Letter From The Founder

Dear Friends,

As we move into our fifth year, we are feeling thrifty, capable and incisive. We have learned that the very model that steers our conservation efforts is a perfect modus operandi on every level. The Tributary Fund relies on the power of community and we now boast a community of businesses, advisors and partners that offers a loyal base of support. Without these relationships, The Tributary Fund wouldn’t be as effective or broad reaching. We embody our motto: community, culture and conservation.

We have so much to report and a great deal to look forward to. These represent our year’s major accomplishments:

  • We reduced our overhead and managed to carry over savings from FY 2009 to FY 2010—dollars that are now working to bolster and build programs in Mongolia, Montana, Bhutan and Southern Sudan.
  • We brought a team of four Mongolian monks and two science educators to the United States for a two-week immersion in science education. We teamed with the Teton Science School, Yellowstone National Park, Ruby Habitat Foundation, and The Cincinnati Zoo, all of whom made the experience richly informative and tremendously worthwhile.
  • We launched a countrywide training for Mongolian monks and announced a small grants program for monastery programs. The monks’ projects range from composting toilets to reforestation projects.
  • We created a Conservation Dialogues Program: filmed interviews with Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Peter Matthiessen, and the Venerable Byambajav Khunkhur, Da lama of Mongolia’s Gandantegchinling Monastery, on issues of ethics and conservation.
  • Our Mongolian 2009 Dayan Derkh summer camp hosted over forty area children eager to learn about environmental issues and conservation.
  • We began a relationship with the John Dau Foundation, issuing a first grant in southern Sudan for a community conservation program.
  • We offered a workshop for clergy from all over Montana who met to discuss Christianity and conservation, methods to engage congregations, and sources of support.
  • We surveyed churches throughout Montana on their environmental interests. The top two were: carbon footprint assessments and green sermon development.

We are heading in a great direction. We continue to fulfill our mission and build programs in frontline communities that bring together scientists, religious and local leaders to improve water quality, protect fisheries and steward wildlife.  Thank you for the part you have played in these initiatives!

Sincerely,

Betsy Gaines Quammen

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