Comments from CEO Dr Manda Page in response to media enquiry regarding South West NRM’s ‘Every. Drop. Counts’ crowdfunding campaign:
I’ve worked in threatened species conservation for more than 30 years across two Australian states and my firm belief is that we can no longer rely on governments alone to deliver drastically needed environmental outcomes. To really shift the dial, it’s critical that we develop new partnership models – particularly with the private and philanthropic sector. 
I have seen how it can work with enormous success when I undertook a Churchill Fellowship in 2022 to explore international case studies of public-private partnerships that benefited threatened species.
In 64 days, I travelled 63,201km, visiting eight countries, and more than a dozen projects and case studies. I interviewed and documented the impact of private, non-profit, non-government and government organisations achieving international success together, like the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.
It is time for like-minded people and organisations seeking to deliver across the triple bottom line of profit, people and planet, to unite.
The great thing about a crowdfunding approach compared to other partnership models, is that many more members of the community can get involved by contributing their support through a donation or simply by sharing information about the campaign within their social networks.
To facilitate these kinds of partnerships, we have developed an Investment Prospectus which outlines a series of Priority Projects for the region, for which we are actively seeking funding support.