Synchronicity Earth USA is a 501c3 non-profit organization established to support Synchronicity Earth, a UK-based charitable foundation focused on protecting and restoring biodiversity where it is most threatened around the world.
Synchronicity Earth works with over 150 partners in more than 35 countries. From grassroots, community-led organizations and Indigenous Peoples protecting their ‘territories of life’ to national and international advocacy groups pushing for stronger international action on biodiversity and climate.
What We Do
Synchronicity Earth’s work has a global reach, but a local heart. We nurture deep and lasting relationships with individuals and organizations protecting Earth’s natural wonders; from the extraordinary natural and cultural diversity of the forests of Papua New Guinea, to the overlooked Atlantic Forest in Brazil; the precious but highly threatened freshwater ecosystems of the Mekong in Southeast Asia, to Earth’s great, forgotten rainforest in the Congo Basin; from the coastal communities of Indonesia, and the little known and even less protected deep ocean, to the Critically Endangered amphibians of Central and South America. Synchronicity Earth champions overlooked and underfunded species, regions, ecosystems, and environmental defenders.
Image © Chris Scarffe
Alexandre Krob, of Instituto Curicaca (a Synchronicity Earth partner), works with communities in the Atlantic Forest, southern Brazil to protect amphibians and their habitats.
Southern Rufous Hornbill (VU)_credit Talarak Foundation Inc
Image © Talarak Foundation Inc.
Endemic to the Philippines, the Southern Rufous hornbill is found in the region where Synchronicity Earth partner Talarak Foundation Inc. is working to conserve Asian species and habitats.
While the US public has shown strong philanthropic support for its parks, wild places and species, there has traditionally been less support for conservation in the rest of the world. But the natural world is not defined by national borders; species and ecosystems are our global heritage. What happens to the oceans, rivers, and forests and the millions of species in Earth’s biodiversity hotspots – in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Melanesia, and beyond impacts us all.
With less than three per cent of recorded U.S. charitable giving going specifically towards biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, the need to scale is more urgent now than ever
Giving USA, 2023
Our Programs
We believe that by protecting nature, we protect ourselves. If we are serious about putting an end to the environmental crisis, we need to dramatically increase the level of funding for conservation, globally.
Synchronicity Earth USA recognizes that the United States is a global leader in charitable giving and aims to harness that generosity and direct funding to the grassroots, local organizations delivering real change through their conservation efforts.
Our aim is to grow our pool of funders in the United States and drive effective approaches to conservation in the places that it is most needed for the benefit of us all.
Over the past 15 years, Synchronicity Earth has developed six core programs, to address overlooked and underfunded conservation challenges in some of our planet’s most ecologically and culturally rich regions.
Amphibians
Catalysing conservation for threatened amphibians
Asian Species
Supporting species at a critical time
Biocultural Diversity
Supporting nature’s guardians to help diversity flourish
Congo Basin
Coordinating forest protection in Central Africa
Freshwater
Altering the course of freshwater conservation
Ocean
Building a flourishing future for ocean life
Melanesia
Communities conserving islands of unique nature and cultures
Funding Synchronicity Earth
Synchronicity Earth USA is for donors interested in leveraging funds to support a global effort to protect and restore Earth’s biodiversity by championing people on the frontline of conservation. Synchronicity Earth gives 100% of funding received to partner organizations, so donors can be confident that all of their donation is reaching the ground.
Synchronicity Earth Pooled Funds
Congo Basin
Synchronicity Earth’s Congo Basin Pooled Fund was launched in 2017. The fund currently has seven contributing donors and provides support for 19 organisations working in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
Synchronicity Earth USA Board
About Jessica
Jessica Sweidan has been an active philanthropist for the last 20 years. Her journey began almost straight out of university, when she formed a partnership with Adam Sweidan, to create The Synchronicity Foundation. She oversaw donations to a range of projects, including themes in education, environment, social justice, economic upliftment, art, health care, relief efforts and children’s well-being. The Synchronicity Foundation has worked with over 70 projects in nearly 40 countries. In 2007, the environment became a priority: it underscored most themes that they were addressing, and upon close examination, found it to be a severely under-funded, and under-supported sector.
Exploring how to have a greater impact within the conservation realm – and recognizing that biodiversity loss was the least well appreciated and most poorly addressed of all – they launched Synchronicity Earth in November 2009. Jessica plays an active role at Synchronicity Earth, developing its profile, networks and events. Jessica is also an IUCN Patron of Nature, helping to raise the visibility of global conservation needs worldwide. She was appointed Honorary Conservation Fellow at the Zoological Society of London in March 2015. Jessica has a degree in Philosophy from Northwestern University.
