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Guardian FAQ
Does my park really get the money?Yes. The money goes either directly to park authorities or to conservation, community or development organisations working inside or around the park. The money is to support specific activities as defined in the organisations proposal. As a Guardian you see the proposals before deciding where to put your money and you also receive reports from the organisation(s) that you have supported on how the project went and what the concrete outcomes were.We are a different type of charity - we allow you to stay engaged with your donation and manage the work that it does towards conservation.          What happens to my money?Each park has a fund and that fund is only for projects working in that park. Over 90% of your donation (after bank charges) goes straight into your park's fund. The remaining 10% is for Healthy Planet Foundation to cover the costs of engaging you with effective conservation and to top-up priority park funds. We expect the proportion that is committed to the parks will rise over 90% as we grow & achieve economies of scale.Healthy Planet and you are not actually buying the land; your money is only going to sponsor activities in the park itself which will help to protect that land for nature and for the future. The land belongs to the national governments, parks authorities and the local communities and is already legally protected. The land has already been marked for conservation by national governments; you are simply helping that conservation to be sustained. How can I stay involved?From your armchair, you can be as active or as inactive as you wish, and still help your park. Each park's forum area will show the reports and communications between you, your fellow supporters of the park and the organisations implementing the projects. You can:
Who manages the money?Healthy Planet Foundation manages the money and approves the applications for projects made by the local park authorities and other conservation organisations. Once an application for a priority park passes Healthy Planet’s criteria, it is passed onto the park's community of Guardians who can decide which of these are funded in a given year. All projects funded are independently audited and the projects also report back to donors on their activities and achievements using our Google Earth based system.You can choose to donate towards an open park fund. These can be bid for by any number of conservation, developmental and community organisations who wish to improve livelihoods and conservation in and around the park. Each year you then choose which project to fund by voting with other Guardians. The weight of your vote depends upon the number of plots (of type ha or km, they carry equal weighting) of the park that you have adopted. If nobody bids to carry out work in your chosen park you can choose to move your funds to other parks where there are insufficient funds for the bids received. Alternatively you can choose to fund a particular project by a particular organisation by contributing to a tied park fund. In this case your funds go to a particular project and the organisation carrying out that project reports back to you, and the other Guardians funding it, on their progress. When does the park get the money?For open park funds, all received applications are approved annually by the Environment and Development board of trustees at Healthy Planet and, if successful, are passed to your park community for a final decision on which is funded that year. The fund for a park is then given to approved projects in annual instalments. This way you and we can monitor progress each year before the next annual instalment is paid. As well as reducing the risk of inefficient use of funds, this strategy ensures that the park gets a steady income stream, which makes it easier for them to plan and carry out longer-term more effective projects.For tied park funds the organisation that you are donating to receives funds coming in for their project in six-monthly blocked payments. What happens if no suitable project is approved for my park?For open park funds, if in a given year no suitable project is bid for your park, you can choose to put your funds into another priority park of your choice or of our recommendation. This would normally be a park in the same country as that in which you have adopted. This way your money is not sitting around, but being put to good use quickly. Then, as soon as organisations bid to work in your park, if necessary, funds can be transferred from other parks in the same country who have the funds but no suitable applications. Surely there must be some more small print?Just a few things:We have set aside some iconic (such as the top of Mount Everest) spots for conservation auction. If you zoom in and try to adopt these you will get a message to indicate that they are reserved. We will inform all registered Guardians when these conservation auctions take place. In order to better fund conservation we encourage you to adopt 1 hectare plots (especially in small parks). Our terms and conditions are here , we have a privacy policy here and a policy on refunds here The grids are not all the same size in Google Earth and Google Maps. Why?The grids are nominally 100 square kilometres, 1 square kilometre and 1 hectare at the equator, depending on how far you have zoomed in. However, because the earth is not flat the image of the grid, from above, will not be a perfect square and will vary in actual size on the ground according to latitude and terrain. The grid will look more like a rectangle as you move away from the equator. I have another questionIf you have any other questions, please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
