseases local vets need to test for in exotic wildlife in their care. Reward: Test reports, pictures of the animals cared for and receive updates on their condition post treatment.
Pipette it Up ($150): Purchase a set of three pipettes for a rescue center. Reward: Thank yous from centers upon delivery, including a special delivery video and images of pipettes in action to save lives.
The Big 15 ($225): Test 15 animals for diseases they are suspected to have and help save their lives. Reward: Animal histories, photos, and test results, as well as updates on their treatments post testing.
Train a team ($300): Fund a training session at a rehabilitation center to teach how the samples are to be collected and stored for Green Lab analyses. Reward: Receive a photo-story of the training session and handwritten thank you notes from the center staff.
Train Geneticists! ($500): Fund a training session introducing the portable disease testing kit to the rehabilitation center to teach them to do the genetics tests themselves in-house. Reward: Receive a photo-story of the training session, handwritten thank you notes from the center staff, and reports from their first 15 tests including animal photographs, test results and post treatment updates.
Disease Test Pack ($1000): Fund a portable and customised disease testing kit for a wildlife rehabilitation center that includes materials for extractions, PCRs, and diagnostic gels. Reward: Receive live updates as your kit is stocked, shipped, and delivered to the center. Receive updates during staff training, and reports on the first successful testing of wildlife, as well as animal profiles and stories, and post treatment condition reports.
About Us
Since our founding in 2009 as Primates Peru, our organization (now known as Field Project International) has trained and recruited ~100 research assistants in the Peruvian Amazon, as well as conducted an average of 3-4 field biology courses per year in Peru and India. These numbers are poised to increase as we continue to develop new programming and expand our partnerships. Approximately 40% of the fees for our activity-based courses go toward field station fees, which directly support local conservation efforts. As a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization and a Guidestar Exchange Gold Participant, we are committed to transparency and accountability in the management of our finances.
What are FPI’s goals?
The underlying goal that drives all of our programming is the conservation of biodiversity and critical habitat. We believe the best way we can contribute to this cause is through research into the complexities of tropical ecology, as well as courses and programs that will train and inspire the next generation of biologists, conservationists, land-use planners, and policymakers around the world.
The backbone of FPI is the research that we do. We now operate the largest primate mark and recapture program in Perú, and one of the largest on the continent, which has catapulted us into areas of research such as primate communication, visual and olfactory perception, parasite ecology, dispersal behavior, territoriality, development, and senescence. All projects contribute to the training courses that we offer and serve as a platform for learning for our long-term trainees.
We maintain a 5:1 student-teacher ratio for our courses, which draw aspiring young scientists from around the globe to learn many facets of tropical ecology along with the research methodologies used in each. In order to assure those talented and highly motivated students are able to attend regardless of their ability to pay, we offer several scholarship programs for all our courses. Our scholarship winners have come from as far away as Iran and India to attend courses in Peru.
We are partners with local conservation organisations in the creation and management of the Amazon’s first molecular genetics laboratory, which we call the Green Lab. Through this venture we hope to directly contribute towards in situ biodiversity monitoring and conservation efforts related to wildlife rehabilitation and rescue.
Lastly, numerous studies have confirmed that government-protected forests can never hope to contain and protect all the flora and fauna present in biodiversity hotspots. A large responsibility falls on the shoulders of private citizens and organizations to create forest corridors and refuges for plants and animals that fall outside national parks (or have spatial needs that are larger than a single park).
Our field courses and research programs target these sites. We bring a global popilation of students to our field sites annually, which contributes heavily to making each site economically viable. We also conduct diversity studies, and these data are provided to station administrators and local authorities to help justify further conservation work.
Although women remain grossly underrepresented in senior academic positions, we’ve actually seen far more women than men in the field doing phenomenal science. FPI is committed to supporting female scientists as they pursue degrees and equitable employment, and we also actively encourage more women to follow this career path.
Tax exemption for your donation
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- We are registered as a 501 c(3) non-profit organization under the name Primates Peru in the state of Missouri. Download our tax-exemption letter here.
- As soon as you donate, you will receive an email confirming your tax deduction from the Greater Saint Louis Community Foundation.
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Tax documents
Annual reports
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- 2013 to 2014 fiscal year report.
- 2014 to 2015 fiscal year report (coming soon!)
- 2015 to 2016 fiscal year report (coming soon!)
- 2016 to 2017 fiscal year report (coming soon!)
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