Mission, Impact & FAQs

Always seeing the forest and the trees. Ensuring all we do is driven by impact, integrity and collaboration.

What We Do

GLOBIO is a global awareness nonprofit that creates environmental films and provides support to conservation organizations around the world and shares their stories globally while educating the public about our shared environmental issues. Read our current strategic plan summary here.

Our Mission

GLOBIO’s mission is to inspire a positive relationship with our environment by connecting species, people and planet.

Our Values

Impact

We work to attain lasting, scalable, life-changing impact.

  • Seeking to create durable, not temporary, change.
  • Investing in long-term, scalable solutions.
  • Focusing on root causes, not symptoms, to create life-changing impact.
  • Impact is amplified through strong partnerships.

Integrity

Leaving ego and logo behind to serve our mission.

  • Communicating honestly and clearly with partners and public.
  • Using all resources entrusted in us responsibly.
  • Asking of ourselves what we ask of others.
  • Respecting the diversity of our partnerships.

Collaboration

We collaborate with respect and purpose.

  • Recognizing collaboration always creates greater long-term impact.
  • Listening to diverse points of view, including those that may differ from our own.
  • Acknowledging and valuing partners without injecting our ego.
  • Valuing the work and achievement of partners prior to our arrival and investment.

Our Vision

A world in which each person recognizes the interdependence of all life, and celebrates and protects the diversity which sustains it. 

Our Impact

Apes Like Us Icon

15,000+ subscribers and nearly 3 million views on our Apes Like Us Youtube Channel

Map of the globe

International Conservation Partnerships for media/communications support, capacity building, and fundraising

Film and Media Logo

20+ conservation awareness pieces created on behalf of partners and other organizations

Orangutan Tree Project Logo

Over 1,000 trees planted in Borneo with our Canopy Reforestation Program

FAQs

What is GLOBIO?

Founded in 2001, GLOBIO is a conservation nonprofit whose mission is to inspire a positive relationship with our environment by connecting species, people and planet.

GLOBIO realizes that for people to feel connected to species and planet, they must first understand their place within, relationship to, and impact on the environment. We do this by building global partnerships and creating powerful visual media and other learning resources to educate, motivate and empower, in order to create awareness and positive, real-world change.

Since its foundation, GLOBIO has taken on many different roles within the environmental education arena. In 2019, GLOBIO emerged from a multi-year period of organizational restructure with the launch of several new partnerships and programs designed to help spread awareness about the fate of primates in the wild and support those on the front lines of primate protection and biodiversity conservation — click here to see these new programs.

Is GLOBIO a registered nonprofit?

Yes! GLOBIO is a US-based 501(c)3, our EIN is 93-1320592. You can find our legal documents above. Please contact info@globio.org with any queries. 

Where does GLOBIO work?

While GLOBIO is based in Portland, Oregon, we work with partners around the USA, Equatorial Africa and Borneo/Sumatra. With collaboration being one of GLOBIO’s guiding values, we strive to partner with international conservation organizations and wildlife rehabilitation sanctuaries to help promote primate conservation and community capacity building. Sticking true to our mission of ‘connecting people, species, planet’, each of our projects must have clear, measurable impacts on the people and wildlife living within the project site and the earth beneath their feet. Find more about where we work here.

How does GLOBIO operate?

At GLOBIO, we work towards our mission of inspiring a positive relationship with our environment by connecting species, people, and planet. We do this by building global partnerships and creating powerful visual media and other learning resources to educate, motivate, and empower. Click here to find out more about our visual media.

With our partnerships, one of GLOBIO’s main motivations is to encourage and strengthen sustainability and capacity-building initiatives within our global partners, especially in areas where resources may be limited or lacking. To that end, many of our current and future programs are geared towards capacity-building through:

– Resource provision

– Skills training (especially with visual media content creation)

– Providing project funding opportunities

– Increasing global awareness of the partner organization and their work

Given the geographic range and variety of our partner organizations, each of our collaborative programs is unique to the needs and circumstances of the partner. Some of our schemes, such as the LUCI Light Project, can be scaled up or down to best meet their needs.