About Edward
Professor Edward Cunningham is Director of the Ash Center China Programs at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, which has trained nearly 2,000 senior Chinese government officials, NGO leaders, and business executives since 1999. He also directs the Kennedy School’s Asia Energy and Sustainability Initiative and is an Adjunct Lecturer of Public Policy. Edward focuses on China’s integration into the world economy, primarily through its energy/environmental markets and governance, philanthropic sector, and international trade.
He first lived in China in 1992, speaks Mandarin and Italian, and his work has appeared in media such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, and Bloomberg. He graduated from Georgetown University, received an A.M. from Harvard University, holds a Ph.D. from M.I.T., and studied at Peking University and later at Tsinghua University as a Fulbright Fellow. Edward also advises private and publicly listed companies, investment banks, and venture/PE funds focusing largely on energy and environmental technologies, infrastructure assets, as well as financial and technology-enabled services. He is on the Advisory Council of Greentech Capital Advisors, a board member of the Community Therapeutic Day School, and co-founded Harvard Square Educational Associates, an educational consultancy.
About Tom
Tom Fernandez is a founder of Balto Therapeutics, a specialty pharmaceutical company in New York. Previously, he co-founded Retrophin, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and marketing innovative therapies for rare, catastrophic childhood diseases. Before that, he was a partner at a family of hedge funds, Galleon Group, where he led Investor Relations and the global marketing effort. Prior to Galleon, Tom was Assistant Dean for MBA Career Services and Director of The Chazen Institute of International Business at Columbia Business School. He is a member of the advisory board of Equity for Children, a nonprofit organisation that strives to advance an agenda of social justice, human rights and social equality for children worldwide. Tom holds a BA in History from Yale University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
About Katy
Katy Scholfield is Director of Strategic Grantmaking, Great Apes and Gibbons Program, at Arcus Foundation. Katy came to Arcus after 10 years at Synchronicity Earth, most recently as head of biocultural diversity, where she co-led programs and led efforts to center indigenous rights and the revival and protection of biocultural diversity across the organization.
During her tenure, she played a key role in developing the organization’s forest grantmaking in Africa, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea, as well as establishing collaborative funding initiatives to amplify conservation impact. Prior to this, Katy held various conservation and development posts before completing her doctor of philosophy degree using a case study of mountain gorilla conservation to explore how different people and their ideas are included or excluded in conservation.
She also holds a bachelor’s degree in environment, ecology, and economics from the University of York and a master’s in environment and development from the University of Manchester. Katy has sat on the executive committee of the AgroEcology Fund since 2015 and has a strong interest in how agroecology can help conservation re-imagine its relationship with agriculture to support all species to flourish.
About Kai
Kai is a strategic, values-center leader with over 20 years of experience in environmental sustainability, community resilience, and social equity. As the inaugural Head of Global Programs at Waverley Street Foundation, Kai leads WSF’s team in supporting global movements, organizations, leaders, and local communities implementing climate change solutions.
Prior to joining WSF, Carter served as Director of the Global Climate Initiative at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, where she oversaw the Foundation’s investments to halt tropical deforestation and promote just and sustainable development. During this time she played a pivotal role in leading Forests, People, Climate, a collaborative of philanthropic donors and civil society with a similar purpose. She has managed teams and programs working at the intersection of people and the planet in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of women, girls, and communities of color and also serves as the Chair of the Board of the YMCA East Bay.
Carter earned a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies from the University of the South Pacific. Kai spends her free time trail running with her dog and soaking up sun rays while paddle boarding in the ocean.
About Kevin
Kevin Ogorzalek is Partner and co-Founder of Concord Agriculture Partners, a boutique driven sustainable agriculture consulting firm that transforms agriculture value chains. His clients and partners include leading multinational food, finance, and agriculture technology companies with whom he works to improve climate change, biodiversity, freshwater, and social well being outcomes in agriculture value chains, globally. Throughout his career he has held numerous leadership positions while developing deep expertise in sustainable value chains strategy and implementation. He led sustainability sourcing for Barry Callebaut in the Americas. He has extensive leadership experience in multi-stakeholder groups, including Chair of Bonsucro, Vice Chair of the Bonsucro Member’s Council, and leading the inception of SAI’s Regenerative Agriculture Framework. He held leadership positions at Bonsucro, the Innovation Center for US Dairy, and WWF-US. He holds degrees from Duke University and Yale University.
He lives with his family in Chicago where he enjoys finding new ice cream spots with his kids.