For Nature Funds
A Program of the Callie Veelenturf For Nature Foundation
Every legal system on Earth was built on a single assumption: that Nature is property. Something to be owned. Extracted. Spent. But what if a river could have legal protection? What if an ecosystem had legal standing — the same way a corporation does?
This is the idea at the heart of the Rights of Nature movement. And Callie Veelenturf is one of its most effective advocates on earth.
A marine biologist who has spent years studying species that have been navigating these oceans for a hundred million years, Callie doesn't just study the natural world. She fights for its legal protection. In the field, in courtrooms, and in the halls of government.
She took that fight to Panama. And with a congressman, a team of lawyers, and the support of the First Lady, she helped draft a national law recognizing the Rights of Nature. Panama became only the third country in the world to take that step.
Today, through the Callie Veelenturf For Nature Foundation, she conducts fieldwork, leads advocacy, and provides grants to other Rights of Nature advocates around the world. This is not a movement that begins in boardrooms.
It begins on beaches. In villages. In the hands of communities who have always known what Western law is only now beginning to recognize — that we are part of Nature, not apart from it. She is expanding the movement globally.
AKET has invested over two million dollars in Callie and her mission. But two million dollars is not enough to change the world. What is needed is sustained funding at the highest level and longest period of time possible. To enable Callie to lead and build diverse initiatives led by thousands of advocates.
That's why AKET created For Nature Funds. An independent funding program, operated by AKET, built to drive critical support to Callie's Rights of Nature work. Every hour she spends raising money is an hour she's not in the field, not in a courtroom, not advancing legal protections for the natural world. For Nature Funds exists so she doesn't have to choose.
If you have been invited to build your own For Nature Fund, this is where it begins.
Asks for Nature
Very simply, FNF asks those with high profiles, followings, significant resources, and significant reach to do three things. Not to consider. Not to explore. To do.
Give. Make a founding contribution of $100,000 or more to establish a For Nature Fund in your name—The Sigourney Weaver For Nature Fund, for example. This fund becomes a vessel: your fans, followers, and supporters can contribute to it, joining your commitment with their own. You open the door. They walk through it with you.
Speak. Provide a quote—something you've said before, or something new—that captures why you believe in this work. It will serve as the banner on your fund's page and may be repeated in For Nature's work. Your words. Your stand. Made public.
Send. Pass this invitation to two people you know who can do what you're doing. Not fans. Peers. People with resources and audience who you can reach and who will understand what you're asking and why.
We often think about Jane Goodall, who lived so fully inside her mission that, by her own account, she barely needed to think about money. The infrastructure around her took care of that, so she could focus on changing the world. We want to give Callie the same freedom.
Alfred Kobacker