How does GLOBIO choose its partner sites?

GLOBIO determines collaborations based on need, interest, and alignment with our mission and values. Each of our partner organizations is committed to working with local communities and government officials to secure a stable future for their wildlife while spreading awareness about the threats that their region faces.

Within our capacity as an American-based nonprofit, we don’t intend to re-invent the conservation wheel, but we do hope to assist organizations on the front line of primate protection to expand their reach and strengthen their amazing work. Many of our partners have grown out of previous filming opportunities with Apes Like Us

How much of my donation will go directly to programs?

At GLOBIO we make every effort to minimize overhead costs and dedicate the maximum amount of your donation to our field conservation and education programs. On average, about 80% of our revenue from donations has been designated towards programs.

Every program and project under the GLOBIO umbrella is driven by, and must adhere to, our set of guiding values:

– Impact: We work to attain lasting, scalable, life-changing impact

– Integrity: Leaving ego and logo behind to serve our mission

– Collaboration: We collaborate with respect and purpose

These overarching ideals help ensure that we make the most out of each collaborative opportunity to drive the needle forward for primate conservation and biodiversity protection. Find more about our financials here.

Can I designate my donation to a specific project?

YES! We encourage our supporters to let us know if there’s an earmarked or specific project intended with their gifts. GLOBIO will make the most out of your donation, whether it’s designated to plant trees in Borneo, illuminate a veterinary clinic in Cameroon or anything in between! Feel free to contact meg@globio.org for more information about how we will maximize your contribution.

How can I help other than making a financial contribution?

There are many ways to support GLOBIO outside of a traditional financial contribution, you can find more here:

  • Leave a legacy by remembering GLOBIO in your will or living trust
  • Ask your employer if they participate in corporate giving programs
  • Sign up for our monthly e-newsletters and follow us on social media, especially our Youtube Channel Apes Like Us
  • Choose GLOBIO as your charity on amazon.smile – at no added cost to you!

Is GLOBIO the same as Apes Like Us?

Apes Like Us is GLOBIO’s primary film project within our Media & Communications department. GLOBIO Founder and Executive Director Gerry Ellis is the host and brains behind this witty, educational, and in-depth channel about the lives and struggles of great apes and the amazing people who care for them.

Apes Like Us aims to shares the stories and struggles of those at the front lines of primate conservation, as well as the individual animals themselves. Another objective of ALU is to provide more insight into the many conservation aspects surrounding primates and their habitats, including deforestation and habitat fragmentation, eco-tourism, zoonotic diseases, the illegal pet and bushmeat trade, and much more.

Does Apes Like Us show humans in contact with apes and monkeys?

In short, Yes, we do use select imagery of humans in contact with apes in sanctuary and other rehabilitation settings. We feel that the activities depicted within our videos are critical components of orphaned ape care when carried out by experts and only for the growing apes’ benefits and enhance the understanding of the public to the nuance and necessity of in situ sanctuaries. Any imagery of hands-on contact with primates is accompanied by context to help mitigate any promotion of the primate pet trade. 

All footage used in our Apes Like Us videos is obtained through reputable, ethically-run wildlife sanctuaries dedicated to caring for their rescued primates and protecting their wild counterparts. Apes Like Us (under GLOBIO) and our partner programs in no way support the exploitation or trade of primates in any capacity (whether legal or illegal).  Much of the footage showcased in our videos were collected before Covid-19 necessitated the need for higher PPE, health, and safety protocols. 

Any questions or concerns about any of our content can be directed to meg@globio.org

Is GLOBIO always in all caps?

Yes, per an agreement with another nonprofit of the same name, our GLOBIO is all caps, all the time to prevent confusion. 

Our Timeline

2021 Anniversary Timeline

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