On Saturday December 1st, 2007, Hazel Barbour, Jordan Erdos, Bob Warneke, three people who hadn’t met each other before, and Niyanta Spelman met in an all day strategic planning session facilitated by Beth Caplan.  Guided by a three page agenda, by noon that day, they had a mission and a vision statement and by 6 PM, a six month strategic plan.

Following two months of strategic planning and business plan development, on December 17th, Rainforest Partnership was formed as a Texas nonprofit corporation, and held its first board meeting the next day.  At this board meeting, the new board adopted bylaws and elected the officers: Hazel Barbour as Board Chair, Jordan Erdos as Board Secretary, Bob Warneke as Board Treasurer and Niyanta Spelman as an ex-officio member of the board and the executive director. That same day, Rainforest Partnership came under the umbrella of the Austin Community Foundation, a fiscal sponsor, and deposited its first donations.

In January 2008, Rainforest Partnership added a new board member, Pauline Lewis, and Niyanta Spelman started a trip to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama, in that order, to develop a network for Rainforest Partnership, establish relationships and determine which countries and communities to work with. Jordan Erdos joined Niyanta in Ecuador, and Hazel Barbour joined her in Peru. Helped by Lucia Eslava, who was soon to become Rainforest Partnership’s first intern, and then our Peru program coordinator, Niyanta, Hazel and Lucia traveled to and identified ten potential communities to partner with in Peru. In April, 2008, Rainforest Partnership signed a partnership agreement with Conservacion y Dessarrallo, an Ecuadorian-based NGO.

In June 2008, the Rainforest Partnership team adopted objective community evaluation criteria based on international standards for selecting partner communities.   On August 18th, Rainforest Partnership received its 501(c)(3), tax-exempt status from the US Internal Revenue Service. In October of that year, the Board approved the first project in Chipaota, San Martin, Peru. In November 2008, we provided seed funding and brought on Daniel “Jaso” Angulo Rojas as project manager. Lucia Eslava, moved from Lima to Tarapoto to begin working for RP as the Peru Program Coordinator.  In December 2008, we funded this first project in Chipaota, Peru.

2009 was a year of incredible growth for Rainforest Partnership as we found a new home in our beautiful office at 505 Willow (moving from the front porch of Niyanta’s home which was no longer viable for four people) and brought on Maurine Winkley as Director of Operations. We also began connecting with the larger environmental community by going to Copenhagen during the UN Conference of the Parties, COP 15 in December 2009.

Also in 2009, in Chipaota, Rainforest Partnership helped conserve 9,000 acres of rainforest by creating a management plan to counter unsustainable harvesting practices that had resulted in the local disappearance of the piassaba palm. Now, there is a community-owned business for 40 families producing brooms made from the sustainably harvested fibers. Additionally, what began as one project in Chipaota developed into two as the women of the community independently initiated a project of their own, one that focuses on creating traditional handicrafts using indigenous methods.

In February of 2010, through our partnership with Conservación y Desarrollo, Rainforest Partnership was able start our second project with the women of Sani Isla in Napo, Ecuador. Rainforest Partnership has worked with the women as they began a community business creating and marketing handicrafts using seeds and other forest products.

In 2010, we established a film festival, Films for the Forest. We were able to connect with the international environmental community and draw on the power of film and media to raise awareness about the need to protect rainforests from deforestation.

We began our third project in June 2010 in Pampa Hermosa, central Peru. We are working with the communities in the district of Pampa Hermosa to protect and conserve their cloudforest by developing basic infrastructure to market ecotourism.

January 2011 brought many changes as the founding Board of Directors made way for a new board. John Doggett became Board Chair, Toby Tiktinsky took on the role of Treasurer, and Burghard Petersen joined us as Secretary. Hazel Barbour stayed on as past Board Chair.

TIMELINE:
-October, 2007:  Facilitated brainstorming sessions refine the business plan
-December 1st, 2007: All-day strategic planning session, facilitated by Beth Caplan.  Together, Niyanta Spelman, Hazel Barbour, Jordan Erdos, Bob Warneke formulate RP’s vision and mission statements
-December 17th, 2007:  Rainforest Partnership founded
-December 18th, 2007:  First board meeting held, a RP fund established at the Austin Community Foundation to take US tax deductible funding.
-January 14th, 2008: RP team members visit Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama to develop networks, visit potential partner communities, and establish relationships
-April 25, 2008:  Sign partnership agreement with Conservación y Desarrollo, an Ecuadorian nonprofit.
-August 19th, 2008:  Receive 501(c)(3) status.
-October 2008:  Board approves Chipaota project based on completed community evaluation criteria
-December 2008:  First project begins in Chipaota, Peru
-June 2009: Women of Chipaota initiate Women’s Handicraft Project helped by Lucia Eslava of RP
-December 2009: Niyanta Spelman and Maurine Winkley are in Copenhagen during the UN Conference of the Parties, COP15.
-March 2010: Project begins in Sani Isla in the Ecuadorian Amazon
-May 2010: Launching of Rainforest Partnership’s film festival, Films for the Forest
-June 2010: Project begins in Pampa Hermosa, Peru
-December 2010: Niyanta Spelman and Maurine Winkley attend multiple conferences during the UN Conference of the Parties, COP16 in Cancun
- February 2011: Transition to the new Board of Directors