Rare (conservation organization)

Last updated
Rare
Founded1973(52 years ago) (1973)
FocusOcean and fishery sustainability, clean water, sustainable agriculture, behavior change for conservation
Headquarters Arlington, Virginia, United States
Area served
Global
Key people
Brett Jenks, CEO
Website www.rare.org

Rare is a global nonprofit environmental organization whose mission is to inspire change so people and nature thrive. Headquartered in the United States, Rare has programs and staff in over 10 countries (including in Asia Pacific, Africa, the Pacific Islands, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Germany) working to safeguard biodiversity, ensure livelihoods, gender equity, and food security, and make their communities and countries more climate resilient. Rare has empowered over 10 million individuals, through more than 450 behavior change campaigns, to shift their behaviors and practices to protect the shared planet. [1]

Contents

Rare receives 4 out of 4 stars from Charity Navigator. [2]

History

Rare was founded in 1973 by David Hill. [3] Since its founding, Rare has worked with over 1,500 communities in 60+ countries to address urgent natural resource threats such as overfishing, climate change, deforestation, water pollution, and regenerative agriculture.

Rare's history started when Paul Butler arrived on the island nation of St. Lucia and learned the Lucia parrot was in critical danger. Fewer than 100 remained. Working with the Forestry Department, Paul led a social marketing campaign to inspire pride in the bird. He visited schools and churches, recorded radio spots, produced bumper stickers and billboards, and created a parrot mascot named Jacquot. The community embraced the parrot as a national treasure, and its population surged. [4]

The Center for Behavior & the Environment

The Center for Behavior & the Environment (BE.Center) at Rare is the world’s first center dedicated exclusively to behavioral science and design for the environment. It was launched in 2017 to increase the effective use of behavior-centered design principles among environmental practitioners. [5] With a team of behavioral and social scientists, designers, and trainers, the BE.Center connects research and insights from behavioral and social sciences and design thinking [6] to practitioners on the frontlines of our most urgent environmental challenges.

Board and Leadership

Rare Leadership
LeaderRole
Brett Jenks [7] CEO
Caleb McClennen [8] President
Dorothy BattenBoard of Trustees Chair, President of the DN Batten Foundation [9]
Rare Board of Trustees [10]
TrusteeProfessional Titles / Affiliations
Scott M. AmeroFormer Chief Investment Officer and Vice Chairman, BlackRock
Guilherme AzevedoCo-Founder, Alice
Amy Margerum Berg
Nancy E. DempzePartner, Hemenway & Barnes, Boston; Managing Director, Hemenway Trust Company
Dr. Steve GainesDean – Marine Science, Sustainable Fisheries | Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UC-Santa Barbara
John F. Marshall Senior Advisor, Lippincott; Founder, Potential Energy Coalition
Amaechi NdiliExecutive Chairman, CarePay Nigeria
Carlos Alvarado Quesada Presidente de Costa Rica (2018-2022) and Professor of Practice, The Fletcher School Tufts University
Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya CEO, African Wildlife Foundation
Jamie StauglerGrants Operations Lead, Bloomberg Philanthropies
Kathlyn TanPrincipal, the Rumah Group
Karen Toliver Film producer
Heather McTeer Toney Executive Director, Beyond Petrochemicals Campaign, Bloomberg Philanthropies
Dr. Elke Weber Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton University
Maud WellesPortfolio Manager, North Channel, LLC
Ed SouleProfessor, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business

References

  1. ↑ Bobrow, Emily (2 June 2017). "Conservation That Works for Locals". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "Charity Navigator Rating – Rare". Charity Navigator. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  3. ↑ Butler, Paul (2017). The History of Rare. Unpublished.
  4. ↑ Bornstein, David (February 9, 2022). "Harnessing Local Pride for Global Conservation". New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  5. ↑ Nelson, Harris, Hazzah and Lohmann, Fred, Alasdair, Leela, and Lucia (January 25, 2021). "Transforming conservation in times of crisis and opportunity". Mongabay. Retrieved March 8, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Stein Greenberg and Karak, Sarah and Madhuri (November 24, 2020). "Using Design Thinking to Tackle Climate Change When 'What You Know No Longer Works'". Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Brett Jenks, president and CEO". Rare. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Rare taps Caleb McClennen as its new President".
  9. ↑ Batten, Dorothy. "The DN Batten Foundation". The DN Batten Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Leadership & Board". Rare. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
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